The annual Snow
to Surf Race was a bunch of fun and a great way to meet people. It is also the
longest running multi-stage event in Canada and this year celebrated its 36th
anniversary. We had watched this event a couple of years ago but other
commitments (including buying a house with a closing date on the same weekend
as the event) had prevented us from entering it in the past. But this year I
was contacted by a team from Parksville who needed a cross country skier and
jumped at the chance to join a team. Island Cycle has been competing for a
several years and team organizer Doug Herchmer told me that they had made the
podium in the 40 plus age category (Grand Masters Men) in the some years but
had come in 4th last year out of 6 teams. “We are hoping to get back
on the podium this year” he told me.
The road bike route is about 25 km and the longest leg |
For readers that
aren’t familiar with the event it starts at Mt Washington Alpine Ski area with
an alpine skier , who then touches cross country skier. The next 2 legs are run
legs followed by a mountain biker who passes to a sea kayaker. The final legs
are a taken over by a road biker, followed by a short run which connects to the
final stage- canoeing down the Puntledge River to the Comox Marina. This year
there were 117 teams and so in all there are close to 1000 athletes involved.
And they come from all over Vancouver Island with some teams coming from the
mainland. This year the fastest teams came across the finish line in just
3:16.02!! Our team came in 43rd
overall and we were over an hour behind the winners. Our time of 4:32.52 was
good enough for 5th in our age class out of 9 teams so no podium
this year. In “justifying” our overall time Doug did point out that we were one
of the oldest teams in the event so perhaps 43rd out of 117 wasn’t
too bad.
Canoers coming into the finish line at Comox Marina |
The whole event
finishes with an awards ceremony and social/beer garden in the Comox Marina Park
which was a perfect way to rehash the event and chat to other teams. If you can do one of these activities listed
above and have not been in this event, think about putting in a team for next
year. Or if you can’t create a team, teams are often looking for specific
people to fill in for certain spots so you can join a team like I did. For more
information on this event check out this web site: http://www.snowtosurf.com/
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