Bear Mountain 10 km

November 20, 2010

This is billed as Canada's toughest 10km race.  It is known for its rolling hills and it's 3 major climbs: Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear.  The course mainly goes along the golf cart paths around the Bear Mountain golf course.  I ran it two years ago -- and leading up to the race this year, I was questioning why I had signed up for it again.  It was definitely a challenging course, where there would not be any PBs set, and one that would definitely get your heart pumping.

However, this year, it would be an entirely different story.  Victoria is definitely not known for having cold or snowy winters, but this year, as a result of an Arctic weather system that made its way down to the coast of British Columbia, snow had covered our fair city on race day morning.  While it was only a light dusting in the city centre, up at the top of Bear Mountain it was full-on winter, and the race organizers were plowing the course to try and have it ready for the race.

Unfortunately, the snow was too much for our fearless race organizers and the course was shortened to 6-6.5 km.  Despite the inclement weather, more than 400 runners still showed up for the race.  This made planning what to wear somewhat of a challenge - to not overheat, but to have enough clothing to remain warm.  The shoes were another dilemma.  Shane and I had both brought our screw shoes, as one of the many options for footwear.  But, after the pre-run, we both decided to don our road shoes, as the paths didn't seem too treacherous.

Huddling at the race start, we waited for the count-down.  Then we were off on the slippery road.  Right off the bat, I was not totally into the race.  I didn't have my usual competitiveness, and watched as a number of women passed me on the first stretch. My body felt lethargic and I didn't have the desire to push it.  This race draws out a relatively competitive crowd, as there is prize money awarded for the first 5 men and women overall.  I figured I wasn't in the running, as I'd noticed a few very fast women at the race.

We wound our way along the road onto the beginning of the path, which quickly wound downhill along a steep and somewhat slippery part of the path.  I definitely checked my speed here, as I didn't want to injure myself on this early descent.  Soon thereafter we were at the start of the Papa Bear climb.  As a result of shortening the course, the Mama and Baby climbs were removed, but the longest and toughest climb (Papa) remained.  The Papa Bear climb is about 1 mile long, and gets steeper as you near the top.  It was during this climb that I got my stride.

I started feeling better as we made our way through the climb, and soon I started passing people.  My overall desire to do well kicked in, as I passed a few of the women who were ahead of me.  I started to feel strong and stayed strong throughout the rest of the race.

At the top of the climb, we were hit with a wall of wind.  It felt like it ground me to a complete standstill and I was amazed that I was still moving forward.  Luckily, other than that section, the wind wasn't too strong during the race.  I gained confidence as the race went on, and started moving a bit faster on the descents.  I strode out and kept trying to catch the next person in front of me.  On the last climb of the course I caught the last women who was in my sights.  I didn't want to lose my lead over her, so I was focused on pushing it through the rest of the race.  It's always a bit unnerving as you pass someone in a race because you don't know where they end up.  They may catch on to your speed and stay right behind you. Thankfully I was able to put about 20 seconds on her.

As I neared the finish two different people yelled out to me 'Good job, you're 4th woman' and 'Way to go, 3rd woman'.   I thought there was a possibility that I was maybe 5th, but third -- no way.  I finished in 29:01, hopeful that I was in the top 5.

Although I'd worn long tights and a long-sleeve shirt, the cold still got to me, and I felt as though my limbs were restricted.  I definitely did not have the ease of movement that I usually have, and this likely impacted my performance somewhat. 

After a long cool-down run, Shane and I entered the awards ceremony, where I learned that I was in fact just out of the prize money, having come in 6th woman overall.  However, I was pleased with  my performance and by the fact that I was able to convert a race in which I started off feeling so-so, into a decent finish.  Shane did quite well, and eked out 4th place overall, just beating out Jason Loutitt on the final stretch.  David Jackson took the overall win (albeit in a slightly faster time, as he inadvertently cut a couple hundred meters off the course), and Care Wakely was the first female in 24:45.  Full results here.

I may do this course again in the future, just to see how I hold up over all 3 hills, and the complete 10km distance.  Thanks to Frontrunners Westshore for putting it on -- although I do still miss the beautiful forest that the Bear Mountain resort took over in favour of development.