Sunday Sep 29

The 47th annual Canadian Police and Peace Officers' Memorial Service honouring fallen officers takes place in Ottawa

"On this day, we honour police and peace officers who lost their lives while serving their communities. These individuals devoted their lives to ensuring that others could live theirs without fear. They bravely stood for justice while faced with harrowing circumstances," said Governor General, Mary Simon in a statement.

Apex 1, a group of warriors from Sudbury, Ontario, came together at their local gym, thanks to owner Denis Legault. This strong team of athletes features triathlete and CrossFit superstar Amy Crawford, whose positive attitude keeps everyone motivated. Marc Cayen drives the team to excel, pushing them to keep up with him on the bikes, while Jeff Middaugh ensures they stay on course with his navigation prowess. Together, they are ready to tackle the challenges ahead!

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Wilderness Traverse by Marc Cayen

“For those that are unfamiliar, Wilderness Traverse is a 30 Hour Adventure Race hosted annually. Teams of 3 or 4 navigate using map and compass over 150 kilometers of rugged Canadian Shield back-country on foot, mountain bike and canoe. It is one of the toughest team-based endurance challenges around and simply reaching the finish line is a massive achievement.”
My 3rd attempt at completing a wilderness traverse adventure race and this year we made it with 11 minutes to spare. We finished at a time of 28 hours and 49 minutes but we managed to accumulate an hour penalty for misplacing some gear. That gives us an official finishing time of 29:49:00.
I’m proud of everyone on my team.
Dennis has laser focus, he’s a natural born leader, an amazing coach and great guy to be around. One of us had to swim to a checkpoint at 4:30 am after walking through the bush for 7 hours and before continuing our trek for another 3 hours. Next thing you know someone is in his under wear treading water, fetching us a canoe on the other side of the lake.
Amy is as strong and as fast as any man I know. Her charismatic personality keeps time moving while everyone is feeling the pain of racing. (At one point she was singing).
Jeff is a god with a map and compass. He followed our every move with a fine tooth comb and when we got off course he could set a bearing on his compass and get us right where we needed to be.
I’m proud of myself too. I like to be infront and push the pace. I know I’m not everyone’s best friend during a race. I mean business and I like to keep a forward momentum. My role will always be to push everyone, including myself to do more.

The race started with one member of our group running to different checkpoints. This was short and quick. From now on the group stays together and we’re off to race.
The second part was 4km trail and bushwhack to 3 checkpoints. The last checkpoint was our first transition bin was. We fuelled up, filled water containers put on our helmets and off we went again. (1 hour 24 minutes into race)
The third was 18km of mountain biking with 4 checkpoints. We thought this was going to be easy but like 90% of the other teams we overshot and had cross 2 ridges and a swamp to get back on course. It was brutal hiking though that, let alone with a full backpack and a bike. When we found the trail again we were back in business and well on our way to transition 2. We put on our life jacket, grabbed the paddles and off again (4 hours 19 minutes into the race)
The fourth was canoeing and portaging for 34kms. It went great and we only had one hiccup where I took a wrong turn for 25 meters but noticed some trail markers. (later on this would help us) Our goal going into the race was to be off the water before dark. The previous setback on the bikes didn’t allow our plan to happen. We finished one last portage at dusk and paddled the last lake into the night reaching transition 3. (11 hours 1 minute into race)
The fifth was 21kms of bushwhacking. Here we put on our hiking shoes, headlamps and started off with a good pace into the bush. We got turned around countless amounts of times but trusted our navigator and his compass. We went over countless amounts of ridges and valleys. Through swamps, across a lake, over beaver dams and of course razor like grass and thorn bushes. We couldn’t find the trail off a set of train tracks and ended up at a trappers cabin. It was the same cabin we saw on a portage earlier with the canoe. From there we knew we had to cross the river and made our way back to an another previous portage location. We crossed the river and looked for the trail ( when I say trail I mean an overgrown trail with marker on trees here and there. Like finding a needle in a haystack) we couldn’t find it. We looked at the maps and not far away was another portage we had previously done while on the canoe leg. This time it was the one when I fucked up. That 25meter that we went off course was on the trail we were looking for. We navigated to that spot and were back on track. We reached the lake where Dennis swam across and got the canoe to taxi us over and we continued the trek till the sun came up. Reaching transition 4. (21 hours 43 minutes into race)
Back on the bikes for 50km of mud, road and trails. The fist 33km were biking to checkpoints and then for the last 17kms the checkpoints would be off trails. Here we hid our bikes, shot a bearing and hiked in and out. We repeated this a few times. Eventually crossing the finish line on our bikes at 28 hours and 49 minutes of race time.
I have 5 more days to recover and I’m attempting my fist ultra marathon. Wish me luck, I’m going to need it!

What is a backyard ultra?

In a backyard ultra, runners complete a 6.7 kilometre loop every hour. Why such an odd number? It is the pace equivalent of running a 100 miles in 24 hours. The format is simple yet demanding: runners have one hour to finish the loop, and any time left over can be used to rest, refuel, and prepare for the next lap. This cycle repeats until only one runner remains, having completed one more loop than the second-to-last competitor.

But there’s more to it than being the last bb standing. This format allows you to truly challenge yourself to go further than you’ve ever gone before, whether that’s 13.4km, 100km, or more ??

Join us on October 5-6 at Kivi Park and challenge yourself to go one more lap.

Information and Registration

BBBU24 Runner's Handbook

The Onaping Falls Nordic Ski Club invites you to join us in a fun fall event at the Windy Lake Trails.
October 20, 2024
8:00 am registration
9:00 am Hike/Run Start
11:30 am Bike Start
5km, 10km or 15km
After the race enjoy hot chocolate, s’mores by the bonfire at the finish line.