Honey Bronzed + Very Very Desirable proved to be golden and very, very talented at GO Fest's Great Snow Earth Water Race on Sunday.
The team, comprised of high level athletes Eric Carter, Paul Greenwood, Micayla Gatto, Nick Elson, Katrina Van Wijk, Richard Kemble and JD Disney, completed the six-stage race in one hour, 55 minutes and 12 seconds (1:55:12) to claim the title.
The Fun Hogs, made up Greg Mcdonell, Tony DelBosco, Lynda Cowan, Marla Zucht, Colin Earnst, Kris Ongman and Ted Battiston, were second, 11 minutes and 11 seconds back.
Completing the podium was People Austin Knows, with Vince Shuley, Pippa Stowell, Dan Harmon, Tim Symes, Leonie Picton, Gavin Williams and Shaun Fry just over two minutes out of second.
Twenty-six teams took part in all.
The winning team got off to a quick start by placing first in the ski touring stage and showed no signs of slowing toward the end, posting the best times in the canoe and cross-country biking stages to put the competition in the dust.
Some of the early competitors battled rainy elements, though the sky brightened up toward the end of the race.
Team captain Greenwood completed the downhill ski course in 12th place. Even with some of the challenging conditions, he enjoyed the day.
"It was super fun. It was pretty rainy up there, but we were just able to get up there and have a good time," said Greenwood, who grew up ski racing and is a regular visitor to Whistler from the city. "The course was pretty firm, not too soft even though it was raining."
Greenwood was proud of all the team members for the strong day, as the squad was top 10 in five of six categories to carry them to the win.
"Everyone had a really good effort today. Everyone had a good team effort," he said. "I'm sure there were lots of good teams out there. Everyone had a really good chance to do well, but I think we just had a good overall team and it went really well for us."
Greenwood didn't get to compete in the event's first running in 20 years last year, but was glad to be around for the second time around after it rose from the dead.
"We took people that were specialized in their particular sport and put them where they would do best," he said. "We wanted to do it last year, but couldn't quite get the team together. Hopefully, we're going to do it again next year."
