Everybody has their favourite event on the calendar each year and for me that is the Frosty Mountain Ultra trail race, which has been held in Manning Park BC since 2008. I will be going back for the 3rd consecutive year this September.
Here are the top ten reasons why I love the Frosty Mountain Ultra (and you can too):
- Frosty is one of the most scenic courses you'll ever find anywhere with seemingly endless Mountain views. It's wonderful to be in a wild place like this.
- The location is perfect for either driving in from Vancouver for the day or spending the whole weekend in beautiful Manning Park. The 8 am start time helps with that too.
- The event has a great grass-root feel about it which I love. It's actually quite amazing how the race director Gottfried and a couple of dozen volunteers are able to pull off a quality event like this.
- There is absolutely no cell reception in the area, so you will not be able to check your tweets, texts or Facebook as you make your way across the course or reach the finish. Nothing could be more relaxing.
- My schedule allows me to do a lot of my training during school hours. It's tough for me however to do any kind of structured training in the lead up to the Frosty Mountain race due to the fact that my kids are off school throughout the summer. So there is very little pressure for me to do my best. I just show up and do the best I can with some run commuting, random long runs and peak bagging missions for preparation.
- Making it to the finish before the veggie burgers run out is a good motivator (legend has it that this has happenend in the past).
- Any race distance can be humbling, but there is also a realistic chance that you bump into somebody who just completed the Pacific Crest Trail which is a 4270 km trek from Mexico to British Columbia with the northern terminus close to the race start at 20 Minute Lake. Now that really takes self propelled long distance travel to the next level.
- It's a "Goldilocks" course in terms of technicality. Not too easy, but no crazy ankle eating terrain either. Make no mistake though. There is lots of climbing and descending to be done.
- It's a great value with the ultra distance costing $ 60 for the early bird registration.
- There is a challenge for every ability level with a flat and fast 13 km, a one mountain 27 km option and a 50 km two mountain ultra distance.
See you in September in Manning Park.
Marc