Contribution: Harold Piel
Event Name: Mad Trapper Night (Snowshoe) Race
Date: Saturday, January 27, 2024
Location: The Ark, 285 Farrelton Road, Denholm, QC
Synopsis – what was memorable at this event?
Running through the woods up and down winding singletrack with your headlamp lighting the way in the black darkness.
Briefly describe the overall venue & course:
The event takes place at The Ark, at Mike’s place (AKA The Mad Trapper): with 3K, 5K and 10K course available. Off-the-Grid fun haven for runners and folks seeking a non-standard type of adventure. Course outlined in the hills around his property: no flat areas to be found. Loaner snowshoes are available onsite.
My Race Experience:
Recently returning to Canada from a significant time in the tropical heat, what better way to acclimatize than to drive out into the back country of Quebec to visit The Mad Trapper, strap on some running snowshoes, and run around in the woods at night with my headlamp.
As usual, this outing started with Judy’s need and desire to head out to the Mad Trapper Show shoe event to visit the site, as well as bring a bag full of prizes from Bushtukah for participants. Bit of a drive, so I would accompany her, and as per tradition, signup for the event as a fun-run back here in Canada.
Packing various gear and dry cloths into my large duffle bag, pre-dressed at home as we headed out to The Ark. It’s about an hour drive from our house here in Barrhaven, and by the time we arrive at The Ark, we’re a world away from our quiet suburban neighborhood. Always great to see Mike at The Ark, and we quickly picked up our race bibs, dumped gear in The Great Hall that had a woodburning stove for heating going, and got into the proper layers. Attaching the loaner shoe shoes to my trail runners is always critical, as the bindings are new (to me): no problem with the great Atlas Running Snowshoes provided. Thanks!!
The start was at 6:00pm sharp (ish), with 40-50 folks lining up for briefing outside to go over how the markers are setup. . . . and we’re off! With the keeners at the front, I did hang back with group that self-seeded in the rear, though quickly realized I need to get in front of them on the double track at the start of the uphill climb in the first 500m. Judy also passed me at this point too, as she was taking photo’s at the start line.
Onto the single track I went, with my headlamp dancing in the darkness, showing me where the beaten trail was with all the lead runners kindly trampling the 12+ inches of granular snow into a loosely consolidated trail. Winding through trees, and up and down every hill and incline possible, it was a concentrated effort to ensure footings were accurate as I made progress in the darkness. After the first KM, had no one visible behind me, and I could occasionally see a few headlamps in front. Reflecting at this time as well where I was last week: Bangkok. How quickly things can change.
With the winding nature of the trail, I could sometimes see runners coming towards me on a nearby track – though these runners were well ahead of me. Two, three and four kilometers into the run, definitely warm, but not too overdressed. Show flying, so fairly damp at this time too. There were a pair of runners coming up from behind every once in a while, though I managed to stay in front of them. Buried in the snow, there were also hazards you had to watch for: stumps, logs, and tree branches eager to trip up a runner that was not paying attention. Kept upright on my feet for the entire run!
At the last KM or so, was occasionally closing in on the runner in front of me, though he kept 40-50m in front of me in the woods for the last kilometer. Having done the run last year, it was helpful as the final 3-400m seemed familiar, and I could also see the faint lights of The Ark through the woods well before I started the final descent down to the finish line.
Crossing the line, The Mad Trapper and other participants cheering away, and recording my achievement. Judy already there too and after a few minutes of staying outside, we headed into The Great Room to get into dry cloths, and enjoy the chilli, chips, hot chocolate (beer also avail), and the famous brownies from Monique.
With everyone mostly finishing, Mike started the awards ceremony: mentioning who placed in which events…. and then the prize distribution started. For folks that have never participated in a Mad Trapper Event, prizes are NOT awarded to placing, as Mike will game the prizes away to participants. As well as some other random criteria (Hint: being a driver for carpooling often gets you a prize!). Always fun to catch up with old friends, and make new ones.
Warm, happy, well fed, tired and very satisfied, we headed home eager to have a shower, and tuck into bed to battle the remainder of our jet lag.
Would you do this event again?
Yep, done this twice now, and could become a regular thing. Night snowshoe run lots of fun in the snowy hills of The Ark. The small venue is lots of fun.
Would you recommend this event?
Absolutely! If you have not participated in a Mad Trapper Series event, you got to do this as ”SomeThing New”.
Closing thoughts. Any hints for others planning to do this race? Where to stay? Things to bring? What to wear?
For the winter snowshoeing, defiantly bring a complete change of cloths and shoes. There are places to change at The Ark inside The Great Room. Simple day trip you won’t forget. Bring a fully charged headlamp, because when you are in the woods, it’s only your headlamp that will show you the path!
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Overall Venue Rating: :
5 – Fantastic: OK, I’m bias, but I do like The Ark, and the somewhat quirky and always friendly company of Mike (AKA Mad Trapper) and Monique his wife. Great people for inviting us into their home for these events.
Please rate the course:
5 – Fantastic: love running through the woods in the dark. Really.
Run K2J 