Kaarin Tae zips on her Canadian Champion jersey and dons her medal with a smile. Tae, a tutorial coordinator and academic advisor for the College of Sustainability, is the first woman in Nova Scotia to wear a Canadian Champion cycling jersey, winning the Elite Women Cross-Country Mountain Bike Marathon.
鈥淚鈥檓 really happy to bring this title back to Nova Scotia,鈥� she says with a smile. 鈥淗opefully this will be the first of many when our young people keep growing in the sport.鈥�
鈥淚 was not expecting to win this race,鈥� she admits. 鈥淚 was hoping to get on the podium, but anywhere from first to fifth would have been fantastic.鈥�
Tae braved the 70-kilometre loop and rode for over three-and-a-half hours at the second annual National Mountain Bike Championship Race in Quebec. 聽
Although a challenge, this was not Tae鈥檚 first time racing with such success. Last year Tae placed third, joining Canadian Olympian Marie-H茅l猫ne Pr茅mont on the podium.
鈥淭o have that experience, to be on the podium with her, was part of how I could believe I could pull it off this year,鈥� says Tae, 鈥淚n the middle of the race, I thought back to how special that moment was last year and said 鈥楴o, I鈥檓 not going to give up...鈥�
Inspiring others
Tae hopes to offer a similar experience for other women in the sport.
鈥淲inning this has been fantastic to show girls that this is something they will be doing for the rest of their lives. I鈥檓 hoping to show them that at 42, you can still be getting better at this. It鈥檚 not something you give up because you鈥檙e 17 or 18 and your friends are giving up sports.鈥�
The road to Tae鈥檚 success was not easy. Between juggling her training, work and various commitments last winter, Tae got sick. A flu spread to her lungs, causing her to take two months off from her marathon training. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know what my new normal would be. I didn鈥檛 know if my lungs would ever be normal again.鈥�
However, a mountain biking trip to North Carolina propelled her back into training. 鈥滸etting out of the office helped, I needed to get away from the office and get to where I was just exercising and relaxing and getting fresh air.鈥�
Staying motivated to train is easy, although fitting it in can be a challenge. Tae bikes to work when she can and rides a stationary trainer on dark, cold mornings in winter. She keeps in mind that on race day it will be worth the effort, whether it鈥檚 a win or not.
鈥淓ither way I know I鈥檝e done everything I can to be ready for that race. At Marathon Nationals I didn鈥檛 really know who I was racing against, and how I would stack up against them. But I try not to focus on how good the others might be, or have a strategy that depends on what someone else does. I set my own strategy and go with it.鈥�
Putting mountain biking on the map in HRM
That Tae is the first Mountain Bike champion to have come from Nova Scotia reflects, perhaps, that the province does not have the same mountain bike following as other provinces. 鈥淧art of this is that we just don鈥檛 have enough recognized trail systems,鈥� she says.
Tae is the President of the McIntosh Run Watershed Association (MRWA) and hopes their new project may offer a solution while also fostering stewardship of the river. The MRWA is working to develop a trail system from Spryfield to Herring Cove along the McIntosh Run Watershed. The single-track trail is intended for both pedestrian and mountain bike use. 鈥淧eople who use the trail system for whatever reason, they鈥檒l appreciate the river and the wilderness,鈥� she says, 鈥渁nd if they appreciate it they will protect it.鈥澛犅�
Her mountain biking aspirations do not end here. Tae continues her training and hopes to one day represent Canada at the World Championships for Marathon Mountain Biking.