Racer's Corner - John Merritt

Flying down Oh Dear, just about to take a corner I hear Emily scream ahead of me and see something small and black at her feet. “Is it a bear cub?” I ask until I realize it’s a dog. Then I see a sweat ridden John Merritt running towards us asking between breaths which trail he’s on. My bike partner thought it was the strangest site, but to those of us that frequent trails in Fernie it’s a farily normal occurrence.

John, his wife Camilla (Min) and their daughter Catrin moved to Fernie from London during the fires of Aug 2003. Their son Gwyn was born18 months into their trip and the family is now settled on 4th Ave in the downtown area. Originally, their stay in Fernie was your typical “We came here for a three year jaunt.” But that didn’t take long to change. John ran Elk View Lodge for the first five years and Min teaches at the Fernie Academy. With the Lodge handed over to RAW Fernie, John dove into another realm with Impronta Design, a building and design consultancy, and recently co-founded Brecan Building Systems to supply affordable home packages.

John joins Racers’ Corner as another member of our community balancing work, family, social and athletics.

What is it about competing that you love? Life can become too cozy. Endurance competition provides an edge. Also, the beer always tastes better after working hard.

Take us through a typical training day. Ah, I’d love to say it’s oodles, but to be honest I don’t do a whole lot. Even last year prior to the 24Hr World Solo my longest training ride had been 4 1/4 hrs. Next time, I would want to double my training. Luckily for me, the events I seem to do well in demand as much mental stamina as physical.
Unless I have a big race planned, my training is relatively ad-hoc. Over the winter I instruct spin for FEAT and we have swimming lessons and I also skate ski. I will do at least two really hard sessions per week (90% of max heart rate stuff). While I can maintain fitness probably by training hard once every five days, I improve only by training at least every second day.

What events are you taking part in this summer? For a variety of reasons, this is going to be a quiet year but I am targeting the 24hr Solo Worlds again in 2011 (I haven’t told Min yet though), and so this summer will be a gentle mix of Spokane 24Hr as part of a team, Wasa Lake Olympic Triathlon in June, and a couple of eight hour races in September.
What are your main goals when competing? To keep focused throughout, not to whinge, and to try to be polite.
I’ve had my time as a pro sportsman (rugby) and so now the best way to enjoy the competition is to set my own goals. In the age group races one never knows how much time any other competitor has devoted to training, their level of experience, what else in they may have going on and so it only really matters who wins for the top five to ten racers - the rest of us should be there for our own reasons.

My long term goals are to continue to improve until I am 45, then maintain a plateau for five years and gracefully decline for the next couple of decades. I am aiming to eventually get to around a 175lb racing weight (as compared to 210lb when playing rugby) and a specific target would be a strong Ironman Triathlon time when I turn 50 – it will take me that long to sort my swimming out.

How do you think Fernie’s recreational side has changed since you’ve lived here? The trails, the trails. I am amazed at the number of volunteers who create and maintain the wonderful trails that literally encompass the town. If I had one wish it would be for a (clean) recreational lake. Fernie would at last become a complete summer destination...plus us residents wouldn’t all have to bomb-burst down to Surveyors’ et al.

Racing Mantra: It’s supposed to hurt.