I love to shake it up a little sometimes. Take the pressure off and try a new event or sport. A multi-sport race with mystery events is fun and, when you take everyone’s strengths and weaknesses into account, it really evens out the playing field.
But, that being said, when you all line up on the starting line, the chit chat and racer’s claims that “they are just here for fun” comes to a screaming halt. You eye the competition. They eyeball you back. You get a good look at other solos or teams in your division. The tension builds. A hush fills the crowd. By the time the starting gun explodes through the silence you know you are there to THROW DOWN!
So it was at the Oceanman Adventure Race in Jericho on Saturday. We arrived bright and early, long before registration had even opened. Brandon and I took Hayden out on the pier to play, walked on the beach, took pictures and had a picnic breakfast. Just another day on the beach.
Then, fit looking men and women driving sporty cars with expensive looking boats on top starting pulling in and it was game on!
The Oceanman is held at the Jericho Sailing Center in BC. About 100 racers come out every year either to solo or do one of the legs as part of a team. The race consists of a 1KM swim, 6KM paddle, 8KM run, as well as mystery tests and orienteering.
After chatting with quite a few familiar faces from the surfski and outrigger canoe racing scene, I lined up my surf ski with the others on the beach, set up my transition area, gave Hayden and Brandon a smooch, and headed to where the pre-race meeting was beginning, feeling as nervous as I can remember in my 30-some years of racing!
The somewhat casual nature of the race, the pre-race briefing being held only 5-minutes before the race start, not knowing exactly where or how to set-up my gear for each leg, the unknown mystery events, having to orienteer the run… and the words of one racer saying, “the out-of-towners always get lost”; all these things left me a nervous wreck.
At just before 10:30AM soloists and team members doing the swimming leg lined up knee deep in the water. We had all been given race caps, their color indicating our division. I was in pink for Solo Female. I took a final look around, waved to Brandon and Hayden standing on the pier… and when the starting gun went off we all rushed into the water in a sea of flailing arms and legs and colorful pink, blue, red and purple caps. The swim was a 2-lap course, taking us out around two buoys, then a run on the beach, and a repeat of the loop in the water. I immediately regretted not wearing the tri suit my friend Marti had loaned me. My armless wetsuit had a scooped neck that was effectively scooping water and making me feel like I was dragging an anchor.
I pushed hard, trying to spot the other pink women’s solo caps each time I took a breath. After my second lap around, I ran up the beach, and carefully crossed the 40-foot ‘special test’ log we had to walk along every time we went through the transition. Although the log was never narrower than about 10 inches… when you are breathing hard and muscles are tired… it felt like a tight rope walk.
I quickly peeled my wetsuit, and Brandon ran alongside me as I ran to my kayak. “You are the second solo woman. The other is about a minute ahead in the red K1”. With that, I was off! The kayak leg began by passing through a sea of stand-up paddle boards, windsurfers and kayak classes being held in front of the Sailing Center. I weaved my way through the classes then dug in. I knew the kayak leg could win or lose the race for me. The final leg, the orienteering and run, would be my weakest. I wanted a good lead going into it.
I passed the solo paddler who’d been ahead of me, and a few more skis, before the final home stretch. As I neared the finish I was going head-to-head with two women’s teams. We had been told at the pre-race meeting that immediately after the kayak leg was a ‘mystery event’, a stand-up paddle board leg. We had also been told there were only 6 stand-up paddle boards! We all came into the beach like our boats were on fire and sprinted up the beach and to our SUP’s, ready to fight if there weren’t enough. As luck would have it, there was one for each of us. The SUP leg was short, maybe 200-feet, and within minutes I was running back up the beach, across the transition area log and to my running shoes.
“There’s a gal just ahead of you who looks like she knows where she’s going,” Brandon told me as I grabbed my shoes. The first half of the run was an out-and-back to an ‘anchor’. There was no marked course, and, although it sounded pretty strait forward, I am not known for my navigation skills! I made a quick decision to throw on my socks and shoes on my sandy feet and try to follow someone who knew their way!
Without bothering to wipe and dry my feet, my transition was lightning fast and I was off and running at what, for me, was a blistering pace. The woman ahead of me, though, was at least a minute per mile faster than me and quickly began to pull away. As we raced along, runners on their way back from the turn-around began to appear, giving me confidence that I was on track.
After successfully returning from the first half of the run, I was given a map for the second half.

The words “out-of-towners always get lost” rang in my head. The first checkpoint was just west of a pier about a mile down the beach. I could hop on a trail or follow the beach. I chose trail. Luckily a few local racers ahead of me had chosen the same route, and I was able to keep an eye on them! I found my way to the 3 checkpoints and back up the beach, past a sleeping Hayden, and a cheering Brandon to one final log crossing, and the finish line!
I was the first solo female across the finish… and can’t wait to do it again next year!

Bob Goodman from Vernon was the winning solo male, de-throning the 5-time champion, South African Rob Hansen.
Thanks to the Oceanman crew for putting on an amazing race!