Dare Andie

Normally I have good hands. I have always been able to catch a ball be it a baseball, softball, football whiffle ball (don't ask...) but what I realized playing with the Montreal Irish this weekend is that having good hands with opponents running at you is not quite as easy.  This, sadly, was the final Dare Andie of the summer and what a way to go out! Unfortunately due to timing on Saturday I was only able to play the first half of the game at the Montreal Irish Annual Labour Day Tournament. As you can see by the photos however I made the most of my time! (Photos: Neale McDevitt MIRC)

After a summer of Spartan racing, tug-of-waring, sprinting, mountain biking and cycling the final Dare Andie will go down Saturday in St. Julie. It's the Montreal Irish Rugby Club Labour Day tournament and I will be playing on the women's team for a game in the afternoon. I am excited to take on a sport I still don't quite understand the rules for as well as hopefully manage to tackle someone. I have high hopes that tackling will be easier than body-checking which I discovered in a charity hockey game at the Bell Center a few years ago was not actually that easy!

Jennifer Bridgeman co-founded the women's team and is on the executive board at the Montreal Irish Rugby Football Club. She is the lady who brought the dare to the table and will be keeping me in line and hopefully safe tomorrow!

Check back on Monday for photos and my review of the Rugby Tournament!

This weeks Dare Andie actually involved personal demon of mine. On my last attempt to go mountain biking, easily 10 years ago, I went over my handle-bars head first and vowed never to return to the mountain on a bike. This time I went with an experienced biker who brought me a fabulous Specialized mountain bike to ride and rode under the tutelage of Jeff Silas, founder and coach at Dirt Camp. Here are the best tips: Don't brake in a panicked state. Look up far ahead of you on the trail NOT down in front of your bike. Trust what your bike can do.

(Photo: Jeff Silas Dirt Camp) 

www.dirtcamp.ca 

Training continues for the upcoming (so fast!) CIBC 401 Bike Challenge. I am not going to lie, the Daybreak schedule has certainly added a new challenge with training times. I do bike to and from work at the Radio Canada-CBC building every day with a few training rides thrown in during the week for good measure but I have yet to clock a good long 80-100km ride and that needs to happen sooner than later. This week will be all about getting in some km's and attacking Camillien Houde for some good hill training on the mountain.
Yesterday I had one of those horrible rides where half the time you are beezing along with the wind at your back then you turn around and realize that the universe is out to suck your soul with every pedal stroke. I got my first real taste of headwind last year during the CIBC 401 Challenge. On day 2 (the long day) with 255 kms on the menu, we faced an unusual East- West wind. It was brutal. I can't even really complain as the wonderful beasts of the peloton did everything they could to insulate me and block the wind from hitting me but its impact was definitely felt. It slowed us down and it takes a lot of effort to remain positive in those conditions.
It was a great motivator to see my cousin/cancer survivor Jeff at a family wedding last weekend. He had schlepped his bike all the way to Niagara on the lake so I felt a bit lazy to not have brought mine. I blame Via Rail and by no means my desire to have a bike free weekend. ;)
Check out my page to read about why I am doing this and how I got roped into a bike ride from Toronto to Montreal in 2.5 days!
http://401bikechallenge.info/?page_id=911

As park Jean Drapeau gets set to welcome over 200 different dragon beat teams for the Montreal International Dragon boat festival next weekend, I had the good fortune to be invited to join a Grand Dragon boat this week for Dare Andie with the club 22 Dragons on the Lachine Canal.

http://www.montrealdragonboat.com/en/pages/home

I am currently in training for my second endurance ride with the CIBC 401 Bike Challenge. The ride goes August 10-12 and departs from the SickKids hospital in Toronto arriving at the Montreal Childrens hospital a mere 2.5 days later. The proceeds from the ride go to benefit children battling cancer at these hospitals.  The 576 km ride is broken up as follows: Day 1: 188 kms Day 2: 255 kms (yikes!) and Day 3: 133kms.

 Andie

http://401bikechallenge.info/?page_id=911

 On this installment of Dare Andie I was out at Riverside's SSIAA (South Shore Interscholastic Athletic Association) Elementary School Track & Field Tournament at Heritage Regional High School in St. Hubert. There were about 300 students from 11 different elementary schools out to run, jump and win ribbons! I raced the top 3 female sprinters, Patricia Prevost, Taylor Hogg and Robin Matthews in a 60 meter sprint. (Mercifully shortened from an 80 meter sprint). Long story short....I lost. Those girls are fast! A great Dare Andie event, the kids were amazing and you have to really commend all the teachers and parents who were out to make the annual track and field event a complete success.

The first installement of Dare Andie was a complete success. In this new feature listeners can 'dare' me to take on challenges, come to community events etc. and I will do the challenge and take some photos and videos that will be posted on our website and Facebook page.

Send your ideas for Dare Andie to andrea.bennett@cbc.ca or my twitter @AndieCBC.

On Sunday I competed in the Spartan Race up at Tremblant. It was such a fun event. 5 kms of running through the mud (at times up to your thigh, I almost lost a shoe!) and some kind of military like obstacle about every 1/2 a kilometre. Here are a few photos of the event and check out our FB page for videos.  http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/DaybreakMontrealCBC 

Huge thank you to my videographer Marco Campagna who worked almost as hard as I did to document the race!