Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Kvicks fastest solo competitors in Sea2Summit

Local racers do well in team competition
sea2summit

Over two days competitors trekked, paddled, cycled, ran, shot arrows and battled the cold and wet in this year’s Sea2Summit Adventure Race, covering a distance of more than 175 kilometres as solos, pairs and teams of four.

This year 250 people took part in the two-day race, spending the first day in the Squamish area and the second day en route to the finish line in Whistler Village.

The first day included a 6 km trek, a 20 km paddle, a 19 km bike, a 12 km trek and another 26 km bike, as well as an archery challenge where competitors could subtract up to 15 minutes off your time.

The second day was comprised of a 75 km bike to Whistler Creek, followed by an 18 km trek to Whistler Village.

North Vancouver’s David Kvick, a well-known figure in local racing, led on both days to finish first among solos with a total time of 11 hours, 11 minutes and 19 seconds – 5:59:44 on day one and 5:11:36 on day two. He was followed by Richard Juryn, a master over 40 racer, in 12:27:26, and Justin Mark in 12:30:19.

Annie Kvick, David’s wife, won the women’s solo title with her time of 13:18:50. Caroline Van Den Bulk of Huntsville, Ontario was second in 14:22:21, and Carey Sather of Cultus Lake was third in 14:27:27.

In the Teams of Two race, the Helly Hansen-John Henry team – Dave Howells and Denis Fontaine of North Vancouver – won the male category with a time of 12:16:54.

The top co-ed team was Regis and Kelly – Mike Cabigon and Marg Fedyna of Edmonton – in 13:05:19.

The top female team was Twin Chicks – Michelle Newton and Alex Watson of North Vancouver in 15:44:21.

From Whistler, Sam Brovender joined Vancouver’s Mark James to finish sixth in the Teams of Two male category, crossing the line in 14:10:37.

The Bleeding Nipples, with Pemberton’s Gary Robbins and Whistler’s Mark Fearman, was eighth in the same category with a time of 14:15:49.

According to Robbins, they were only 12 minutes back of second place after the first day and were still in the running for the podium on Sunday when things went sour.

"Mark and I were near the front of the (bike) pack and keeping pace. We know that running is our strong point and having the race finish with an 18 km run favoured us immensely," said Robbins.

"My bike chain started to skip at Brandywine Falls and eventually would not even stay on my bike. We made it just past the Calcheak Suspension Bridget when disaster struck. My chain had skipped off the rung and grabbed my rear derailleur, ripping it out of place and lodging it in my rear spokes."

After that point Robbins had no choice but to run his bike up hills, coast down hills, and hold onto Fearman’s backpack through the flat sections. It worked well, says Robbins, until they collided with one another and crashed on the highway near Bayshores.

They continued on at that point, running up and around the Flank Trail, making up a lot of the spaces they lost to put themselves in eighth place. When they finished, Robbins discovered a huge gash in his calf, which happened in the crash, that required 12 stitches.

"Luckily at that point (the crash) in the race the rest of my body hurt so much that I didn’t even feel the cut to my leg," said Robbins.

Graeme Fitch Joined Peter Henderson of Vancouver to finish 11 th in 14:57:37 in the male Teams of Two category.

In the Teams of Four group, Whistler’s Jen Segger helped Team Leadfoot to finish second overall and first among the 13 co-ed teams with a time of 13:57:17.

"We just had a great time out there," said Segger. "Everything went pretty well, so I have to say it was nice to be racing in an area you know so well, there are no big surprises – you know what to expect every step of the way."

Her team actually finished first out of all the teams on day one (Saturday) and was almost two hours ahead of the next closest co-ed team heading into day two.

Segger says they put in a couple of weeks paddling together, which made that section go by quickly. In addition, she says every member of the team is a solid mountain biker.

"We’ve all ridden North Shore so we’re used to riding when it’s wet and rooty, so I think that gave us an advantage in there with the rain coming down. We just flew through that section," said Segger.

The second day was actually easier than they expected. They were expecting to climb the Microwave Tower Road in Function Junction, and were surprised when they were guided up the highway to Creekside.

"It started to hit us a little on the trek after the bike ride, we were starting to get a little tired and sore, but none of our injuries flared up at all – we all felt great all the way to the finish line," Segger added.

Seger and two of her teammates are veteran adventurer racers in the Sea2Summit. She says she will start to concentrate on road running more to prepare for the Victoria Marathon and Seattle Marathons before devoting her winter to train for the Marathon de Sables, a 300 km, six day run across a section of the Sahara Desert.

Her teammates were Adrian Lasalle-Lowe of Brackendale, Aaron Pitt of North Vancouver and Phil Wright of Burnaby.

Eric Barry was on team Power to Be 3, finishing seventh among co-ed teams in 20:43:36. Barry was joined by Sarah Cormode and Ben Geselbracht of Victoria, and Darcy Baine of Sidney.