WHITEWATER REGION (Cobden) — The Wendigo Fatbike Ultramarathon took place over the weekend on the Algonquin Trail, from Cobden to Carleton Place, Ont. The event started and finished in Cobden and there were three distances to choose from, 50 km, 100 km and 200 km, which was to the Carleton Place arena and back.
There were 35 riders, eight being from the United States and some from as far as St Louis, Missouri. Other riders were from Essex Junction in Vermont, Piscataway in New Jersey, Mystic in Connecticut, Missouri and Illinois. Canadian racer locations were from Québec, as far as the Saint Sauveur region, and Ontario racers came from Cochrane, the Sault Ste. Marie area and the Ottawa Capital Region. There were local riders and some won their respective categories; Carey Dedo from Pembroke, 100 km Male; and Jordan Norris from Beachburg, 100 km Female.
The entire route, in all distances, happened on the Algonquin Trail and Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail, which is a multi-use, shared trail. There was an official morning briefing at the Whitewater Brewing Company’s (WBC) Lakeside location in Cobden at 6:30 a.m. Riders then did a neutral-speed ride with trucks front and back, to the trail crossing at Main Street. From there, at 7:00 a.m., the riders were let loose.
It was up to the fatbikers to hydrate and feed themselves, as they did not provide much support at their respective turn-around locations, noted above. The freezing temperatures with the windchill was the number one concern on everyone’s mind, including the Race Officials at the checkpoints. Everyone was on high alert for frostbite and hypothermia.
The cold temperatures caught up to many people as the day unfolded, with eight riders calling it quits due to the onset of hypothermia. They were then located and picked up by either a friend on stand-by, Race Officials, or they called a cab. All 100 km and 200 km racers had winter rated sleeping bags and cooking stoves to rewarm themselves should things get really bad. Mandatory gear requirements are listed on the event’s blog.
The last rider on the course was Jerome Dionne of Rigaud, QC. As a 200 km rider, he rode his bike from 7:15 a.m. to Saturday night at 11:30pm. He called for a pick up just off of Panmure, Rd., between Almonte, Ont. and Pakenham, Ont.
This was his third attempt at the Wendigo’s long-course. Out of the eight riders total in the 200 km distance, the only two finishers where Buck Miller from Huntsville, Ont. and Benoit Simard from Prevost, QC. They rode together for a total of 13.5 hours, arriving back at WBC for 8:45 p.m. for food and beverages. Race officials were Cameron Dube, Tim Ward and Matt Hamilton. There were many volunteers in Renfrew and rotating around the various checkpoints to help out.
Feedback was received from the fatbikers about the snowmobile traffic. As expected, there was good and not so good reports of skidoos passing riders at incredibly fast speeds. However, this was only reported a handful of times and the other feedback was generally positive. Organizers feel this was a terrific first attempt at such an event on this particular trail. The tentative dates for the next race are February 6 and February 7, 2021.
