Photo courtesy of Cindy Cardiff, Double Shutter Images

For the second year running, Neal Kindree won the Test of Metal with an amazing 2:34:28, chased by over 800 pro-elite and regular mountain bikers, 766 of whom completed the gruelling 67 km race.  Neal, and the rest of the leading group, flew through the ‘feeder station’ where I was ‘stationed’ with a couple of friends to cheer on our husbands and, by default, all the ‘random strangers’ who were also part of this great event. Bikers came through in bunches and then one-by-one as men and women – or rather men, and the occasional woman – tested themselves on this challenging terrain.

The top bikers, of course, were amazing and flew up the hills and through the technical sections at breakneck speed, making it look easy!   However, some of the true heroes were in the main bunch of riders, or at the back of the pack.  Congratulations to Derek Steel who, at the age of 70, managed to beat people half his age with an amazing 4:10.  Derek seems to be a legend in Nanaimo, and competed in the World Cyclo-Cross Championships in Louisville, Ky, earlier this year.  Not surprisingly there are very few people competing in his age group, so he often ends up competing with people 25 years his junior.

A special congratulations to all the women – only 81 of them in total – who completed the course, including the only two women over the age of 54: Grace Blok in the 55-59 age group, and Judy Roberts (in the 60-69 group) – both of whom won their age group of course, as they were the only ones in their group.  My hat goes off to all of them for taking part and competing in what is generally a very male-dominated testosterone-fueled sport.  Hopefully this will motivate other women to get out there on the trails.  A huge congrats to Sandra Walter, who was the first woman to cross the finish line with an amazing 3:00.08 and really gave the guys a run for their money!  Congrats to Stephanie Lingard, who was the last person to make it within the cut off time with 6:50:56 .. which is a very long time to be in the saddle!  So rarely do the stragglers get any credit – but they deserve it every bit as much as the winners for their perseverance and immense effort.

Photo courtesy of Cindy Cardiff, Double Shutter Images

And last, but not least, congratulations to my husband who had the best crash photos from his epic fall in Roller Coaster.  Unfortunately he didn’t make it to the finish line – as it seems that bikes are made for high impact but bodies are not.  However, he will be back in due course and his mission for next year is to stay ON the bike.

The Longest Day Race is always a lot of fun and especially nice this year to have my brother, Colin, over to run his first 10k race, and Kevin who first introduced me to the race a  few years ago. Not to mention having Leah there and visiting with the usual group of Broadway Run Club folks. It’s a nice change to have an evening race plus the bonus of a great BBQ afterwards. Fortunately the weather turned around from the miserable rainy start to the day and it was a really pleasant evening.

Read more on his blogsite …

Jerome Truran set out from Port Hardy at around 4pm on Wednesday, June 12th to beat the record for circumnavigating Vancouver Island.  The time to beat is 15 days 11hrs 47mins so he has until Friday 28th at around 3.47am to complete the 1,150km paddle (an average of 75km per day).

What makes Jerome think he can do this?  Well, he does have a bit of experience behind him, including international marathon, downriver, slalom, sprint, surf and SurfLifesaving, as well as  various expeditions, ocean and backcountry trips under his belt.  Jerome competed in river marathons in his native South Africa, running Class II, III and even IV rapids in Olympic K-1’s and K-2’s.  At that time South Africa was banned from international competitions, but Jerome had a British passport and was able to race internationally with the British team in downriver and marathon.  Once he finished competing, he moved to Vancouver Island, and added mountaineering, rock climbing and back country skiing to his portfolio .. while continuing to paddle for fun.

His secret weapon for the record attempt, according to his blog, is ‘a long, thin titanium spoon, to finally reach the bottom of those freeze dried dessert food baggies without having to lick the dessert off the back of your fingers, possibly attracting bears’.

Jerome will be paddling an Epic 18X Sport sponsored by Deep Cove Outdoors and Epic Kayaks. Follow his progress on his blog.

• Beast Mode on the Run – 5Peaks – Alice Lake – 11km Trail Race – Race Recap - http://www.solanaleigh.com/2013/06/13/5peaks-alice-lake-11km-trail-race-race-recap/

I was making up time still, and especially as the course rolled into a couple short downhills, I moved past some people.  We were spit out onto a wider path like trail, and this is where I died.  The trail was a slight downhill, and you were really able to stretch the stride and open it up on this section.  But for me, I was battling nasty side stitches, and these flat-ish non-technical sections are always my weakest, so I was passed by a big chunk of people…

• UX Endorphins – 5 Peaks Alice Lake 2013 - http://james.wanless.info/2013/06/10/5-peaks-alice-lake-2013/

At roughly the 9k mark, we got spit out to a wide gravelly/bouldery 100 meter drop over less than half a kilometer. After grinding to a slow hike in the previous 2k, once my hips and legs adjusted to heading back downhill, I was as aggressive as I could be on this section and hit a 3:51 split on this km of the race. The final sprint to finish is pancake flat and rounds the east side of Alice Lake…

• Becoming a Jock – Race Report – @5peaksrun Alice Lake - http://becomingajock.com/race-report-5peaksrun-alice-lake/

Alas for every downhill, there is an up. And here it was. For comparison, the Queen E Park hill is about 44m over the distance of 600m; Camosun is 70m in about 1.8k; Spanish Banks/UBC is 80m in 2.2k. But this climb? This was 192m in just 1.7k. Gruelling…

• Slow is the New Fast – 5 Peaks Alice Lake Trail Race, Enduro Course (11km) - http://www.slownewfast.com/2013/06/race-report-5-peaks-alice-lake-trail.html

You may have read my post called Confessions of a First Time Trail Runner and if you did, you’ll know that I was terribly nervous about doing this race.  I’ve never seen myself as anything but a slow & steady distance runner who loves the comfortable, repetitive rhythm of running on roads and who generally avoids big hills when possible.

The idea of running around in the bush, bounding over rocks, trudging up big hills and flying down steep ones is pretty far out of my comfort zone to say the least.  And yet, that’s exactly what I did this weekend…

If you have or know about a race report from the Alice Lake 5 Peaks let us know.

Results from the race can be found here.

David ended up winning the marathon but not without one amusing mishap:

At Half way I had only grown the gap to about 400 Meters and was a bit worried that this guy may try to push in the later parts to shrink my lead.  The first half of this race had a ton of head winds to battle and at times I was really struggling to keep my pace.  The wind wasn’t horrible, but it was persistent and along those 2-5km straight roads it was constant.  I knew the competition was facing the exact conditions as I was and would likely be suffering equally.  This was comforting.  Here’s something you don’t or won’t hear everyday, But I know a lot of you have had to think about or make decisions about going pee during a race.  I have had to pee in three or four other events during the race.  I have at times tried to do it while running and other times just tried hard to ignore it.  I have only experienced this in shorter races like a half or 10k.  Seeing as how it was raining and I had worked so hard to grow and maintain my current lead, stopping was out of the question.  Peeing my pants however, still very much in question.  The only problem about this potential reality is that no matter how hard I tried, I could not for the life of me get my plumbing to work.  When the only thing on your mind is going pee and trying doesn’t work, well you have to keep trying.  I honestly spent over three kilometres trying and finally I was able to relieve myself.  I have never felt so good or proud about soiling my running shorts.  To make this situation even more difficult, I had a wonderful man named Rick who was the lead cyclist cycling right beside me.  He heard me making some strange noises and asked if I was ok.  After a few grunts and sighs I replied “I am now!”  Immediately after I felt lighter and my pace magically resumed.  I ran through a large puddle which cleaned my legs and shoes and at the next water station poured two cups all over myself.  ”All clean!” I said “Now back to the race.”

It’s a good thing David managed to pee AND clean himself all while cruising to a win. David’s full race report can be read on his blog, The Running Therapist, here.

Full results from the  Envision Financial Run For Water Marathon, Half Marathon, 10k and 5k can be found here.

Training for the MdS?

The longest I’d run before the MdS was 50km, although I have completed  around ten 50km races including four or five Knee Knackerers.  Generally I find that the hillier and more technical the race is, the better I do – so the KK is a great race for me.    

Then last year, I took the year off to train for Ironman Canada in Penticton – so I had a good fitness base for MdS.  Getting over my fear of water for the Ironman was the most challenging part and by the time of the race, I had learned from experience to start the swim at the back of the pack. 

I signed up for MdS more than a year in advance, so I had lots of time to get ready.  I’m not great at sticking to a training plan, but I tried to run every day, even if only for 30 minutes;  once a week I did speed training and one long run.  I tried to do some runs on the beach to get used to running on sand – however, as I found out, the sand is totally different in the desert.  I did a few of my runs with a fully loaded pack – as according to the rules of the MdS, all runners have to be self-sufficient.  Water and a tent are provided, but a sleeping bag, food, cooking equipment and clothes all had to be carried. 

 To get used to the desert temperatures  – and I’m horrible in the heat – I went to hot yoga every day for a week before leaving for Morocco.  Just to give you an idea of how hot it got  - during the race, the thermometer in my pocket registered 42 degrees (in the shade) – and close to 55 degrees in the sun!  And we were all dressed like eskimos to avoid sunburn … long sleeves, long pants …. Got the picture?

 About the Race …

About a thousand runners started the race, many of them from the UK or France but around two dozen Canadians were there.  Each stage was like a separate race, and we lined up for a mass start for every stage at around 8.30am or 9am every morning to ‘Highway to Hell’ blasting on a portable stereo.    

The terrain was quite varied – about 20-25% of the race was on sand dunes (which was difficult to run on), 10% was mountainous (Vancouverites felt at home on this part of the race, whereas a lot of others  were scared by the narrow paths and ridges), and the rest was on sandy gravel.  As you can imagine, the route was pretty flat – and you could see a long way in each direction.  It was hard to get lost, even with my bad sense of direction, but we were given a compass bearing to the next checkpoint just in case. 

At each checkpoint we were given a 1.5 litre bottle of water to last us until the next checkpoint – each runner was allocated 10.5 litres of water a day.  You need to keep drinking and take in a lot of electrolytes, as you lose so much in sweat – but it’s so dry that you never get wet as the sweat evaporates instantly in the heat.   

I had pulled a muscle in my lower stomach prior to the race, so I took my time and didn’t push it.  The longest day was stage four, which I decided to do in one long day – 75km.  It was a little freaky running at night in the desert, but I felt good and ran up and down the dunes taking photos at sunset.  Fifteen hours later, at 1am, I crossed the finish line. 

Gear and Nutrition?

To keep my pack as light as possible, I packed the bare minimum; a sleeping bag (the desert gets chilly at night), an improvised stove made out of a beer can with fuel cubes, one pair of windpants and a separate top, compression socks, and food – my pack weighed 20lb in total.  By the way, most runners on this race wear special gaiters attached to their runners with Velcro to keep out the sand. 

I was very scientific about my food – and had worked out in advance how much fibre, sodium, protein and carbs I needed each day to get me through.  My gourmet dinner consisted of hydrated food and a cliff bar, and throughout the day I ate every hour – waffles, pecans, cliff bars etc.  The MdS regulations call for a minimum of 2000 calories per day, but I planned for 3,500. 

My biggest surprise?  The desert is beautiful.  I wasn’t prepared for that – I thought it would be boring and plain.

Congratulations to Bob on completing this gruelling race, and to his friend, Scott, who was the fastest Canadian to complete!  To read Bob’s blog and for more photos, click on this link http://bobh.ca/mds/.

Photo by Eric MacKenzie / The Question

David Jackson said he wanted to have a comfortable start to The North Face Whistler Half Marathon on Saturday (June 1). By the end, it was his huge lead over the rest of the field that looked pretty comfy.

The Abbotsford runner captured top spot in the 21.1-kilometre race, crossing the Whistler Olympic Plaza finish line in one hour, 11 minutes, 24 seconds to take the victory.

Read more here  …

The Cateran Trail Race is a part of the Scottish Ultra Marathon Series (SUMS). The event was first held in 2009 and includes 7450 feet of climbs including a climb over the famous Lairig Gate. Here’s a link to a map of the course. You can learn more about the race here: http://cateran55ultra.webnode.com/

Here’s an excerpt from their race report:

It’s not the easiest thing in the world to travel from afar to run an ultra in a country not known for it’s favourable weather.  One needs to pack a fair amount of kit in preparation that ultimately ends up dirty and stinky to the point where we can be embarrassed while packing luggage through the airport! However, back in 2009, Dario who was planning the inaugural Cateran event at the time convinced us that we needed to do this one because the Cateran Trail travelled through much of the countryside where I grew up before emigrating to Canada many years ago.  So, it had always been on our minds to do it and 2013 became the year.

You can continue reading their race report here: http://runandbeccome.blogspot.ca/2013/05/cateran-55-mile-trail-race-scotland-may.html

Here’s an excerpt:

Yes, I am pregnant.  Yes, I raced.  Yes, there were some funny sideways looks.  And yes, someone told me to please not deliver the baby on the bike course.  (I don’t think being aero qualifies as a good labour position anyways).

I’m 26 weeks pregnant & change.  My baby is now likened to the length of a cucumber (we’re past citrus fruits – yeah! mostly an inside pregnant woman’s joke really….), and almost 2 lbs.  I am, however, significantly bigger than the date of my last triathlon, Ironman Canada.  I don’t weigh myself at home, but last check up at the doc’s office had me in around 22 or so lbs heavier. Our kid kicks & moves around, and I think is learning how to mimic riding a bicycle in utero, based on the number of times I get bumped in the ribs these days.  I would love to be able to see right through my stomach & see what he or she is doing, but I’ll have to wait until it comes out.  For now, I’m very happy that it is safe & sound exactly where it is.

So back to the race.  Why did I do this?  Good question.

To read Gillian’s full report go to http://rundriven.blogspot.ca/2013/05/my-1st-pregnant-race-report-comox-tri-k.html. Results from the Shoreline Orthodontics Comox Valley Tri-K Triathlon can be found here.

Without a doubt, we could not have asked for better conditions for the Nimby 50 in Pemberton this past weekend, it was absolutely perfect.  As quite often the hottest place in Canada, last year the race was an absolute scorcher.  This year with rain all week and threatening rain for race day, I was a little worried that it would be a clayey muddy mess.  But race day was dry, trails were tacky, and the weather was a little chilly to start…perfect.

From the start I knew last years winner Brandi Heisterman would be the one to watch, and it was a good battle to end.  I think my lack of high end right now paid off because I didn’t go out like my normal bat out of hell and blow up.  A couple of wheels behind her up the first long climb, I worked hard to try to pass her into the first single track but she nabbed the first prime and stayed in front of me.

Continue reading on Mical’s blog…

Tour De Victoria 2013 from Media One on Vimeo.

For the rest of Sheryl’s  race report, check her blog.

Like usual, let me jump back a few days. Wednesday of this week, I snuck in to Vancouver really early so that i could run the Coast Mountain Trail Series, Buckin’ Hell course before work. I wanted to get a bit more familiar with the top section of the route before the race (Saturday). The trail was in great shape for most of the way up, but once i got to about 900m elevation, i ran in to some serious obstacles.

Continue reading on Mike’s blog…

Trail Running with Chris Thorn Photography from Moonrider Productions on Vimeo.

The Background

The Barkerville Rush Relay is a 100km relay race from Quesnel up through Barkerville and back into Wells. It is divided into 8 stages varying in length from 8 to 17.5km; the race gains a total of 3500m and can be run with 1 to 11 people (see the course profile).  Being a Wells resident, this is also the closest running event to my home.

For the last couple of years, I have volunteered as a checkpoint in stage 7. This year, my friend, Yael, and I decided we’d get a local Wells team together. For various individual reasons, our first group of 10 dwindled to 2. While Yael and I both are willing to take on a running challenge 50km is beyond our league. Yael, not willing to give up on the plan, found a team in Quesnel that needed a couple of runners. And so it was that I came to be a “Bon Bon on the Run.”

Yael running leg 7

I warned Sunshine, our team leader, that I was not fast by any stretch of the imagination and her reply was that that was fine; she was not running to win, but her team had won best costume for 9 of the 10 years of the relay. Oh dear.

As last minute team joiners, Yael ended up with stage 7 and I with stage 1. Living almost an hour away from stage 1, I trained with Yael on stage 7. Heck, practicing on the most hated leg in the snow has got to be good training for anything, right?

The Race

The morning of the race, I got up at 5:25 in order to get out in time for the 7am start. Sunshine set me up with our costume. She had painted t-shirts and made cellophane hats and waistbands like the ends of wrapped candies and gave me candies to hand out to people who either passed me or who I passed.

On the start line, I handed out my first candy to Bob Simpson, who had been our Independent MLA. Then we were off. Most of the runners were quickly ahead of me as we started up the first hill. Despite the short length of my leg (8.5km), it gains just over 800m and hills have not traditionally been my forte. My plan was to follow my 10/1 run plan and to keep a manageable pace up the steep hills with the hope of finishing in under 1:06, preferably not last. So I let the spread happen ahead of me and kept to my game plan.

Heading up the hill start, watching the spread happen ahead of me, I knew this hill would be deceptive. The race co-ordinators has set up signs along the routes. At the top of the hill, the sign said “If this leg was easy, it would be called your mother.” I chuckled. Though I still felt good at the top, 6-mile hill was still ahead. As it flattened out, I increased my speed. My support crew was awesome and unexpected. Sunshine, who I had only met at 6:45 that morning, drove with my boyfriend, stopping periodically along the way to cheer and offer water.

By the time I saw 6-mile hill, I knew I had 2 runners behind me and 2 in my sights. Though I hoped to gain on them up the hill, apparently the 2 ahead had a game plan, too, and the distances stayed pretty similar. As I completed 6-mile, I already began to dread the next one. Having driven it hundreds of times, I felt it could be harder. Partway up that next hill, someone’s support crew was blasting “I want candy” from their car. What could I do? I deked across the rode to give them the candy that I had been carrying for the last 6km.

As the road turned into rolling bumps, Diane Dagneau eased passed me. I was confused, I knew she hadn’t started with us and for the past couple of years, stage 7 has been her stage. Could it be that she started later than us and had caught up and passed me? In my mind, this would be possible, after all, she is a strong, fast runner. As it turned out one of the women behind me had some troubles and Diane, who would later run stage 7 as well, had replaced her teammates.

I finished my leg in 1:01:51 (according to my watch) and was stoked. I had achieved my goals. With one runner still behind, I wasn’t last. I finished under my anticipated time and I still felt good. I gave a high five to my next runner, Hazel, who took off down the road.

Stage 7 checkpoint list

The race was still only just beginning, though. Having had such a great support crew, I tried to do the same for Hazel. Her leg was 17km. Somehow she managed not just to achieve her goals for the leg, but also to keep the cellophane hat (mine fell off early). After her leg, Jason took the proverbial baton. I stopped to cheer him twice as he made up for mine and Hazel’s slower starts and easily passed the first runner ahead of him and caught up to the second. Then I had to head off as I was volunteering for stage 7. As we drove on, seeing the spread was really interesting. The first person was a whole stage ahead of the last. No wonder there was a mandatory 12pm start at Stanley.

I dropped Yael’s costume to her and headed out to set up for my check point. Checking my sheet, I discovered that 2 of the runners were actually running the whole thing solo. As we marked them off going up and coming down, it was clear that the mandatory start had narrowed the perceived gap. With the first runner heading past at 1:57pm and the last runner coming down around 3:40, the times were quick this year. Reports of the snow were bad – slushy and rotten with at least 2 runners reporting falls. Definitely not an easy leg.

With stage 8 finishing the relay and my stage seemingly ages past, the race was done. During dinner and the awards, our team came in third in our division (mixed open) and Sunshine continued with her almost impeccable streak, once again winning her team (us) best costume. As it turned out one of the solo runners also won fastest stage runner in both the first and last legs. Amazing.

I had never before participated in a relay race and the experience of running as a team in such a friendly, fun event buoyed me. Being my first race of the season, it was an energizing start and I may even have found a buddy for my off-road duathlon training. Bring on the summer!

I absolutely loved running the race, but on the drive back to Burnaby, I started to feel very sick, and could barely focus enough to speak.  Pulling into my driveway, I rushed inside and proceeded to make friends with the porcelain throe in the washroom.  My first trail race literally made me puke.

Continue reading on Solana’s blog…

Although everything you need to know about the race including information on registration can be found on the Coast Mountain Trail Series website here, we decided to also direct a few extra questions to Race Director Gary Robbins. Anything to gain an advantage right?

Trainharder (TH) – Can you explain the race format in a little more detail? Does everyone start at the same time? Is there a rest period at the top before runners head down?

Gary Robbins (GR) – The race format involves four options. The distance from top to bottom is just shy of 10km and you can choose to just run the uphill race, to just run the downhill race, to run both the uphill and the downhill, or to find a teammate and run it as a relay race.

There is a mass start at the United Church on Parkgate Road, just around the corner from Parkgate Village, at 8am. This will involve everyone who is participating in the uphill portion of the race.

Once up top there will be a break before runners continue back downhill again. The length of the break will depend on how fast you are able to get up the hill of course.

There will be a mass downhill start from the Mount Seymour parking lot at 10am.

As we grow this even in future years we’d like to do a seeded return run in which runners depart from the top at the intervals they arrived at. For year one however we’re keeping it simple and having everyone run together in both directions.

TH – Both directions present unique challenges. Which do you think will be most challenging?

GR – The climbing starts so quickly and is so relentless that inevitably you’ll have runners near the front who’ve just gotten too excited and gone out far too fast. They’ll pay a price for their excitement and they’ll be cursing us early.

The descent will inevitably take its toll on the quads of the runners. What will make this race so unique will be the timed break up top before you turn around to run back down. This will allow people to go harder than they normally would in an up and down style race because they’ll get some recovery time in between. Whether this will be a good thing or a bad thing for some of these runners remains to be seen :)

TH – Do you expect more uphill or downhill runners? 

GR – The is plenty of excitement around the ability to just run downhill and this seems to have fueled a few relay teams with the downhill runner reaching out for an uphill partner in crime. In the end numbers are fairly even though.

TH – Any pieces of advice for nervous runners?

GR – You’ll cover a vertical kilometer of climbing and descending. Try to keep that in mind during the first few kilometers of your day. If you curse us late in your race you’re running a smart race, if you curse us early in your race you might want to slow down a step :)

TH- Thanks Gary! Good luck with the event!