4.4°C Fog Patches 
After tackling a long and challenging race through the woods and mountains of Squamish, surely one of the last things any athlete would want to do next is climb the Stawamus Chief. But that’s what the record number of competitors who braved the Coast Mountain Sports Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race (MOMAR) were asked to do on Saturday (May 23).
The MOMAR became the first race authorized to use the landmark hunk of rock, and professional adventure racer and course designer Jen Segger incorporated the climb up and a rappel and hike down the Chief into the gruelling course she set for the athletes competing in the 57-kilometre Enduro race.
“It was definitely the most spectacular setting we’ve had in our 27-race history, especially the rappel. If permitting allows, the Chief will remain a focal point of the MOMAR Squamish,” Race Director Bryan Tasaka said in a statement released Monday (May 25).
The MOMAR Squamish challenged athletes to navigate through 23 checkpoints while pushing themselves through legs of trail running, mountain biking, orienteering plus bushwhacking, hiking up the Chief and a river crossing. Competing solo or in teams of two or four, most of the entrants competed on the 57-kilometre Enduro course, while 16 teams challenged themselves on the 30-kilometre Sport course, a new addition to this year’s MOMAR Squamish.
Whistler’s Kevin Hodder teamed up with Squamish’s L.J. Wilson to finish first in the Team of Two Male category, posting a time of 5:45:12. Hodder said the course was surprisingly long and hard, but the pair managed the orienteering “quickly and efficiently” and enjoyed the journey-like route from Alice Lake to the Chief.
“We were surprised that we won that category,” he admitted. “I thought it was a really well-run event and a great course.”
Hodder said the hike up the Chief was an interesting section, with a beautiful checkpoint and rappel waiting at the first summit, though it was an odd feeling to be racing alongside tourists heading up the Chief for a sunny Saturday outing.
“That was awesome… It was quite hard at the end of all of that mountain biking to still have the legs to do that,” he said.
Whistler’s Munro (Munny) Duncan, the second-fastest solo male racer in last year’s MOMAR Squamish, said this year’s Enduro course was “definitely gruelling.”
“That was a world-class, tough adventure race course… It was cruel, it was tough,” Duncan said, saluting Segger and Tasaka for planning the hardest and most beautiful MOMAR he’s ever raced.
Duncan finished the race in a time of 6 hours, 6 minutes and 20 seconds for sixth in the highly competitive Solo Male category, behind Revelstoke’s Bart Jarmula, who posted a time of 4:53:47 to win the overall race title and the Solo Male division.
After enjoying the start in the Alice Lake area, Duncan got into some trouble in his first trekking section and had two flat tires right out of the first bike transition. He lost a lot of ground, and had to “use every ounce of effort just to drag myself back into the top 10” in the build-up leading to the Chief.
When he realized the path to the finish led up and down the hunk of granite, Duncan said he thought “you’ve got to be kidding me,” joking that he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to congratulate or strangle Segger.
“Of course I want to get a kick in the guts… I didn’t really mind,” Duncan said. But after battling his way back into sixth place, he didn’t have enough gas left in the tank to push forward in the standings while getting around the “conga line” of tourists heading up the Chief.
He said he was “just punched” by the time he got there, so he endured the leg-burning climb and rolled on to the finish line.
“(Segger) challenged us, that’s what you want. As a racer I want to be challenged, I want to be put to shame… She humbled me, and it was awesome,” Duncan said.
Whistler’s Michael Conway finished the race in 6:25:08 for a solid result in the strong Solo Male division, which also included overall runner-up Gary Robbins, who finished in a time of 5:12:28 after battling back from orienteering troubles with Duncan, and the racers who ended up in third and fourth place overall.
Racing on the Sport course, Whistler’s Ainslie Caldwell and Dee Raffo finished with a time of 6:07:49 for 11th overall and third in the Sport course Team of Two Female group.
The second race in the series, the MOMAR Cumberland, is set for Sept. 26.
