Round the Mountain was held on Saturday, June 21 in Kimberley and while last year's race saw athletes and volunteers battling heat and humidity, this year they had to contend with steady rainfall. Everyone made the best of it and the event was once again a major success.
Round the Mountain (RTM) is an annual one-day race event with a variety of categories for hiking, running and mountain biking on a course laid out on Kimberley's North Star Mountain. It is hosted by the Kimberley Trails Society (KTS), the Kootenay Orienteering Club and the Kootenay Freewheelers' Cycling Club.
The race draws well over 500 competitors this year, with lots of local representation as well as athletes who come from all around the Kootenays and even further afield.
Even with so much rain in the forecast, race director Pascal Gray told The Bulletin that not a lot of extra preparations or precautions had to be made, partly because the participants know what they're getting themselves into and prepare accordingly, and also because the event has always gone above and beyond on the safety front.
That said, the organizers made sure to have hot chocolate and tea ready to hand out at the aid stations and finish line.
"That’s the only change we made was giving people warm stuff," Gray said. "In previous years it was like the number of watermelons… we couldn’t buy enough watermelons and we couldn’t have enough water on course to give to people."
Site coordinator and Blackdog Cycle and Ski co-owner Angela Symes added they took extra care to ensure the volunteers, particularly those posted to aid stations on the cooler and more remote back side of Northstar Mountain, were fully prepared to be out in the elements for extended periods of time.
Each station has Search and Rescue members posted to them, adding to the baseline of event safety, plus there are sweepers who go behind the runners, bikers or trekkers and make sure no one has gone down on the course.
"It’s an event that, because we’re still young as a team, we’re starting to get our groove," Gray said. "Reflecting on this year’s event it was almost helpful for us to have a year where the weather wasn’t the same, or ideal in a different way, because it allows us to reevaluate how the event might change under those conditions and improve how we communicate to our volunteers.
"Especially how they feel comfortable to take on various roles and also have us more prepared for what will be required at the far end of the course, as far as safety and support for participants who are having a tough time. I’m grateful that we experienced this year and didn’t have any significant injuries, that’s a real bonus and also allows us to experience it and see what we need to do differently."
KTS executive director James Miles said one interesting storyline from the weekend was that a major race in the Crowsnest Pass was cancelled due to the inclement forecast, resulting in some last-minute registrants for RTM, including some former champions.
This included Ethan Peters, who set a new course record and got his third win, after a head-to-head battle with Invermere's Jakub Sumbera, who had won a number of early iterations of the race.
"I think when it’s raining it’s a little harder to get out the door and get there, there was a lot of people sending messages, asking if the event was going to go ahead, looking for an easy way out perhaps, but then they get out there in the rain and it’s not so bad," Miles said. "The trails are tacky, everything’s so green, everything smells different."
This year saw another great performance from the team from event sponsor Bootleg Bike Co., with Mat Boudreau, Christine Warren and Kayla Lissel each winning their respective categories.
Full results can be found at obasen.orientering.se
"There is quite a lot of competition, a lot of locals take it very seriously and pride themselves on how they do against people they know," said Miles, who took first place in the Men's 10-Kilometre Run. "For a lot of people it’s their only race of the year so it does have a little more importance because of that — it’s not too serious, but people take it seriously. People care about how they do and want to do well against their friends. There’s lots of mini rivalries in there which is fun to see."
This year also saw some brand new changes to the RTM Legacy Fund, which has been a part of the event since the beginning. It was initially established to set aside a portion of the proceeds to support future trail enhancement projects.
For 2025 the committee has established the Pursuit of Sport and Recreation Scholarship, a new funding stream within the Legacy Fund, to support local youth who are passionate about sport and help to eliminate any financial barriers they're facing.
"The drive for that was just thinking of what the event’s purpose is and wanting to see it grow, not necessarily in size, but to be sustainable in the fact that it can feed the next generation of participants and volunteers," Gray said. "The scholarship thing for me was to inspire or support those kids in our area that are wanting to pursue higher levels of sport or officiating even or just getting into it."
This year the recipients are Sawyer Popovitch, a local skier who will be travelling to compete at the Freeride Junior World Championships, and golfer Finn Bohm, who played his way into a spot at the Junior BC Amateur Championship.
"It’s exciting to have that in place because the event’s all about giving back to the community and the community gives so much," Gray said.
"I’m a PE teacher in Cranbrook, so I know how much sport has done for my life, it doesn’t matter at what level I was participating in at. We want to make sure that youth stay active and stay involved with those sports as long as possible, because any aspect of their life are generally improved if they continue being active through to adulthood."
More information can be found at roundthemountain.ca/legacy-fund
Gray, Miles and Symes all shared their immense gratitude for everyone who braved the elements and helped make this year's race another massive success.
"RTM is a great celebration of the trail community here in Kimberley and acts as a good fundraiser for the trail work that we do throughout the year," Miles said. "Super grateful to everyone who came and volunteered, everyone who participated, everyone that participated given the weather and all the vendors that still showed up even though it wasn’t optimal for them."
Fingers crossed next year's weather falls somewhere between the heat of 2024 and the storm of 2025.
