The inaugural Mountain Grind obstacle course, a 9 km run through the forest on the Suncoaster Trail in Pender Harbour, was a resounding success for co-creators Amanda Peterson and Silke Linnmann.
“I liked doing it, so I don’t want to say it was really hard,” Linnmann said. “It was challenging, but I like challenges. I enjoyed every single minute of it.”
The event started on Saturday, April 25 with a kick-off party, dinner and beer garden before the actual race on Sunday. Out of 308 participants, Linnmann estimated that roughly 75 per cent were local, including third-place finisher Owen Coombes from Sechelt.
Matthew Petranic from Port Moody finished first with Damien Towns from North Vancouver coming in less than a minute behind for second place.
Participants had the option of competing individually or in teams. The results for individuals are listed in the sports ticker on page 48, and team placement can be found online at www.sportstats.ca.
Team Isl Engineering came in first, with Off Coast Invasion and The Muddiest only a few minutes behind.
Obstacle courses have become very popular. Events like Tough Mudder draw competitors from around the world. Linnmann was happy with the turnout for the Mountain Grind, and said that next year she would like to double their numbers.
“We might do some changes; we want to have more people coming. We want to open it for more people, because I’m pretty sure we can double the number of participants,” she said.
Next year they are looking at having two races over the weekend, which would make it easier for participants to attend. But Linnmann said her biggest challenge would be finding enough volunteers. This year they had 60, but Linnmann said that she would need to double that if they did two races.
Although she is starting to think about next year’s Mountain Grind, Linnmann declined to share any of her ideas until they are more concrete.
Local carpenter Mike Bathgate designed, orchestrated and built the obstacles with the help of volunteers and John Schroeder, who dug out the large mud pits and glacier water slide — the first ever water slide in an obstacle course, according to Linnmann. She said that, thanks to these two and her volunteers, they had no problems constructing the obstacles.
“I think the most fun obstacle was the mud pit over-under,” Linnmann said. “Even my volunteers said it was the most entertaining thing they’ve ever witnessed.”
A few people stopped to have mud fights in the pit, where a series of logs in chest deep muddy water had to be navigated.
