(c/o Greater Wanup Observer) The 2021 XTERRA Conquer the Crater off-road multi-sport race held in Greater Sudbury, Ontario on August 14, 2021, was the premier off-road destination triathlon for Canada this year. With a healthy number of slots to the XTERRA World Championships and the accompanying prize purse, the race drew elite multi sport athletes from around the country. Here we take an intimate view of the race through the lens of local legend, Rob E., a Greater Wanup area homesteader, and a member of the local triathlon club. Join us as we take take heavily edited and out-of-context quotes from his private race-day diary found hosted on an old myspace page:
Race Morning
'Race the way you train' is the mantra of the Greater Wanup Triathlon club, so waking up on race morning after 4 hours of sleep slightly hungover, I was in my wheelhouse. Up at 6am with the crowing of a rooster I reviewed my Race Plan:
GWTC XTERRA Conquer the Crater Race Plan
1.) Execute race-day nutrition plan
2.) Squeeze into one-piece triathlon suit and look fabulous
3.) Not shit self
My coaching staff had stayed up late the previous night perfecting the race day nutrition plan, including one trip to an undisclosed health food store on Paris Street in Greater Sudbury in search of any new performance enhancing products and came up big. The first step was to execute the nutrition plan, which called for quickly downing an Essential Amin.o. Energy on the Go, Vega Sport Sugar free energizer, and a Skratch Labs Hydration mix, and washing it down with strong black coffee. I had some reservations about taking a number of untested expired supplements the morning of the race, but recalling the words of club's honorary nutrition coach: "There's no better time to try this than now."
Energized and hydrated, my body buzzing with "Amin.o.", I ticked off the first item of the race plan and was feeling great.
Nutrition seems important, but once your team comes up with the cocktail, all you have to do is take it. The biggest decision on race morning is a tough one: what to wear.
A one piece triathlon suit will shave off precious seconds by not having to put on a shirt at Transition 1, but stripping it down for any bathroom breaks will requires at least 5 minutes of yoga-like contortions. A gurgling from my stomach reminded me that the cocktail of coffee and expired sports supplements would make a mid-race bathroom break a likely eventuality.
But the stakes were high, and any opportunity to shave off seconds had to be taken. Throwing caution to the wind I sucked in my gut and squeezed into the one-piece triathlon suit. Feeling svelte and looking like superman coming back from a lengthy and gluttonous retirement, I ticked off item number 2 of the race plan, and drove to Kivi park to setup my transition area.
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| Transition Area 2 (T2) zone of the XTERRA Conquer the Crater off-road triathlon for the 40-49 age group category. |
At the parking area athletes milled about waiting for the shuttle to take them to the Crowley Lake transition area. A few enterprising athletes rode their bikes to Crowley lake, but luckily GWTC staff had scouted the route in the previous days and knew it was a lengthy and hilly ride to the start of the race and I opted to preserve all stamina by taking the race shuttle.
Event 1: Crowley Lake Open Water Swim, 750m
Some ambitious swimmers were even warming up by swimming lengths in the lake, but I wanted to reserve everything for the race. At 750m this would be one of my longest swims in living memory, and I planned to hold a blistering 2min/100m pace, hoping to come out of the water mid-pack.
Flying out of the water and into the transition zone I capitalized on the decision to wear the one-piece tri-suit with a quick transition, shoes and helmet only, mounted the bike and quickly sped out of the transition area and onto the mountain bike course.
Event 2: Kivi park Cross Country Mountain bike course, two loops for a total of 19km
Taking a more minimalist and holistic approach to racing, I decided to forgo wearing a heart rate monitor or power meter, and base my pacing entirely on my finely calibrated perceived exertion scale. Approximately 2 kilometres into the cycling leg I decided to take a glance at my perceived exertion meter:
Being red-lined and fully anaerobic early in an endurance race is my standard pacing strategy, so I felt right at home as I gulped for air on the climbs, and then white-knuckled it down the steep rocky technical descents.
Despite a sound nutrition strategy, familiar pacing, and an excellent wardrobe choice, a catastrophic accident early in the bike shattered podium ambitions: after dismounting and carrying the bike up a particularly steep climb I was travelling at approximately 0.0 km/hr, dazed and confused, I fell to the side when awkwardly trying to remount atop a rocky outcrop. The ground fell away, and unable to reach the ground with my arms, the handlebar, braced firmly against 1.9 Billion year old Superior cratonic granite, speared into my chest.
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| The result of a bike crash early in the race, the Greater Wanup Triathlon club member stoically pushed through the injury for a mid* pack finish. |
It wasn't until a few weeks later that some sage advice from Vernon B.C. trickled it's way to Greater Wanup via Waterloo and an electrified vehicle, with wise words about mountain biking: "Fall to the uphill side". Luckily the cocktail of expired supplements had dulled my pain receptors, and I quickly regained composure and finished the mountain bike portion of the race with no further incident.
However, I was a bit dismayed at the number of bikes hung up on the rack at the transition area - I would have to reel them in using my walk/run race pacing strategy.
Event 3: Kivi park trail run, 9km
At roughly 3x the distance of my standard training run, the XTERRA run course would test my mettle. I would need to employ the well-used GWTC walk/run pacing strategy and avoid blowing up early. Checking that my perceived exertion was still firmly in the Extreme Zone, I pushed forward on the trails hoping to reel in any athletes in the 40-45 age group. Luckily the race organizers followed the multi-sport tradition of stencilling ones age on their right calf making it easy to see who else is in your age group during the race.
At the halfway point I was passed by a F49, and a M53, but them not being in my age group I paid them no attention. However with a few km remaining I was passed by a M43! Someone in my age group, I sprang into action.
The voice of my old college roommate V-Unit floated into my head, like the words of Obi Wan coaching a young Luke Skywalker: "Feed the Warrior!", he said, "Pain is temporary, and quitting lasts forever." The words of my old friend and mentor brought a sudden clarity and focus to the race. Wiping the sweat from my face, I decided to trust a quick fart, and ran forward.
In addition to teaching me the finer points of euro cycling style, V-Unit also taught me the psychological warfare tricks and tactics of track running. Quickly recalling all that he had said on the subject, I paced my adversary, but did not pass.
Still pacing, I waited for an uphill portion, and then attacked, surging past him with a burst of speed I didn't know I had. Cresting the hill with him in pursuit but out of sight, I recklessly free-wheeled down the other side as fast as I could, hoping to widen the gap. I kept the pace until I went around a bend, and then fell back on the walk-run strategy and walked a few meters, catching my breath. With the gap developed, and my age-group pursuer briefly out of sight I could rest a moment without him seeing me. Refreshed, I pushed on, repeating this tactic several times - widening the gap while he was in sight, and then walking to catch my breath with him out of site.
With my Amin.o. levels running low and nearing my limits, the finish line was finally in sight. I surged forward with one final kick and crossed the finish line.
I waited for my age group pursuer who was only a few steps behind, giving him a covid appropriate light fist bump, and congratulating him on a well fought race; elated that I had 'Fed the Warrior', but a bit ashamed of the psychological warfare I had unleashed on the final stretches.
Post race: hoping for a trickle-down Kona slot
Milling about the event after the race waiting for the results to be posted I pondered the race. Looking at the bikes in the transition area, my early 2000's Kona mountain bike with it's 26-inch wheels was a bit of an odd-duck - every one else had a modern 29-inch XC bike, with a single front chain ring, dual suspension, and tubeless tires.
Recalling one of the many mantra's of the Greater Wanup Triathlon club, "Good triathletes don't blame their equipment; but great ones do", I muttered to myself - next year I would have to consider an upgrade.
A short time after the race results were posted:
My controversial kick at the end had placed me from bottom-of-pack (BOP) to firmly in the middle-of-pack* (MOP) territory, finishing at place 15 out of 16 in my age group - that Kona slot was within reach! Having been to several horse auctions I was familiar with the horse-trading that occurs as athletes buy/sell/trade their Kona slot in an ad hoc auction when the official results were posted. I waited around hoping for a potential trickle down slot, after all, the uncertainty of international travel and COVID might make some athletes not want to use that slot, unfortunately, it was not to be.
Conclusion
With a sense of relief, I ticked off the third item from the Race Plan: despite trusting a few risky farts there were zero-sharts or close calls. My well crafted race plan had executed perfectly, and the nutrition plan involving expired and exotic performance supplements, though risky, worked, and I was fueled for the entire race.
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| A member of the Greater Wanup Triathlon Club celebrates their middle-of-pack* finish at the XTERRA Conquer the Crater off-road triathlon, Sudbury Ontario |
* The GWTC defines "mid-pack" as any position that isn't first or last in an age group.
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