Format: Ski-O with two handicap boxes
Terrain: flat to rolling, white forest, snowshoe trails, single-track, machine track-set, skate trails, bushwhack
Weather: Sunny and crispy chilly
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This being my second Stars WAR at Wasaga Beach, I meant to prepare, but of course forgot last year's map at home. I also forgot my highlighters but thankfully borrowed from a friend.
There were 7 point-to-point controls plus 2 boxes of 4 controls, where I could skip 1 in each. I think I picked a decent route, and off we went, shuffling up the mountain and through the forest to the start. This was mainly a team ski/snowshoe race, and these guys mass started first. Then they started us skiers one per minute.
I started behind my two rivals: MT, a highly-ranked junior skiier, whose parents had won this race on occasion, and VD, our dear course setter's wife and a great skier/orienteer as well.
The first leg was a long slog on a snowshoe trail. I caught up to VD at one point, and my nerves got to me. I was really intent on getting a particular control that I thought was my first one, that I skied right passed #1 and on to the first optional A. D'oh! I climbed the hill to manual-punch A, then had to backtrack 200m for 1, much to the surprise of the later starters.
The long ski to 2 was really nice, although I eventually got stuck behind some straggling ski teams who had a hard time climbing. I also missed an opportunity to bushwhack instead of switchbacking, but I enjoyed the fast ski. The next leg was fun on a skate trail. The snow was so glidy and smooth, that I could even skate a bit - I think??? I easily hit my other two letter controls in the lower box and then jumped in for #3. Passed a team of skaters, who were having trouble on the single track.
Since many of the fast teams had gone ahead, there was a nice trail blazed to cut between several parallel ski trails. I came out onto a major track that should have taken me up to 4. I kept going and going, but there was no turn-off. I eventually found myself at a junction with a little warming hut, and thank goodness, because then I could see how far north I had ended up on the map. Another racer had the same problem as me and went back out to investigate - turns out the trail we were looking for to get to 4 did not really exist!
Met "Bender" and his teammate "Mick" as I skated (!) my way back down to 4 - a junction control, from which I had to grab three controls labelled 5, then return to in order to continue to 6. 5a was really close through a bit of forest, and I was surprised no one had broken trail for me yet, harrumph. So I took off my hopeless skis and hoofed it. Definitely worth it. As I left the control, I wanted to take a gel, so I didn't notice that I had dropped one of my poles. Had to backtrack again 200m to pick it up, golly! Really surprised that one team of struggling skaters who had now caught up to me. "How could you possibly not have noticed that you don't have a pole??"
I quickly hit the other two 5 controls, and decided to take a skate trail back up to 4. The trail was really cool, as it had constant little ups and downs. Not the best for classic skis, but since the snow was great for it, I could help myself with a bit of skating.
I saw VD again as I was leaving 4 back down the same trail, plus I had now passed those skaters again, and my excitement got the better of me again. Along the long ski down to 6, I made one right turn way too early. This time it was a 300m-each-way mistake. Yikes. I passed the skaters again on that awful snowshoe single track heading back to the start/finish, but I was sure that VD had gone by. A male skier was also catching up to me now, and I had to let him go.
Now I passed the Treehuggers team heading out on their snowshoe portion, followed about 10mins by Bender and Mick, then "Tiny" and his partner. The ski tracks were rapidly deteriorating under their clunky footwear, haha. I couldn't catch the guy who had passed me for anything. Finally gasped my way to the finish in 1:58, two minutes behind him.
In the end, I was the third woman and sixth skier. VD made a mistake after 4 and did not finish. MT won handily, the little whippersnapper. After the race, there was a some talk of getting more ski-Os going in Ontario, as driving out to eastern NY state sucks. RD Nick, BC, and MT's parents are all into putting something else together. I told the RD that I could do this every weekend.
To summarize, I think the course really favoured classic skiers, or at least evened out the advantage that skaters might have had. I couldn't believe how easy it was to move on this snow too. The adventure teams felt that the handicap system was fair and quite democratizing. A wonderful, wonderful day. Despite the fact that I lost about 1.4km worth of time (10-15mins) through stupid mistakes. But I got a sweet door prize - massage therapy with, of all people, the wife of the dude who passed me on that last fight to the finish. Oh, my back needs that.
--Distance: 14.5km
--Duration: 1:58
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