News

ALS AC Leaders Out in Full Force!

 The Mind Over Mountain adventure race series wrapped up for the season with their final race that took place on Sept 29, 2007 in Cumberland. There were quite a few ALS Adventure Challenge leaders participating: Marc Leblanc (Solo Male), Derek Oelmann (Solo Male), Sasha Brown and Brian McCurdy (Team of 2 Coed), Marilene Pomerleau and Heather Macintosh (part of a Team of 4 Females), Loc Vinh and one of our participants Tara Witham (Team of 2 Coed). Way to go guys!

As always Cumberland is a popular MOMAR and good times were had by all. Another great year for Byan Tasaka and his MOMEC team!

 Heather Macintosh

Tara Witham & Loc Vinh

Marc Leblanc

Participant Race Recap:

"We did really well in the paddle such that we were 3rd out of the water. I think we surprised everyone around us - all of whom were in much faster racing boats. We took our time getting the kayak onto the shore, so we ended up 4th at the checkpoint, then adrenalin took ahold and we didn't take the time to calmly and strategically review the orienteering map. There were 9 checkpoints to find over a large area connected by logging roads and single-track trails. We got hopelessly lost - after turning around a few times (totalling several extra kilometers), we finally thought we were on track to find checkpoint 9. We were therefore surprised to find ourselves at checkpoint 6 instead (!). At least we were then able to figure out our location on the map... We then randomly picked off the checkpoints, a tactic that resulted in lots of backtracking and wasted distance... A couple hours later we got back into the kayak and zipped across the lake. Next it was onto the bike, which was going fairly well despite extremely wet and slippery roots and rocks. I somehow have many unexplained bruises (I don't remember falling?!?). Brian's a pro at this and made it look easy. We were still on track to place fairly well (despite wasting about 45minutes in the orienteering), but then Brian's bike chain broke. Twice. About 15-20 freezing minutes later, with a significantly shorter chain on Brian's bike (6 chain links were removed) we carried on. The shorter chain limited Bri's gear options, and actually jammed his entire drive train a couple times (eventually remedied by banging a big rock into his cogs - trailside maintenance at it's best!). Needless to say, we did not have a record-breaking time! We placed 4th in our division, but it was extremely fun, wet, and MUDDY. It was a great, well-organized, extremely fun race. Special kudos to the volunteers, who stood stoically in the POURING rain for up to 8 or 9 hours. They absolutely rocked. "

-Sasha Brown, ALS AC Leader

                                  Sasha Brown & Brian McCurdy


All photos courtesy of Tony Austin 2007