This year, we decided to make a family adventure out of it. My personal goals for the weekend were to take Hayden on his first three-day adventure and to figure out how to pack for three without looking like the Beverly Hillbillies! Second to that, I planned to race on Sunday while Brandon hung out with Hayden and took video of the race.
Bowen Island Ferry We arrived on the island Friday around noon. After finding our waterfront rental cabin, the Lazy Bowen Hideaway, we unpacked the van, made some snacks, and headed out for high adventure.
Lazy Bowen Hideaway 
At just over 2000 feet, Mt. Gardner is the highest point on Bowen Island and is accessed by a steep, somewhat technical trail to the top. It would be a perfect pre-race shake-down hike for our family. We found the trailhead and Brandon loaded food, water, camera gear, extra rain jackets, diapers and a change of clothes for Hayden in his pack. I loaded Hayden in the front carrier and we were off. We began climbing immediately and it only got steeper and steeper as we went. The tight trail wound through a dense forest, and we played connect-the-dots by following blaze orange tags nailed to trees, which led like a trail of bread crumbs toward the summit. As we gained elevation, we found ourselves scrambling over rocks and squeezing our way under deadfall and through tight branches. After an hour and a half of sweaty climbing and scrambling, we popped out at a helipad and, like most island hikes, some sort of relay station or cell tower. The view that awaited us, however, was stunning, and we stared out over the distant Vancouver skyline and Howe Sound vistas. It was well worth the effort!
Checking out the view from the top of Mt Gardner
On Saturday, after a lazy breakfast, our mission was to scout places for Brandon to take vide of Sunday’s race. Armed with a Bowen Island map, our journey took us to all the best beaches and viewpoints on the island. We walked stretches of driftwood beaches and took turns paddling our surfskis and hiking to viewpoints overlooking the racecourse. We picnicked on a public beach overlooking the Pasley Island chain. Back at ‘Lazy B’ we enjoyed a nap, devoured a hearty pre-race pasta dinner, then joined racers Kathleen, Larry, Reivers and Don and his partner Steena for some socializing at Blue Eyed Mary’s gourmet grill.
Hayden kickin' it in a drift log on the beach 
Exploring all the best vistas 
self-portraitAnother great night’s sleep brought us to race day.
My training right now consists of mostly hour-long spurts of time on the water between feeding Hayden. Knowing it would take me around three hours to paddle the 37KM race course, my race goal was to head out at a conservative pace, stay hydrated and fueled, and let my pre-pregnancy base get me through the second half.
Race Start in Snug Cove
The race began just after 10:30AM with over 100 racers jockeying for position to get out of Snug Cove around the south point and into open water. The minute we left the harbor, the conditions set the pace. There was a stiff headwind, ebbing tide and washing machine refraction that matched the race start of Molokai when nearly 100 full-size sport fishing boats simultaneously gun their engines and zoom around trying to find their racers. Not having spent much time in my new lightweight V10L with Don Kiesling’s special weedless rudder, I spent a bit of time getting sloshed around. Happily, so did the other racers around me!
After about an hour of slop, we reached the calmer conditions along the back of the island. My muscles now fully warmed up, I pounded some Gatorade and got into a groove. I hugged the rocky shore to avoid the current, churned away the miles, and was cheered on by locals who lined the cliffs here and there.
Now two and a half hours into the race, just as my tired muscles were starting to bark, I rounded the last point and began the final four-mile stretch. In typical Bowen style, a strong headwind protested my progress. My muscles ached, but as I had hoped, my body hadn’t ‘crashed’ and my base kicked in. I cranked on the paddle and reeled in a few racers as I came into the finish.
As I crossed the finish line, I was greeted by Brandon and Hayden on the dock. I paddled to shore and my boys came to greet me. The huge smile that lit up Hayden’s face when he saw his Mama after nearly four hours apart was the best part of the entire weekend!
Hayden and Mom at the post race party
In the hours before the race began, I had overheard Brandon chatting with a number of different racers as they rigged their boats and refined their strategies. He mentioned to every level of paddler he talked to, “This race will push your limits.” After having finished the run around Bowen 5 times now, I couldn’t agree more with his sentiments. Bowen can throw wicked challenging conditions at you, as this year proved. If it’s flattish, it can be brutally hot and racers will go so hard as to blow themselves up in the final stretch. Seeing experienced racers swim – sometimes again and again – can be par for the course. And some boats are still straggling in after as much as 6 hours on the water – practically an ultra for those hardy souls. It is all these different and somewhat extreme experiences combined, all the 100+ racers’ trials and stories that follow, that give the Round Bowen Challenge its soul as a race. It’s what keeps us coming back, always with healthy respect, year after year.
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