FRONTRUNNERS GutBuster 004
Victoria, BC - Mt. Douglas
SUNDAY, July 6th, 2008
Start: 10:00am

There are two course options:

SHORT COURSE - A 6km run up to the top of Mt. Douglas (200m) for an amazing view over Victoria. Filled with great flowing single-track trails that is ideal for both runners and hikers.

LONG COURSE - 11km that features three summits to the top of Mt. Douglas. Each time will leave your breathless by both the views and the workout! You’re going to to LOVE this course!

and there are…

FOUR EASY WAYS TO REGISTER:
1. Register online
2. Download registration and mail it in
3. Drop off your entry at Frontrunners in Victoria, Nanaimo or Langford (must be dropped off by Thursday before race day).
4. Come early on Race Day

But this late in the game your only option is to get down there early tomorrow.

Two upcoming events are looking for volunteers. The first is the Peak Challenge, a trail running race in North Vancouver that is serving as this year’s Canadian Mountain Running Championships. The second is the Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race (MOMAR) at Shawnigan Lake. The Peak Challenge is on July 19th and the MOMAR a week later on July 26th. Details are as follows:

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FYI: A decision on the Floyd Landis case will be handed down tomorrow by the Court of Arbitration for Sport five days before the start of the Tour de France. Keep an eye on www.bicycling.com for the latest updates.

From CBCSports…

Olympic silver medallist Marie-Hélène Prémont topped the list of four athletes named Friday to Canada’s mountain biking team for the Beijing Games. Prémont, 30, from Chateau Richer, Que., placed second in the women’s cross country race in Athens in 2004. She finished fourth at last Sunday’s world championships in Italy, and has posted three World Cup top-10 finishes this season.

The other riders named Friday were Catharine Pendrel of Kamloops, B.C., (sixth at this year’s worlds), along with Victoria’s Geoff Kabush (14th) and Seamus McGrath of Carlisle, Ont., (24th).

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The following courtesy of Race Director Bob Hanlon…

The 2nd Annual Lonsdale Mile Race is put on by North Vancouver City Fire Fighters IAFF Local 296, Run The North Shore and North Shore Athletics and will take place on Tuesday July 01, 2008 on the North shore Canada Parade Route at 0900 hours. The event will start (0950 hours) just ahead of the parade at 165 East 13th street in front of North Vancouver City Fire Department. It will then proceed to Lonsdale, right to 17th Street, left to Jones Avenue, left to 16th Street, right onto the Mahon Park Running Track, finishing on the north apex of the track, just before the kids water park. There will be an awards presentation immediately following the race with an assortment of prizes for the athletes and volunteers.

Anyone 5 and older that can run/walk a mile is welcome to enter. We would like people to come out and support this event and the Canada Day Parade!

All Proceeds will be going to the British Columbia Professional Fire Fighters Burn Fund.

Anyone that would like to come and volunteer would be greatly appreciated! They can contact me if they are available;

Bob Hanlon - Race Director at; email bhanlon@cnv.org tel. Hm. 604 980-3207, Cell. 778 549-0100, Wk. 604 980-5021

A new issue of Get Out There is ready for viewing. Some of the topics covered in this issue include:

• Beijing-bound interviews
• Volleyball legend Conrad the Cannon
• Review the camping gear

The access the issue please click here .

The following is a media release from organizers of the BC Bike Race:

With all the available spots selling out in only its second year, the B.C. Bike Race is poised to become a multi-day mountain bike epic on par with the Trans Alp Challenge in Europe, the Trans Rockies in eastern B.C. and Alberta, and La Ruta des los Conquistadores in Costa Rica — and maybe a little more technically challenging than any of the world’s top epics.

This year more than 400 riders will race seven days, starting at Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island June 28 and finishing in Whistler on July 4.

The course this year is over 500 km, with a focus on riding singletrack wherever possible. The race also includes a full day of riding in Squamish this year, which is something that was left out of last year’s race so riders could pedal the entire route.

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Volunteers are needed for this weekend’s 5 Peaks Trail Running race at Golden Ears Provincial Park. The following is from the race organizers:

“With the creation of a new course though comes the desperate call for course marshals to help direct participants around the trails, and course sweep to collect all the course markers we use. At the time of this email, we’re short 9 course marshalls and 4 course sweep volunteers. If you or anyone you know is able to help out on race day, we’ll provide a race entry into a future event, the day’s event souvenir, a t-shirt and the chance to win some of the day’s great prizes. To sign up, you can either register here or send an email to our Keri, BC Race Director as soon as possible!! We appreciate your help.”

A North Vancouver woman has just completed the Gobi March and has written her first account of the race. Below is an excerpt from her blog - give me a good reason - a mediocre’s  struggles to be average . Trust us, what she has accomplished is anything BUT average!

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obstacles are those frightful things that become visible when we take our eyes off our goals

It was my anchor on Stage 01.

Ask me then if I was enjoying myself and I would probably have slashed your throat with the blunt knife in my swiss card. It could well have been the toughest day of my life. Although I was feeling great to go by the 9am race start, I seriously doubted how I was to cover the longest distance of my life. You see, I have a weak mind. For someone who had never covered more than 34km or sustained more than 6hr of activity, completing 39km with a 10kg pack qualified as a daunting task.

Wondering in the vast, desolate and arid land, baked by the immense heat, the mind took a form of its own. It is perhaps time to withdraw. There is no way you could finish this distance in this temperature. Stop at the next checkpoint. Quit and you can still volunteer. I learnt quickly the need to evict these thoughts.

After what felt like a lifetime, I saw the bright red banner and a smiling E welcoming me.

Me 1: Evil Mind 0

Continue reading on phyllislum’s blog …

"Cycling is so hard, the suffering is so intense, that it’s absolutely cleansing. The pain is so deep and strong that a curtain descends over your brain… Once, someone asked me what pleasure I took in riding for so long. ’Pleasure?’ I said. ’I don’t understand the question.’ I didn’t do it for pleasure, I did it for pain."

LANCE ARMSTRONG, WINNER TOUR DE FRANCE 1999 – 2005

Chip’s Not Dead, so get off your butt
By Charlie Smith, originally published in the Georgia Straight

From the start, it was clear that this wasn’t going to be a typical funeral. It was obvious by the look of the pallbearers: six strapping young men clad only in shorts and bow ties. The location wasn’t quite right either, outside a restaurant near the corner of Nelson and Hornby streets. Then there was the vintage hearse, which looked like it came out of an Edward G. Robinson movie. For passersby, another cue that something was awry could be seen in the mood of many of the mourners gathered outside the front door. Some were boozing it up; others put on fake weepy faces as the pallbearers sombrely walked by, rolling the silver casket on a stand; still others had donned wedding or bridesmaid dresses, adding a strange twist to the proceedings.

They had gathered to hold a wake for Chip Wilson, the 53-year-old effervescent founder and chairman of the yoga-wear giant lululemon athletica. But this was no ordinary memorial. That became clear to everyone long before the coffin entered the restaurant and was placed on the floor. A few minutes later, the burly Wilson jumped out of the coffin, looking like he was ready to go jogging in his dark shirt, shorts, and running shoes.

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This Thursday evening brings the annual Victoria International Track Classic to University of Victoria’s Centennial Stadium. Here’s the lowdown on what to expect for the event courtesy of Chris Kelsall . This article was originally posted on the Flotrack website .

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The Victoria International Track Classic is quickly becoming the most successful in the event’s 20 year history. Interest from spectators, sponsors and athletes alike has grown for the 2008 edition of the ‘Track Classic’ including having to close entry to athletes in record time.

"We are really excited about the 20th Anniversary edition of the Victoria International Track Classic. We have had phenomenal interest from all around the globe," said Race Director, Gillian McHaffie.

They are: USA, Canada, Chad, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Bermuda, Guatamala, Haiti, Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Korea, Liberia, Mexico and Switzerland.

Being an Olympic year has fueled interest from athletes as well. $20, 000 in prize money and iPod products to all individual and relay winners doesn’t hurt the numbers either. Local computer specialty retailer and sponsor, SoHo Computers are contributing the iPod products, in partnership with the race committee.

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A number of participants from last weekend’s Test of Metal mountain biking race in Squamish have posted write-ups..

• NEW! Tall for a Girl - Test of Metal - "The Test of Metal is a classic mountain bike race in BC. A Canadian Epic as they say. And it is."
• Randomly Generated - Race Report: Test of Metal - "The second race in the newly-constructed Squamish Triple Crown race series is the ever-popular Test of Metal, a 67-kilometer race that not only packs over one thousand racers onto the singletrack around Squamish, but is known as Canada’s premiere mountain bike race and attracts Olympic-caliber athletes from across the Great White North. And let me just say that having now experienced it, it is easy to understand why this race sells out within minutes each year."
• Playing Outside (this one’s got lots of pictures) - 3:01:21 Test of Metal Race Report - "3:01:21 - Not quite enough to get it down. Despite a solid race, I don’t think I ever came out of my pedals, I just didn’t have enough jam to finish under 3hrs."
• Gary Robbins - DNF, All The Cool Kids Are Doing It!! - "This will be brief and to the point, even though i would like to tell a somewhat detailed story i am currently having troubles typing."
• Todd Nowack - Test of Metal Race Report - "Yes, I have been sucking on the blog lately. I’ve been super busy at work, am going up to Whitehorse this week, going up to the Queen Charlottes next week, and then heading to BC Bike Race the week after for the best week of mountain biking that I’ll have yet to experience!"

More reports will be added as we become aware of them. If you send us yours we’ll post it here on the site.

Also, check out these wicked 360 panorama photos from the event here .

From Cyclingnews.com - It was a day for records to be broken at this year’s North Shore Credit Union Test of Metal. Max Plaxton of Victoria, Canada, riding for Rocky Mountain Bicycles, won the elite men’s race in a time of 2:31:46, taking more than five minutes off the record time of 2:37 set by Chad Miles in 2000.

In the elite women’s race, Kona Factory Team member Wendy Simms of Nanaimo finished with a time of 2:56:35. Her time beat the previous record 3:10 set by Alison Sydor in 2005.

To continue reading and for full results click here …

From The Western Star …

Many people have journeyed across Canada for a wide variety of reasons. Dana Meise’s main cause is “because it’s there.”

The Prince George, B.C., resident, who will turn 34 next month, has had a lifelong dream of hiking from one end of this vast country to the other. An experienced hiker of many Pacific coast excursions and a forestry subcontractor who spends his winters snowshoeing through remote areas of the Rocky Mountains, Meise has spent the last couple of years preparing for his long-awaited jaunt through the Trans Canada Trail network.

Just over a month ago, Meise began his trek and has been taking his time traversing the island via the old railway bed. In fact, he waited days for foggy conditions to lift before starting — not wanting to set off without first seeing the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean from Cape Spear, North America’s most easterly point.

“I’ve always wanted to do this walk ever since I was a kid,” Meise told The Western Star after reaching Corner Brook. “I thought what Terry Fox did was amazing and I have met Rick Hansen. Those guys had far more challenges than I do and just went ahead and did it. So, I set it up to do it.”

Continue reading…

Click here to view the June 12-24 Get Out There report. In this issue:

Whistler Mtn. Bike Park launches Sampler pass

Win a trip to Panorama

Annual Readers’ Choice Awards survey now live

Sports and Outdoor Event Calendar

Check out Steve Osaduik’s new blog - www.steveosaduik.tumblr.com .

Steve is one of Canada’s top middle/long distance runners and has been a fixture with his chihuahua at lower mainland races for a number of years. Steve was attempting to qualify for the Olympics in the marathon until injuries sidelined him.

The Canadian Press, June 9th 2008

Colin Jenkins is on the Olympic men’s triathlon team because he’s willing to sacrifice his dreams of a medal to get teammate Simon Whitfield on the podium in Beijing.

Whitfield, the Olympic gold medallist in 2000, Edmonton’s Paul Tichelaar and Jenkins, from Hamilton, Ont., were named to the men’s team Monday by Triathlon Canada.

Jenkins was appointed to the team ahead of Victoria’s Brent McMahon, who is ranked higher than Jenkins internationally, because Triathlon Canada says Whitfield’s chances of winning a medal improve with a teammate whose sole purpose is to draft for Whitfield on the 40-kilometre bike leg of the race.

"We’re putting a team together that’s about medal contention and at the end of the day, that pressure falls on me," Whitfield said Monday from Vancouver in a conference call.

"We set this team up and I have to go perform."

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What a busy weekend! Following is a round-up of results from events in and around BC this past weekend:

• June 7 - Ambleside Masters Mile - West Vancouver
• June 7 - Vancouver 100 - North Vancouver
• June 7 - Skeena River Relay - Prince Rupert
• June 8 - Kootenay Express 10K - Nelson
• June 8 - Journey Run for Remembrance - Abbotsford
• June 8 - Sandcastle 10K - White Rock
• June 8 - Run the Ridge - Maple Ridge
• June 8 - Gutbuster 003 - Nanaimo
• June 8 - Vancouver BG Triathlon World Championships - Vancouver
• June 8 - Edge to Edge Marathon - Tofino/Ucluelet
• June 8 - ALS Adventure Challenge - North Vancouver

By The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Simon Whitfield of Kingston, Ont., Paul Tichelaar of Edmonton and Colin Jenkins of Hamilton, Ont., have been named to the Canadian men’s triathlon team for the Olympic Games.

Triathlon Canada made the announcement this morning following the 2008 world championship in Vancouver on Sunday.

Whitfield, an Olympic gold medallist in 2000, will compete in his third Olympics, while Tichelaar and Jenkins will make their Games debut in Beijing.

Whitfield, 33, qualified by finishing in the top eight at both a World Cup and a world championship. Tichelaar and Jenkins were nominated to the team by Triathlon Canada’s high performance committee.

The women’s triathlon team will be named within the next two weeks.

The Olympic triathlons will be held Aug. 18 and 19.