The 2010 Winter Olympics have official begun and to help celebrate this momentous occasion Club Fat Ass is organizing a challenge to share your run with someone who is in town for the Olympics.

The basic idea behind this challenge is simply to go for a run with someone who is not from Vancouver. And in order to entice such events a number of prizes have been proposed including a missionary award for the person who takes the most visitors out for a run, and a most off-the-wall run award for the most eventful run.

Interested in hosting such a run or are you a visitor looking for a local guide? Challenge details can be found on the Club Fat Ass website here.

Happy Running!

Do you have the urge to follow along with our Canadian athletes during the Olympics?

The Georgia Straight has recently published a directory of known Twitter accounts for all Canadian athletes participating in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.

Some notable Twitterers include Sidney Crosby, Chandra Crawford, Cindy Klassen and Patrick Chan.

You can follow everyone here, or each athlete individually here.

Thanks to Victoria Kayaker for this:

Last week we reported on Alert Bay kayaker Hayley Shephard who was just about to embark on a solo kayak circumnavigation around South Georgia Island. Storms and a severed finger have now put the expedition in jeopardy.

According to the Victoria Kayaker blog, the skipper of the vessel they are on severed part of his finger and short an able bodied sailor the support vessel cannot sail to South Georgia.

They should know by tomorrow whether they will be able to continue the expedition. In the event that this happens one possible backup plan would be to circumnavigate the Falkland Islands instead, which also has not yet been done.

To follow along visit Hayley’s blog here.

There are just a few days to go to register for the TC10K with the Early Bird price of $30. Register before February 14 to take advantage of this reduced price by registering for either the individual TC10K run or walk. After the 14th the individual entry fee rises to $35.

Early Bird Registration click here

In 2009, The Fresh Air Fund’s Volunteer Host Family program, called Friendly Town, gave close to 5,000 New York City boys and girls, ages six to 18, free summer experiences in the country and the suburbs. Volunteer host families shared their friendship and homes up to two weeks or more in 13 Northeastern states from Virginia to Maine and Canada.

The Fresh Air Fund relies on donations to provide memorable summers to NYC children.

The Fresh Air Fund needs hosts for the summer of 2010.

More than 65% of all Fresh Air children are reinvited to stay with their host family, year after year.
Thanks to host families who open up their homes for a few weeks each summer, children growing up in New York City’s toughest neighborhoods have experienced the joys of Fresh Air experiences.

Fresh Air Fund Host Families

“It is rewarding to see the smile on our Fresh Air child’s face as she enjoys the simple things we take for granted…”

Friendly Town host families are volunteers who live in the suburbs or small town communities. Host families range in size, ethnicity and background, but share the desire to open their hearts and homes to give city children an experience they will never forget. Hosts say the Fresh Air experience is as enriching for their own families, as it is for the inner-city children. There are no financial requirements for hosting a child. Volunteers may request the age-group and gender of the Fresh Air youngster they would like to host. Stories about real Fresh Air host families and their New York City visitors are just a click away!

Click here to learn more about becoming a host or call (800) 367-0003!

Vancouver’s popular Run The North Shore website has been updated. The new site is a great resource for runners and includes advice and tips on running, information on local running talent, and a racing calendar.

You can also sign up for a monthly newsletter, here is a link to the latest issue: http://www.runthenorthshore.com/February.

The Orcas Island 25k & 50k is one of the first trail ultras of the year and as such always gets a good turnout. This year’s race was no different and as usual a large number of BC runners headed south of the border to sample the trails.

So far we’ve found three race reports from the event:

• Matt Hart – Orcas Island 50km Race Report 2010 – Flying as Close to the Sun as Possible
• Shane Ruljancich – Orcas Island 25K
• Tom Craik – The Meta Cognitive Runner
• The Lazy Trail Runner – Orcas Island 50 or so K ….. take two
• Ellie Greenwood – Orca’s Island 50km Race Report
• Tom Craik – Orcas Island

Preliminary results for both the 25k and 50k are also posted on the event blog. Click here for 25k results and here for 50k results.

Olympic fans can virtually ski the runs of Whistler-Blackcomb, take a run on the bobsleigh course

BY GILLIAN SHAW, VANCOUVER SUNFEBRUARY 10, 2010

Google Street View has taken to the slopes with the launch Tuesday of Google Snow View, taking viewers on a virtual tour of Whistler-Blackcomb and the Olympic runs.

With the Google Street View camera mounted on the back of a snowmobile, photographers toured the runs of the ski resort, capturing images that are being shown on Google’s newly launched website for the 2010 Olympic Games, google.com/games10.

(more…)

Interested in learning more about Team Diabetes and what they do? Are you especially intrigued by their offer to train and send you to the 2010 Reykjavik Marathon in exchange for your fundraising efforts?

Learn how you can walk, run or ride with Team Diabetes at a free info night happening tomorrow evening in Surrey. Details are as follows:

Time 6:30 pm
Location De Dutch Restaurant
Address 7310 120th Street, Surrey
RSVP rebecca.taylor@diabetes.ca and 604-732-1331 x246

We’ve recently posted information on a number of new iPhone applications but the Official Mobile Spectator Guide from Bell probably seems most relevant given the Vancouver Olympic Games begin in just a few days time.

The new application, which is available from iTunes, lists all sports and cultural events by type of event, venue and date, and also provides directions to events along with times.

In addition the app provides news feeds, medal counts by country, and list official twitter accounts or participating organizations.

Best of all it’s free!

For more information on the app click here or search for “2010 Guide” within the iTunes store.

A comprehensive collec- tion of results, reports and photos from this past weekend’s Starting Block 10k and 3k in Vernon has been lovingly prepared by Dirk Handke, a local runner from Kelowna.

Click here to check it out: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dcnqcjdw_2797gt2wnhdx

Vancouver Island has been home to many classic mountain bike races over the history of the mountain bike, and they invite you to join them for many more years of racing. If you’re a first timer, seasoned pro or just out to have some fun they would love to see you experience mountain bike racing on Vancouver Island.

The 2010 Island Cup Series will run between March 14th and October 31st.

For more information please visit
http://www.islandcupseries.com/.

If you would like to become a sponsor of the Island Cup Series, please visit: 
http://www.islandcupseries.com/index.php/contacts/.

On February 12, the world will gather to watch top athletes from around the globe compete in the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and for the first time ever a large number of international teams will be competing in our province.

Among that group is Team USA, our closest neighbor. Because of this trainharder would like to let you know how to best access the latest info and receive exclusive updates from the team.

Click here to experience the insider’s view of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver from Team USA’s perspective, and stay tuned as we will be providing information on how to best keep up to date with Team Canada…

On February 1st Get Out There launched its brand new iPhone app. Like the new Club Fat Ass iPhone app (called the ActivePorker), it can be downloaded free-of-charge and will allow users to easily search for events listed on the Get Out There mother site.

The app has a few additional functions. It can be setup to send alerts when a new event of interest is posted onto the calendar. Users will also be able to check up on Get Out There’s Facebook and Twitter feeds

To download and install visit the iTunes store.

Check out these upcoming events that are to take place across BC this weekend. Something for everyone!

Saturday February 6th

• Squamish Scrambler – event website – a snowshoe hike/run up to Red Heather Cabin (10km), or Elfin Lakes Cabin (22km) high above beautiful Squamish, BC.

Sunday February 7th

• The Starting Block 10K in Lavington – download race brochure – a 10k along all paved, flat or gently rolling terrain through rural-residential countryside. Re-certified in 2008. Also includes a 3K fun run.
• Cedar 12K – download race brochure – race 3 of the FrontRunners Island Race Series – the course is described as gently rolling.

The Victoria Times Colonist recently put out a call for bloggers, and after a large response have chosen 5 people to blog about their training in the lead up to the TC 10K on April 25th.

Each was chosen for their different abilities, goals and backgrounds. The five bloggers are Brooke Finnigan, Rumon Carter, Saira Waters, Chris Burdge and Steph Pound.

An introduction by Denise Helm on the bloggers can be read here and all of their entries up to this point here.

BC Athletics is pleased to announce the launch of its new Blog to bring you the latest news on the sport of Athletics in BC. It replaces the former weekly BCA Bulletin (the Bulletin will NO LONGER be published and distributed, please go to the Blog for all the latest BC Athletics News)

You can view the Blog anytime at http://bcathletics.wordpress.com.

You can also receive email notification whenever new items are posted, by subscribing to the Blog.

A woman from Alert Bay is set to attempt a solo circumnavigation of South Georgia Island. Hayley Shephard is currently in transit to the Island and is expected to begin her attempt today.

South Georgia Island lies in the South Atlantic Ocean just north of Antarctica, and while only 400 miles in circumference, it is one of the most difficult paddles in the world. The weather is unpredictable, wildlife dangerous, and water temperatures lethally cold.

Every night she will land, set up camp for the night and if weather permits continue on her way the following day, racking up as many miles as possible.

Money raised from this expedition go towards the  plight of the albatross.

You can follow Hayley’s trip at http://hayleyshephard.blogspot.com/.

Best of luck Hayley!

The first Yeti of 2010 happened this past weekend at Vancouver Island’s Mt. Washington. It looks like it was a great time!

Check out the results, now posted on RaceDay: 5K Results, 10K Results. Photos from the event can been seen on Dave Silver’s website here. Several reports from the event has been written. One by Lina Augaitis here, and another by Nick Best here.

The next Yeti race is taking place this February at Mt.Seymour. It is an invitational, with elite athletes from around the world having been invited. Check back here for more information on the event soon.

The preliminary START LIST for the 2010 GORE-TEX® TransRockies Run is now posted. To view the start list click here. For more information on the race and to sign up click here. There is still space available.