On Tuesday September 9th, Nathalie, Yannick, Jean-François, and Me (James), along with Pete Dobos – the team’s support person for the race - headed out for the Raid International Gaspésie 3.5 day stage adventure race. This was our first race together as a team, although Nat and I had frequently raced against Yannick and J-F, who were regular team mates. After an overnight stop in Quebec City, we finally arrived in Carleton-Sur-Mer to jump right into the usual chaos that is pre-race preparation! There was an opening ceremony Wednesday evening where teams were introduced and we finally got the race maps. We already knew it was going to be a fast race based on last year, but with a sold-out 50 team race and 11 countries represented we knew this would really be a challenging event.
Prologue (From James' perspective):
The prologue started out the same way as the previous year – a blistering 2.1km run along the beach that had us red-lined right from the start. From there it was a short but challenging 1.2km bike ride along the beach and then into some double track trails. With such a short day, we knew there would be no letting up in the pace of the race all day, so everyone pushed as hard as they could. We dropped the bikes and headed up the very steep gravel road system leading to the top of Mt. St Joseph, the highest point in the area. Once at the top, I (James) was designated to head out onto a short ropes course (slackline) while the rest of the team took a quick break to re-fuel. From there it was a very fast descent on foot in single track trails.
At this point, Nat pointed out to the team that eating a meatball sub a few hours before the race may not have been the best decision ;-) but she managed to keep most (but not all!) of it down… The team then hopped on the bikes again for a jaunt mostly downhill on a beautiful hiking trail. We then faced our first of many water-based challenges in the race – a wetsuit-mandatory canyoning section, complete with slippery rocks, very cold pools of water at the base of waterfalls, an underwater checkpoint, a ropes section, and a crazy 20+ foot drop down a cement “waterslide” (you have to see the video!). Then back on the bikes back into town and onto the 2nd water-based challenge – a 15 foot leap off of a pier into the saltwater and a swim to a fishing boat to retrieve a checkpoint. This was a surprisingly tough little swim with the waves, fatigue, saltwater, and a difficult climb into the boat using only the fishing nets.
Then back on the bikes for a quick ride to the finish line. Prologue completed: We were wet, tired, excited, and amazed at how much action the organizers had managed to pack into only a few hours of racing. This certainly set the tone for the rest of the race. We finished the day in 11th place overall, 2nd in our category.
Day 1 (From James' perspective):
Day 1 was the team’s first full day of racing. The team was excited to get going once again but just like the prologue, the start had us red-lined right from the word “go”. We left from a farm on bikes and proceeded through a trail network. This led to a trekking section that featured a long hike in a very slippery riverbed with fast moving water carrying all of the team’s paddling gear. There was also a rappel down a waterfall for 2 team members, which was completed by Yannick and J-F. While this river trek was slow-going and cold, we were still able to keep a decent pace in relation to our competitors. The river finally led down to the team’s first paddling section of the race. The rivers in the area are shallow and fast-flowing, so the paddling was a constant search for the deepest water around while negotiating small to mid-sized rapids along the way.
We were able to make up a lot of ground on the flatwater sections of the paddle. In fact, we were so fast that we came in ahead of when our amazing one-man support crew – Pete – was expecting us. Pete was around the corner getting the team some hot beverages at the store when we came into the transition. But the team managed to find the support vehicle on our way out of transition, complete with race food, drinks, and sandwiches laid out waiting for us. Then on to a very steep climb on foot and then back down, mainly on trails, which initially seemed pretty straightforward. However, this turned our to be the costliest section of our race: the team lost about 10 minutes due to a navigation error, and Nathalie slipped on a muddy uphill section and smashed her knee pretty badly. While both of these things slowed the team’s pace temporarily, everyone worked well together to get the team back on pace. The next bike was a series of trails, gravel roads, and paved roads which enabled the team to push the pace and draft off of each other.
The bike eventually led to the final challenge of the day, a short trek that involved crossing a fast flowing waist-deep river to get to the finish line. Another intense, wet, and chilly day completed!
At the end of Day 1 the weather was still rainy which made things difficult for us to repack for the next day knowing that nothing would dry overnight and attempting to keep some things dry for the following day's race.
As soon as we passed the finish line we were told to go to the white tent where some maple toffee and some smoked salmon were waiting for us…that was so great. We also used up a table there with the lights to work on the maps for day2 before heading to a small restaurant to get some warm food.
Day 2 (From Nat's perspective):
The start of day 2 was at 9am but we needed to be there at 8:30am and it was 45min away. We woke up shortly after 6am, made our breakfast and packed up the tent and gears. The results were up. We were still second in our category with the Brazilians and Danish in between 10 to 20 min behind us and we were standing in 12th place overall.
We started on the bike from a big field and soon we were climbing.
My (Nat's) hip and knee were a little sore from the fall the previous day and were of a nice blue-blackish color at that point. The bike section went relatively well. The Danish were ahead and we didn’t know by how far.
We reached the transition and started a trek that was almost all runnable. We were hoping to make up some time but when we got to the canoe transition we couldn’t see the Danish team…they were on the water already.
We spent too much time at this transition trying to sort out the canoes. A lot of them were broken and we couldn’t decide which ones to take.
Once on the water we realized quickly that we wouldn’t make up too much time on that leg because it was a fast moving water leg. It is a lot harder to make up time on fast moving water with rapids than it is on flat water. To our surprise while going downstream we saw the Danish team going back upstream. They had missed the CP and had a couple rapids to paddle back. I think that gave us a little boost and we pushed a little harder.
We finished the paddle without any problems and jumped back on the bikes to get to the next TA which was coasteering section with a little swim and a zipline before getting to the finish.
We ran on the beach and then walked in the water along the cliff. We swam to a buoy and back for a CP then there was more running to the zipline CP. We got there just after a team of two from Canada - MOB. As we were waiting for James and Yannick to do the ropes section we saw the Danish arriving.
We left before they got on the rope and ran to the last CP and then on to the finish. We had a good day overall. We were happy.
Time to sort out the maps for the next day, pack our gear and sleep.
Day 3 (From Nat's perspective):
After spending our last night in bivouac, it was an early morning that was waiting for us.
The start of the race was scheduled at 5:30am from the top of Mt. St Joseph. We were a 35min drive from there and had to be there 30min prior to the start, making it a 3:45am wake up for us. A quick breakfast, packing up tents and gear, and off we went in the truck. We arrived at the top of Mont St Joseph in the pitch dark. The organisation decided to give us an extra 10min to have the first rays of sunshine rising for the start of the race.
The start was a MTB start again. I (Nathalie) am not at ease with mass starts. I feel comfortable once the crowd is spread out, that’s when my race begins.
We knew from the results posted that same morning that we had barely ten minutes on the Danish team (they got a 15min credit for waiting at the canoe section I think) and that today wouldn’t be an easy one. The two person co-ed team from Canada (MOB) had also passed us in the ranking. We were 13th overall. Day 3 had a lot of biking, which is the Danish’s strength, but we would fight till the end for our second place.
We started on the bike, like the other days a little behind lots of people and then played catch up one team at a time. As we reached the first TA to go for a 1km out and back hike to a CP, my bike gears started jamming up and I couldn’t use the 4 easiest gears of my bike. After running to the CP and back James managed to gain back a couple of my gears quickly and we left again.
James helped me a lot during every MTB stage, pushing me up the hills and mentoring me in the more technical sections. We had a couple of hike-a-bike sections on that day, one big downhill bushwacking and a long zig-zagging uphill after a CP in the river.
We knew the Danish Merrell team was ahead of us, but we were catching up. We got to the second transition for a 2km hike to a swimming out-and-back CP. We dropped our bikes and started running. We caught up to the Danish team by the time we got to the lake. Yannick went for the swim and we ran back neck-and-neck with the other team.
We jumped back on the bikes to do an orienteering section. The Danish had passed us in transition and were now ahead. Our orienteering section went well and we were out of there and back on the road to get to another transition. We left that transition 5-10min behind the Danish. It was a short hike through a river to collect a couple of CPs to get back to the beach where we would eventually jump back on the bikes. We decided to bushwack instead of taking the road and the creek down to the river. We hit the river and saw the Danish just ahead of us. It was such a smart move… only problem was we were not sure if the CP was upstream or downstream from where we met up with the river. So we decided to go upstream a little bit before coming back on our steps. The CP was barely ten meters further downstream from where we had originally hit the river on the bushwhack. We managed that river section very well and caught up and passed the Danish team again.
I knew the next section was a 4.5km ride on the beach and I am a terrible rider in the sand. I was so panicked by that section that I wanted to put as much time on foot on the Danish team as possible to have a buffer for the final bike on the beach. We got to the TA and jumped on the bikes. As I was expecting, the Danish team passed us (I don’t know how they were towing their girl in the sand…it amazes me!) but we managed to keep them in sight till the next and last transition. We went up some stairs, picked up two canoes and were up for a 9km paddle to finish up the race.
We got in the water a few minutes after the Danish but it didn’t take long before we caught up to them. We had a strong last paddle. We did a portage once we reached the barachoi (lagoon) and had a sluggish paddle to the finish line after that due to the shallow water and weeds in there.
We were very happy with how the race went and with our second place co-ed finish (12th overall). It was a great event, fast, but great.
We want to thank the organisation - Endurance Aventure - for such a great event, and also our sponsors for their support. Thanks to Altra Running Canada, Nuun Hydration, Pacific Health Labs, Strongbar Nutrition, Osprey Packs, 2XU Canada, Pearl Izumi, and Natural fitness lab.
And I (Nathalie) want to thank my team for this amazing race!
