Well, the summer is almost over, I guess I should break the radio silence. I had previously recapped the 2 Kids’ Triathlons we did this summer, now it’s time to tackle our favourite trail races.
The season started at the Terra Cotta Conservation Area. This April race tends to have cooler weather, but on this particular day, I think we’d had some of the nicer weather of the Spring season. It was also my first race as an official Trail Crew Leader, so while I was nervous about fulfilling duties, it was exciting to deepen my connections with the 5 Peaks community, especially those excellent people who help make these races so fun.
Shark Boy did very well for himself and got himself all the way to the podium for the 3 km Kids Timed event; I think the concepts of pacing yourself and racing strategy (which at his age is mostly not looking behind yourself too much) might be getting through to him.
The Lightning Kid participated in the 1 km fun run, which he might think is some kind of parade considering how much he likes to ham it up for the crowds.
I hadn’t gotten a lot of running training in during the winter months so I limited myself to the Sport Course (5.4 km). Not only did I have a lot of fun (with a back of the pack finish time) but I got the sweet convertible running gloves to take home.
The Rattlesnake Point race took place in June, and I have to say the highly technical clambering involved on that course makes it one of my favourites. Of course, I did commit to the difficulty of the Enduro Course – at 12.7 km it is well over double the distance of the Sport Course on the same day (and most other races) – so I had plenty of time to rethink my decision on the trail…
But first, let me talk about the kids’ races. I volunteered to ‘sweep’ the kids’ races to make sure no one was left behind… and I got to witness the sweetest little girl (who was no bigger than the Lightning Kid) and was tackling the timed Kids’ 3 km. She was accompanied by her mom so my presence was mostly superfluous, but you know, safety first! Anyway, she completed that course with nothing but smiles, and I heard her chirp “I love this because of the challenge!”, or something along those lines. My heart nearly burst.
My own kids were no slouches either, of course.
We had hot weather and plenty of exhausting climbs, but the scenery is gorgeous along the Niagara Escapement – don’t mind the Turkey Vultures… they won’t feed on you unless you run really slow. I slowed down enough to take in (and photograph) some beautiful wood sculptures.
If some of this (fun for kids, beautiful scenery, hustling your butt along a trail…) looks like fun, the next race is at the Heart Lake Conservation Area in Brampton, ON on September 16th. Please consider joining me by clicking on this link and using the code IRONROGUE for a 10% discount. There’s even a free water bottle as take home swag!
And if you can’t make that one, the Kortright Centre Race is on October 28th. Register here with the same IRONROGUE discount code.
Will I see you there?