There was a little more adventure than usual for some competitors in this year's Atmosphere Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race (MOMAR) in Cumberland.
"Some of the top teams missed a turn and got a little bit lost, and so a handful of teams had to bushwhack their way back to the trail or buchwacked the wrong way," said MOMAR director Bryan Tasaka. "Instead of doing 14km they were doing 25km. It was pretty crazy, but that's part of the adventure of an adventure race."
Tasaka said the race dodged a bullet with Saturday's sunny weather. "We thought we were in for a downpour. The difference that a sunny day or mild day with no rain can do to the attitudes of the racer and volunteers is incredible. That made the race, and everybody was in great spirits."
Saturday's turnout of 275 racers makes MOMAR one of the largest adventure races in North America and the competition was keen, with lots of regulars in the lineup.
One local stand-out was Genevieve Burdett (Straataworks) of Cumberland who won the women's title for the second straight year and was fourth overall.
"We don't normally see a lot of female racers place that high in the overall standings," said Tasaka. "Genevieve had a perfect day. She's super fit. This year's course required racers to make some really smart navagational choices, and those that did definitely benefitted. Gevevieve definitely chose all the right ways to go."
Tasaka said the after-party at Mount Washington Alpine Resort was "great as always. We gave away over $15,000 of prizing and completed our fundraising with over $3,400 for the Make a Wish Foundation. That brings our five-year total to over $28,400."
The Comox Valley economy also benefitted, as Tasaka figures about 80 to 90 per cent of the participants came from out-of-town, with a good 40 or 50 per cent of that number coming from off the Island. Tasaka said MOMAR plans to return to both Burnaby in May and Cumberland in spring next year.
Other top local finishers at this year's race included Jeremy Grasby (Riding Fool) of Cumberland who was second in the male event and third overall.
Courtenay's Just Lurking entry of Marguerite Masson and Stan Wood were third in 2C Enduro where The Goodwin Bad-loosers from Cumberland, Marie-Clare Goodwin and Kari Goodwin, took fourth and Some Guy and His Sister of Courtenay, Kevin Frisch and Melissa Dekker, were fifth.
In 4C Enduro Amino Vega Sport with Courtenay's Andy Quinn and Port Alberni's Robin Nadig, Roberta Wilson and Marinka Daradics finished second.
In 4F Enduro, Big Dog Racing with Joan Dryden of Comox, Chris Olson of Comox, Chanace VanDerheide of Courtenay and Nikki Licht of Comox took top spot.
In Sport Course results, ELM Fearless Leaders Too of Courtenay with Diana Olsen and Arran Kerrigan were third in the 2F category while the Comox entry of ell-over-dee-max with Fred Bigelow and Jay Campbell won the 2M category.
Complete results are at www.mindovermountain.com.
sports@comoxvalleyrecord.com