Bloody and Muddy at the 2011 Dirty Duo.

Mountain biking, trail running, or both. 15km, 30km or 50km. At the 2011 Dirty Duo the options were endless and competitors were able to set the bar to whatever challenge they wanted. I drew the line at 25km for my first race of the season.

Before the race, rumours circled amongst first-timers of steep climbs, technical descending, roots, rocks, mud holes resembling quicksand and sections of snow and ice. Perfect!

As the race got underway though, the North Vancouver trails charmed me with their rolling, cushion-soft terrain, rainforest green, long sections of boardwalks and just enough technicality to keep me on my toes and focused on the race at all times. With a total ascent of 2600m, the course was more than rolling, but luckily the climbs never broke the spirit! Camaraderie was great amongst racer, aid station support excellent from the event organisers, and I finished with enough mud on myself and even a scrape here and there to call myself a true trail runner.

I finished the race in 2:56 hours and placed 12th female in a race with some awesome female runners who always continue to inspire me. Always an inspiration to me, my fabulous coach, Jen Segger, set a smoking pace and came in second by 45 seconds. Her training is definitely starting to pay off and I can feel the benefits of the strength training translating to the trails. You can see Jen's website here.

I would definitely recommend this race to anyone wanting to get into the trails and enjoy a fun race with lots of like-minded runners. You can download the Garmin file for the 25km course here.