• Here’s a list of the lucky ones
• And here’s a list of the unlucky ones

“Having BC Athletics Officiate the series will not only provide timing services to the participants, in addition any and all records broken will count. I am expecting many agegroup records to be attempted throughout the series, BC Athletics will be there to help certify those times.” -Christopher Kelsall

BC Athletics, a branch of Athletics Canada, is the provincial non-profit amateur sport organization for Athletics. The purpose of BC Athletics is to promote, encourage, and develop the widest participation and the highest proficiency in Track & Field, Road Running, Marathon, Ultra, Cross Country & Trail Running and Race Walking in the province of British Columbia.

The Qʼs Victoria Track Series is an 8-meet series of races that take place over a 16- week span of time starting Saturday, May 1st and runs through to Saturday, August 21st. 2010.

Runners of all abilities will have the opportunity to race 800m, 1500m, 1609m (the classic mile) 3000m and 5000m up to 3 times each. Participants will compete in individual races as well as for series standings. Runners must run at least 4 events, one being of the 5000m distance to qualify for series standings.

The Qʼs Victoria Track Series has also partnered with Gold sponsors: Popeyeʼs Supplements Victoria, Activa Sports Therapy and the Sticky Wicket Pub.

Information about The Qʼs Victoria Track Series, visit the website at: www.victoriatrackseries.ca.

The competitors in RUN3 will run the first three stages of the GTTRR, starting in Buena Vista, Colorado and ending in Camp Hale, covering the first three stages of 21, 14 and 24 miles for a total distance of 59 miles. They will move through the high desert scenery near Buena Vista and through the highest landscape in North America reaching altitudes of more than 12,000 feet above sea level before finishing at historic Camp Hale.

As a new feature this year, RUN3 registrants have the the opportunity to upgrade to the full GTTRR experience should they find a compatible teammate before the event or find that training is going well enough to put six days within reach.

Click here for more information on the event.

Vancouver Island’s first cross country mountain bike race is this weekend at Victoria’s Hartland Mountain Bike Park. Details are as follows:

Race Date: March 14th 2010

Race Time(s): Day of registration starts at 9:00 ends at 12:00.  Pre register at Trek BIkes Victoria to save time on race day.  Beginner racers start at 10:30,  Intermediate race at 12:00, Expert race at 2:00.

WARNING: Spring forward daylight savings happens the night before!  9:00 will feel like 8:00 so don’t be late.

Race Name: Island Cup XC #1

Event and Course Description: The new Hartland course is designed with classic cross country style emphsizing technical singletrack and shorter laps for better spectating.  Little face, Crazy Horse, Rolly Ridge, Fire Drill, Crossover, N-Trail, Two trees, and Shock treatment will be some of the trials you can expect to ride.  The trails are filled with rocks, and roots, expect early wet spring conditions.  Course map below.  Beginners will race one lap, Intermediate will race 2 laps, Experts race 3 laps.

Event Location: Hartland trails Victoria B.C. Registration is located in the parking lot at the top of Hartland Rd. Just off West Saanich Road.

Google map here

Race Fees: $10 – Free for SIMBS members and Pro City Club Members, Racers must have current Cycling BC Licence ($10 one day licence available at registration)

Host Club Name: Pro City Racing

Contact Person: Scott Mitchell

Contact Phone Number: 250-380-7877

Dangers include falling, hypothermia, ocean swells, wildlife and getting lost. Up to 100 people are evacuated off the trail each year by boat or helicopter.

The videos will soon be made available on the Parks Canada Pacific Rim National Park website. And for more information on the trail click here or here.

Here’s another great race report from Trainharder’s “unofficial” event reporter from the province’s interior, Dirk Handke. This report is, in Dirk’s words, “THE CLOSEST THING next to have been there!”

CLICK HERE to read Dirk report which includes results from the event and lots of great photos.

BC Athletics has again written a great summary report from the event and although we don’t like to copy on this site the first part of that report is included below…

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Kenyan Willy Kimosop, last years Sun Run winner who claimed to have done very little training through the winter while studying in Lethbridge, followed Ontario’s Dylan Wykes for 7.8K of Harry’s Spring Run-Off 8K in Vancouver. With the finish in sight, Kimosop demonstrated that he’d lost little of his track speed as he out-gunned Wykes to come home victorious by 2 seconds in 23:43. Behind Wykes, Victoria’s Scott Simpson was an isolated third in 24:41. Local Jerry Ziak finished fourth in 25:06, ahead of another Victoria athlete David Jackson, fifth in 25:09, and first master Mark Bomba in 25:54.

To find out who placed on the women’s side and to continue reading this report click here.

• 5k Run Results
• 5k Walk Results

Here’s a good report from the event by BC Athletics.

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Courtenay resident, 67, appears to have suffered heart attack

BY KATIE DEROSA

A runner in Sunday’s Bazan Bay 5K in Sidney died after he appeared to go into cardiac arrest.

The 67-year-old man from Courtenay collapsed shortly after the 9 a.m. race began.

Karen Irvine was about four runners away from the man when he went down near the one-kilometre mark of the race.

“It appeared that he stumbled” and struck his head, Irvine said.

Irvine and several other runners rushed to his aid and found he was not breathing.

One runner began doing chest compressions, while Irvine, a lab technician, attempted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. They continued with the resuscitation attempts until B.C. Ambulance paramedics arrived.

The man was taken to Saanich Peninsula Hospital, where he later died.

Irvine did not know the man but said he looked fit.

Cpl. Kerry Howse of the Sidney/North Saanich RCMP said the man’s friend, a doctor, told police the two drove down from Courtenay together and he appeared to be in good health.

He ran every day for 45 minutes, the doctor told police, and did not have any pre-existing medical conditions.

Police said they won’t be certain whether the man suffered a heart attack until an autopsy is conducted.

Howse said the incident was unexpected, given the cool temperatures and that it was near the beginning of the run.

The man’s name is not being released until his family can be notified.

The overall winner of the race was Olympic triathlete Simon Whitfield, who finished in a course record of 14 minutes, 36 seconds.

— With files from Bruce MacKenzie and Roger White

© Copyright (c) The Victoria Times Colonist

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/sports/dies+after+collapsing+Bazan+race/2652562/story.html#ixzz0hYngHuv4

Reports:

• BC Athletics has a nice race report here
• A race report from Erin (West Coast Runner)
• Some photos courtesy of Kamal Rae

When: Saturday March 6th
Time: 9am – 1pm
Where: Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve
Contact: Peter@northshoreathletics.com for RSVP and specifics.

As an added bonus all volunteers will receive a Run the North Shore free race entry to either the Iron Knee,
Summer Solstice or Hallow’s Eve Trail race.

The 2010 Orecrusher XC is a lemans-style start, multi-lap classic XC through the Cheekeye Fan single-track trails of Brackendale. The event is held annually to raise funds for the Don Ross Secondary School’s Outdoor Leadership Program.

Check out http://www.orecrusher.com to sign up for this year’s race!

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A couple of weeks ago, I faced a bit of a dilemma.

My training goals and my race goals clashed on the last weekend of February and in order to get in the time I needed on my Saturday run, it looked like I may have had to miss out on a unique opportunity to run in the World Snowshoe Classic which also doubled as the National Championships.

The race was open to anyone, and I thought it would be neat to partake in such an event during the 2010 Olympic games in Vancouver.  Pondering my options on a walk into work one sunny morning, my plan came to me as I spied Grouse mountain in the horizon as I paced through the West End.

Last summer I had used the run from my apartment in English Bay in a couple of variations in order to get in some longer runs with a decent elevation gain and on remembering these runs my plan for Seek the Peak v3.0 was born.

My intention, to run to the top of Grouse Mountain, race in the Snowshoe Championships and then run home.

This is how it all went down…

Continue reading on Chris’s blog…

Since moving to Victoria from England in 1981, Tarrant has set 42 Canadian age-class records. Currently, Maurice Tarrant is in the midst of racing to set Canadian age-group records in the 80-plus category, on the roads, during the Vancouver Island Race Series and the Timex Race Series, which share a few events including the Pioneer 8k where in January he broke the previous record set by training partner Jim Sargent, by 8 minutes.

The Qʼs Victoria Track Series is different than the Vancouver Island Race Series in that races are run exclusively on the track as opposed to the roads and involve shorter distances including 800, 1500, 3000 and 5000 metres as well as the
classic mile event (1609 metres or 4 laps of the track).

The entire series will be contested at the Jack Wallace Memorial Track at Oak Bay High School, which is located behind the Oak Bay Recreation Centre. Races are open to runners of all abilities and there are elite-class race opportunities available in equal proportion.

For information on the Qʼs Victoria Track Series visit the series website at www.victoriatrackseries.ca. Contact: Christopher Kelsall, Series Director 250-812-7118 – info@victoriatrackseries.ca

In return volunteers are offered a free race entry to the Phantom Run in November, a chance to win draw prizes and a bag lunch if you are out for a full day.

If interested please email Heather: heather@dirtyduo.com.

Ultrarunner Ray Zahab will embark on a unique journey through the frozen lands of Siberia, followed by another run in Tunisia, covering almost 700K with all his supplies on his back, starting on March 1.

Continue reading…

His post can be read here.

By now you know I have a biased point of view that rigorous endurance training is antithetical to health. Yes, I competed and loved it for 20 years, so I get the appeal it has for so many, but these days my personal focus is on maintaining the highest level of fitness and health on the least amount of work and sacrifice. I want to play and have fun.

Still, I get asked a lot by endurance athletes whether there’s any chance they can continue to compete at a high level while eating andtraining Primally. I used to think it probably wasn’t feasible if you wanted to be world class, assuming as I did (erroneously) that you just couldn’t overcome the need for copious amounts of carbs on a daily basis without crashing and burning. However, recent research into the concept of “train low-race high” (vis a vis glycogen) and modified approaches to low level aerobic training that focus largely on reprogramming genes to more preferentially burn fat AS WELL AS the use of techniques like HIIT and barefoot training now all seem to show that training and eating Primalcould not only maximize performance, but extend your career.

If that’s your choice and if you approach it carefully (like Gold and Silver Olympic medalist Simon Whitfield). Since the bookcame out last June, I have heard from several elite athletes who have not only adopted Primal styles but have improved their performances (and reduced injury, and decreased body fat). Today I thought you might be interested in this “testimonial” from my good friend Jonas Colting (of last week’s Cocoa and Coconut Snacks), a long-time professional triathlete who has gradually incorporated Primal techniques into his training style.

Continue reading on Mark’s blog…

The Series starts Saturday, May 1st and runs through to Saturday, August 21st and includes a total of 8 track races ranging between 800m to 5000m.