Yeti #1 - Mt Washington January 20/07

The first Yeti snowshoe race of the 2007 turned out to be a beauty. Kicking the season off on Vancouver Island, the Yeti #1 returned to the slopes of Mt. Washington. Racers gathered in the newly constructed Nordic lodge, for registration. It promised to be a amazing day as the sun lit up the beautiful alpine landscape highlighting the slopes of Mt. Albert Edward, one of Strathcona Park’s crown jewels. The 5km loop, would be challenging as the powder conditions guaranteed a strenuous workout.

Team Snowrunning.com stayed the previous night in Nanaimo, and was treated to a salmon feast expertly prepared by the team’s chef and rookie tryout member Peter Sinclair. The first race of the season is always like Christmas as the Atlas SL – Direct Mount Snowshoes and Adidas “SUPER KICK ASS” jerseys were distributed. This year the team decided to go with a more subtle blue after rocking out last year’s series in a distinctive euro yellow, black, red and white BUFF motif. Following an intense strategy meeting, the team relaxed to a viewing of “Jack Ass 2”.

With the entire team registered for the race: Dom Repta, Dave Cressman, Carey Sather, Andrew Clarke, Justin Mark, new members Krista Royle and Peter Sinclair anxiously hit the course for a thorough warm-up. The first race of the season is often the most nerve wracking as many athletes question their fitness and second guess their training or wish they had done more. Compounding our nervousness was the incredible and unexpected turnout of over 150 racers including former Olympians Andreas Hestler and Kiara Bisaro.

All doubts and questions were to be quickly answered as a mob of anxious snow runners lined up at the start line, even local media with their shouldered cameras were on hand to document this great event and the development of North America’s fastest growing winter sport. The race started quickly, Andrew Clarke the reigning Yeti Champion set a blistering pace alongside two of Vancouver Island’s faster road runners: Stefan Jacobson (Team Frontrunners) and Neil Holm (Team Extreme). After dominating the team category in 2006, Team Snowrunning.com was committed once again to claiming the overall Team Award at Mt. Washington. This was not to be an easy task as Team Yeti, Team Frontrunners, and Team Extreme had all entered strong teams. The race began to take shape by the end of the second lap, experience overcame enthusiasm as many strong, but inexperienced snow runners fell back in the tiresome singletrack section. Clarke was holding strong in 3rd place starting his second lap, as Justin Mark, Dom Repta followed in a pack of four which consisted of Olympian and mountain bike great Andreas Hestler and Yeti stalwart Nate Wood. Dave Cressman and Peter Sinclair were also having strong races although Pete a former track and field protégé was suffering the effects of “I’ve never run in snowshoes before.”

Meanwhile Carey Sather and Krista Royle were battling hard in the women’s 10km category. Although not intending to run this year following the tragic stillbirth loss of her daughter Denali in December, Carey always the fighter was having perhaps the race of her life. Competing head to head with Olypian Mountain Biker Kiara Bisaro, Carey proved to be in much better shape than any imagined and led the women through the first 5km.
Holding his position and finishing just under 57 minutes Andrew Clarke demonstrated that he was already in mid-season form. Dom Repta had easily his best ever snow shoe race finishing at one hour and followed closely by Justin Mark. The rookie Peter Sinclair and Dave Cressman finished minutes after, both having strong outings. The team gathered anxiously at the finish line to witness the result of the women’s race and cheered Carey to a second place finish right behind Kiara. Always the competitor Sather was frustrated at herself for not winning. Newcomer to the team Krista Royle demonstrated that she’s a natural to the sport finishing in 4th place among the women.

The day turned out to be a great success as Team Snowrunning.com continued its undefeated streak claiming yet another Team victory, with an average time of just over 1 hour. The team is looking forward to the next race in the series to be held at Mt. Seymour.