The 36th Royal Lepage Snow to Surf Race was a blast to compete in

by Keith and Heather Nicol

Just before the start of my cross country ski leg

      The annual Snow to Surf Race was a bunch of fun and a great way to meet people. It is also the longest running multi-stage event in Canada and this year celebrated its 36^th anniversary. We had watched this event a couple of years ago but other commitments (including buying a house with a closing date on the same weekend as the event) had prevented us from entering it in the past. But this year I was contacted by a team from Parksville who needed a cross country skier and jumped at the chance to join a team. Island Cycle has been competing for a several years and team organizer Doug Herchmer told me that they had made the podium in the 40 plus age category (Grand Masters Men) in the some years but had come in 4^th last year out of 6 teams. “We are hoping to get back on the podium this year” he told me. 

The road bike route is about 25 km and the longest leg

      For readers that aren’t familiar with the event it starts at Mt Washington Alpine Ski area with an alpine skier , who then touches cross country skier. The next 2 legs are run legs followed by a mountain biker who passes to a sea kayaker. The final legs are a taken over by a road biker, followed by a short run which connects to the final stage- canoeing down the Puntledge River to the Comox Marina. This year there were 117 teams and so in all there are close to 1000 athletes involved. And they come from all over Vancouver Island with some teams coming from the mainland. This year the fastest teams came across the finish line in just 3:16.02!!  Our team came in 43^rd overall and we were over an hour behind the winners. Our time of 4:32.52 was good enough for 5^th in our age class out of 9 teams so no podium this year. In “justifying” our overall time Doug did point out that we were one of the oldest teams in the event so perhaps 43^rd out of 117 wasn’t too bad.  

Canoers coming into the finish line at Comox Marina

      The whole event finishes with an awards ceremony and social/beer garden in the Comox Marina Park which was a perfect way to rehash the event and chat to other teams.  If you can do one of these activities listed above and have not been in this event, think about putting in a team for next year. Or if you can’t create a team, teams are often looking for specific people to fill in for certain spots so you can join a team like I did. For more information on this event check out this web site: http://www.snowtosurf.com/