Following are some of the athletes write ups that have become available over the past few days. Results are available here.

• Simon Whitfield – a solid weekend done and done – I love the intervals, long rides with the boys are fun, long runs in the woods are brilliant, swimming is….. meh. I really like the intervals, head to head…
• Studio YVR – Shawnigan Lake Half Iron – Race Report – My swim time was about the same as last year which is amazing to me because I went so far off course this year since the morning sun on the lake had completely blinded me.
• Meyrick Jones Racing – Subaru Shawnigan Lake International 1/2 Iron Triathlon Photos – Sunday was the Subaru Shawnigan Lake International 1/2 Iron. If you are going to slap a grand title like that on a race it better be good – and this one is awesome!
• Triing in Victoria – Shawnigan Lake 1/2: Race report – What a day for a race, the weather was absolutely spectacular, the water was a good temperature, and I was feeling ready to have a good race.
• Vincent’s Ramblings – 2009 Shawnigan Lake Half Iron Race Report!!! – We once again were blessed with amazing weather for race weekend. Jody and I joked that we bring good luck to races because this is our 6th race together with next to perfect weather.

Results from the 2009 Oak Bay Half Marathon are now posted:

• Individual
• Relay

A number of athlete writeups are also available:

• Yan Lyesin – Running portraits from the May 24, 2009 Oak Bay Half-Marathon.
• Woman on the Run - Race Day – Too fast=long race - If there’s one piece of race-day advice I’ve retained since my first 10K clinic six years ago it’s “Don’t go out too fast.”…
• Carlos Castillo – Oak Bay 1/2 marathon - Today as part of my training for the Scourched Sole 50Mi, I took in a local Half M and made a movie…
• Jeff Hunt – Oak Bay 1/2 Marathon – May 24th, 2009 – After recently posting that I would not be doing any more races until June, I somehow managed to rework my schedule to fit in this race…
• Heather Hollman – Oak Bay Kool Half Marathon – Behind the Scenes - This past weekend marked the date of two wicked races in Victoria, the Oak Bay Kool Half Marathon and the Shawnigan Sprint/Olympic/Half Ironman Triathlon….
• Madly Running Around – Oak Bay Half – Having found myself in Victoria this weekend, I decided to jump into the Oak Bay Half Marathon…

• May 24, 2009 – MOMAR 001, Squamish, BC
• May 24, 2009 - Subaru Shawnigan Lake International Triathlon, Shawnigan Lake, BC
• May 24, 2009 - Oliver Sprint Triathlon, Oliver, BC
• May 24, 2009 - Rhythm of Life Run, Burnaby, BC

All athlete writeups from these events will be added to the site as they become available.

Results from the event can be viewed here.

• NEW! Heather Hollman - North Shore Triathlon - Thankfully, lack of sleep and leg stiffness (from the 10 x 1km Run WO on Saturday morning and Crazy Doctor Dancing), didn’t seem to affect my race too much…  
• NTC Development Squad - 2009 North Shore Triathlon Results – Congratulations to our North Shore racers….
• Meyrick Jones - North Shore Triathlon 2009 – Mattias and his buddy Carter rocked this thing. SWIM: Mattias was first out of the water – he took a few wallops on the head and got run into the side of the pool a couple of times but he distanced himself in the last 25m to emerge first out of the water…
• Nicola Gildersleeve - North Shore Spring Triathlon – Today was the 20th anniversary of the North Shore Spring Triathlon. I don’t normally participate in this event, to be honest, I haven’t even gone out to watch before…

Any others? Please let us know!

By Christopher Kelsall

The first Black Press 5000 (5 kilometre) race took place at the Jack Wallace Memorial Track (Oak Bay Track) May 15, under sunny skies and mild temperatures.

The main event featured one of Canada’s top runners, Langford’s Ryan McKenzie who runs for Pacific Athletics.

Ryan owns an impressive 5000m personal best time of 13:35. He won the Black Press 5000 in 14:02. Second place went to Prairie Inn Harrier Scott Simpson.

(more…)

Chris Price, a Trainharder blogger, has just posted his race report from last weekend’s 5 Peaks trail ran at Golden Ears Provincial Park:

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I awoke at 6am on Saturday to a beautiful sunny morning.  I made my brecky and set to checking some emails before getting myself ready for the trip out to Golden Ears in Maple Ridge.  I swung by Feldblooms place and got him to work on the iphone and Google maps as we made our way out of the city and out to the burbs.

Golden Ears

We got a good park and made our way over to registration.  I checked in and waited for Brian to complete his race day registration and then we set about running about, back and forth to the car, toilet visits and warm ups before settling in near start line.  We lined up near the front, a few rows back from the tape and set about waiting (cooling down) for the sports course registration to finish up so they could start the race.  This gave me some time to look around and acknowledge all the familiar faces that had shown up on the day.

Continue reading on Chris’s blog…

Following is an update on the 22nd Annual Elk/Beaver Ultras which occured over the weekend in Victoria, BC.

• The results has been nicely summarized by race organizer Carlos Castillo on his blog. Click here to read his race report.
• Rob MacKay writes about his experience competing in the 50 mile category and eventually finishing 3rd overall. His report can be read here.
• Trainharder blogger Donald Peterson shares his thoughts on dealing with stomach issues and pulling out at just over 40kms into the 50 mile event.
• Finally, Jeff Hunt competed in the 50 kilometer category. His review of the event can be read here.

Results from the 2009 BMO Vancouver Marathon are now posted on the Race Headquarters website. Athlete writeups from the event will be posted here as they become available.

• Marathon – Overall | Age Groups | Wheelchairs
• Half Marathon - Overall | Age Groups
• 8 km – Overall | Age Groups
• Kids Marafun - Overall

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Write-ups we’re found so far…

• Betty’s Blog – BMO Vancouver Marathon – Another successful race on a gorgeous morning as the forecast for today was 80% light rain 2 days ago. Awesome race organization with a lot of water/aid station and food for the whole course and at the Finish.

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The following press release summarizes the race:

VANCOUVER, BC, May 3, 2009 – Today marked the 38th annual running of the BMO Vancouver Marathon. Benard Onsare of Calgary, originally from Kenya, finished in first place with a time of 2:28:26. In first place for the women for the second year in a row was Mary Akor of California with a time of 2:46:24.

Continue reading…

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Also, this article on Adam Campell, 2nd overall on the men’s side and first overall Canadian, was published Monday in the Vancouver Province:

Harsh winter training has its reward – Adam Campbell slogged daily in knee-deep snow — and it paid off

By Marc Weber, The ProvinceMay 4, 2009

Adam Campbell’s training earned him $2,000 on a picturesque Sunday morning in Vancouver. It helped him through some fierce Maritime months long before that.

Campbell finished second to run-away winner Bernard Onsare in the BMO Vancouver Marathon men’s 42.2-kilometre race Sunday and snagged bonus money as the top Canadian.

It was just the second-ever road marathon for the fiancee of Vancouver triathlete Lauren Groves who spends most of his time on trails. The reason to sign up was simple.

Continue reading…

From the Victoria Times Colonist – Perfect running conditions reward the thousands at 20th Annual TC 10K; Kenyan, Olympian win – Willy Kimosop, an elite-class runner from Kenya, won the 20th Annual Times Colonist 10K Sunday. Kimosop, who was among almost 10,000 runners who came out for the race, completed the course in 29 minutes and 29 seconds, not a record but the first time in six years that it’s been run in under 30 minutes. The TC10K record time of 28:47 was set in 1995 by another Kenyan, Simon Chenowya.

Also, here’s what we’ve found on the blog-waves so far…

• Running Tough – Times Colonist 10K – I have been remiss on working on this race report. I just haven’t been able to find the time to sit down and do it so a somewhat summarized version will have to suffice.
• Jarhead – The 20th Annual Times Colonist 10K – With a record number of participants the Times Colonist 10K solidified its status as the second-largest 10K in Canada behind Vancouver’s 40,000+ participant Sun Run…
• Dirge Rhetoric – TC10k – Anyone speak Swahili or whatever language the little guys who ran out front today communicate with? I was trying to communicate with Willy Kimosop to get his race number from him and for him to autograph it…
• The Running Diva - Hooray for Juice! – Yesterday was a day off from running but I did a good session of strength and core work. Juice and I were up bright and early this morning (after a late night with the opera last night) and met Dave, Jon, Kathy and Matt near the TC start-line before the race…
• Woman on the Run - Drama at the finish line – For each one of the 12,600 people who ran or walked the TC10K, there is a story. Certainly, there is the headline achievement by elite athletes – but I’m thinking of those whose drama is recounted at the dinner table, not on a speaking circuit.
• Triing in Victoria - 40:20 so close yet so far!!! - Well, I set a new PB of 40:20, not quite what I was looking for, but still a good run.
• What’s up with ELM? - HURRAY ELM WOMEN! – CONGRATULATIONS to the crew of 17 ELM Women who raced in the TC 10K today in Victoria!
• Running Bebe - Race Summary: TC10K – This is not my Official Race Report, but until I get to that, here is the breakdown of my race:

Results from this morning’s Times Colonist 10k in Victoria are now availble on the Race Headquarter’s website here. Congratulations to everyone who participated. We will be posting write-ups and reviews from the event as they become availble…..stay tuned.

Within the past few days several runners from BC has written about their experiences running in last Monday’s Boston Marathon. Although the race takes place across the continent, we feel they deserve the kudos for training and competing in such a great event. Below are their write-ups from the event….

• A Runner’s Tale - 3:15:28… the time it took to capture the elusive unicorn – My morning started at 4:17 a.m. with a complimentary breakfast of oatmeal, a banana and rather watery coffee. My level of excitement reminded me of the feeling I had on Christmas morning when I was 6, 31 years later that feeling still takes me away to a happy place…
• Studio YVR – PR in Beantown. Woo Hoo! and How Not To Recover From A Marathon - Get up the day after the marathon at 3 am. Grab the 4 am shuttle to Logan Airport. Jump on the 6 am flight to Dulles…
• James Wanless - The Week Before Boston: Taper, Travel And Hotel Woes - The week prior to April 20th was a real doozy. Not only did I have to finish off a final paper for my present MA course, but in addition to getting ready to fly to Boston I also had to shore up several details for my current big work project…

Results from last weekend’s Diez Vista 50k are not yet available, but will be posted soon here. Photos however are available, and can be seen here. Following are three write-ups we’ve managed to find already from the event, with more to be added as they become available…

• Nicola Gildersleeve – 2 weeks to go…Bring on the Taper – Diez Vista 50km was on Saturday, with a great showing of familiar faces. Because I wasn’t racing, I wasn’t nervous at all, which is the complete opposite of my normal pre-race state…
• Pricey Runs – Diez Vista 50k – I had heard so many good things about this race that I was chomping at the bit, really excited to give this one a go.  With the Chuckanut under my belt, I wasn’t too green going in and knew of the sort of tolerance required to get through another one of these ultras…
• Gary Robbins – Diez Vista, Version 3.0 – Outside of my annual ‘Club Fat Ass New Year’s Day Hangover Run’, the Diez Vista now stands alone as the race I’ve participated in the most, this being my third edition. Version 1.0 in 2006 will forever be known as my worst ultra ever, and the closest I’ve ever come to DNFing…

Three more race reports from the Chuckanut 50k trail run were posted this morning on the blogoshpere…

• Darindurance – Chuckanut ‘09 edition - I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from this race other than sore legs for a few days afterwards and in regards to that, the race didn’t disappoint…
• Team Montrail Canada – Aaron Heidt Race Report (1st place overall) - Chuckanut was supposed to be a show down between me and Gary Robbins, which meant it was a race I had been looking forward to for months. Unfortunately, Gary was still recovering from Dirty Duo and his travels in Europe and decided racing would jeopardize his training for Western. However, there was no shortage of competition. On Friday night Gary counted 10 guys that would be fighting for the podium…
• Back to the edge – Chuckanut – redux post - Having re-read my Chuckanut post on the race and also having a few days from the race has provided me with some reflection time. I try to write race reports quickly after the race so that I can (hopefully) accurately describe the details.

A number of race reports from runners who competed in the Chuckanut 50km trail run have been posted:

• Back to the Edge – Chuckanut 50k – 4:52:26 – In 2006 I ran probably my first real ultramarathon, the Chuckanut 50k. After coming back from the Marathon Des Sables in 2005, I was determined to start running ultras and Chuckanut was ‘the’ race that everyone was talking about. So I entered and ran 5:30 – not a terrible time and I was hooked on the course and race. I still think it is the most well run race in the Pacific Northwest. Now to Chuckanut 2009. “I hate this sport!”…
• Pricey Runs – Chuckanut 50k - The Chuckanut 50k Mountain race was always going to be a tough run for me.  I was to be my first Ultra and longest race I have ever done past the half marathon distance…
• Betty’s Blog – Chuckanut 50K - Ray and I had a very interesting and nice getaway, I think?? Wait till you read on. We stayed overnight in Bellingham for Ray’s first ultra marathon called Chuckanut 50K race…
• Matt Hart’s Blog – Chuckanut 50km 2009 - today i volunteered at the chuckanut 50km as i have many times now. krissy and her crew, including her mom peggy put on a great race with an awesome vibe…
• Team Montrail Canada - Team Takes Chuckanut 50km!! - What is one of the West Coast’s premiere early season tests, the team headed down to Bellingham to run with our southern neighbours. Aaron Heidt and Aaron Pitt laced up for the 50km, Ellie Greenwood, Lisa Polizzi and Cheryl Beatty were representing our females.

…”there was a flat tire at about 11pm and then some sort of freezing outdoor crazy chilean lamb bar-b-q (for a veggy girl a little frightening but an experience nevertheless)…”

North Vancouver adventure athlete Lina Augaitis has just completed an adventure race in Chile called the Wenger Patagonia Expedition Race. The 10 day expedition style event included:

• A90km paddle down “the most gorgeous river I have ever paddled… past glaciers, peaks, howling winds”,
• A 100km bike,
• A 50ishkm trek through the infamous Turba (“…like very wet moss that sinks to about your ankles. So in the end it is as difficult as walking in snow without snowshoes but wet and cold…”) and forests of southern Patagonia,
• Another 140km bike,
• and more…

Unfortunately due to terrible blisters, allergic reactions, wrong equipment, adverse weather conditions and pure exhaustion Lina’s team was forced to quit before completing the race.

You can read her entertaining and information writeup of her experience on her blog here.

Dirty Duo Trail Run/Mountain Bike Race, March 7, North Vancouver

• Gary Robbins – Gettin Dirty At The Duo (An Epic Race Experience) – Dirty Duo 2009 however will forever go down as one of my personal breakout races! I have NEVER been pushed like I was at this past weekends race…
• Steed Cycles – Dirty Duo 2009 – The 10^th annual Dirty Duo kicked off Saturday March 7th. For those of you who don’t know what the Duo is – it’s a fun North Shore mountain bike and trail running event held on Seymour every March…

Cypress Yeti Snowshoe Race, March 7, North Vancouver

• Team Helly Hansen Vancouver Island – Cypress Yeti – Wow, snowshoe season is finally done, the suffering is finally over. It was another great weekend of snowshoeing for Team Helly Hansen Vancouver Island…

UBC Triathlon/Duathlon, March 8, Vancouver

• 3:10 to Boston – UBC Sprint Tri Race Report – Kept this kind of under the radar. Hadn’t really been training much for tri’s since Gunner broke his collar bone…
• Martina – ‘Playing with da boys’…. UBC Triathlon – Well, first triathlon race of the year!  Not a stellar one, but it’s still early in the year and I just wanted to fun racing again : )
• Joanne Alison Fox – Busted! – I decided to race the UBC duathlon race, a little last minute. Like the day/night before, over a glass of coffee/wine with my friends.
• Vincent’s Ramblings – UBC Triathlon race Report – Yesterday kicked off the start of the 2009 Triathlon season with the UBC Triathlon. My heat was pretty late in the day, 12:40 so I had a nice relaxing morning getting ready and then watching some of my friends race before the start.

Harry’s Sprint Run Off 8K, March 8, Vancouver

• Steve Osaduik – My Past Race – I felt good going into the race, our group did not cut mileage for this race, rather we trained through it more or less, I hit 110 miles for that week.
• Bomber – That felt tough – Raced an 8km on Sunday as a tempo run, but it still felt terrible. My hips have been bugging me all week and my legs seemed beaten up after Tuesday’s track session (much more than the ease of the workout itself).

Bazan Bay 5K, March 8, Victoria

• Shane Ruljancich – Bazan Bay 5K – Three seconds…that was how close I came to getting my goal of under 16min on this race!
• Kyle Jones – Gramps still got game – Yesterday morning we ran the Bazan Bay 5k in Sidney. I wasn’t expecting to run too fast going in but I was still looking forward to having a crack at it.
• Simon Whitfield – how to hurt your calf – click the link and start hitting NEXT (on the far right). A) You’ll learn how to hurt your calf (it’s not that bad but it’s going to take a few days to feel better) B) you’ll laugh at two idiots sprinting like they stole something C) see the exact moment #808 thought “oh oh, crazy is about to beat me” – when you come across that photo you’ll know!

Donald Peterson’s third and fourth stage reports from last month’s Coastal Challenge Rainforest Run are now posted on his blog.

TCC09 Stage 3 – “Feel the Coastal Acid”

TCC09 Stage 4 – “Revenge of the Borucas”

Donald Peterson’s second stage report from last month’s Costa Rica Challenge is now posted on his blog. The first section is included below:

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On morning two and for the rest of the race the organizers wanted to get us going as soon as it was light enough to run.  On this morning, with us being in a fairly deep and dense valley, it turned out to be around 6:00am.  During the race I got into a morning routine; wake, eat, tear down & pack, prep, then relax until start time.

The kitchen was usually open before 4:30am each morning and the food (which had been prepared by two magnificent cooks who happen to be brothers -Luis and Jesus Alvarado) was awesome!  They had gallo pinto (rice and beans) every morning as well as scrambled eggs, tons of fresh fruit, all kinds of hot and cold cereal, and great coffee.  I was never in any fear of being hungry!

The race start was pretty casual, “3… 2… 1… GO!”  As we were at the end of the road the course started out with a short run back up the way we came in and then went quickly into some single track and fairly quickly after that into some pretty steep climbs through dense rain forest.  It was a wet and muddy trail and the mud was that sticky, shoe sucking off kind of mud – it was wicked!  About half way up the climb there was a deep section where the front runners had kicked up a wasp nest, I made it past fairly unscathed, only two bites/stings, but some others were not so lucky.  One fella got hit about a dozen times.

Read more….

Check out Donald Peterson’s first stage write-up from the Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica…

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It was an early morning on day one the buses were scheduled to leave at 4:30am and it was a 4 hour trip to the start line.  I tried to get some more sleep during the bus ride and was mostly successful.

We ended up starting the race at around 10:00 in a small town called Quepos.  We were lead out of the town slowly by an ambulance and once clear of the more populated area they pulled off and the race was on.  It was a sight to see the top three males (Javier Montero, Scott Jurek and David James)  shoot out from the rest of the pack.

Continue reading…

Results from yesterday’s 4th Island Race Series event at Victoria’s Hatley Castle are now posted. Over 440 runners participated in the 8K, with Scott Simpson finishing first (25:19) on the men’s side and Cheryl Murphy (29:55) finishing first among the women.

The full results are posted here.

Write-ups from the race will be posted here shortly.