Portland Marathon
A ton of our members headed stateside this Thanksgiving weekend to try out the Portland Marathon. It was wet and miserable the entire length of the run, but there were some spectacular results, and a couple of debuts! Here are the details:
GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon + Half Marathon
Not the same numbers as last year, but we had a few PRRers stay more local for their Thanksgiving Marathon in Victoria. The weather was considerably better than Portland, but that didn’t make the hills any easier. Here’s who ran:
Full Marathon:
Turkey Trot
If you didn’t feel like doing a marathon this Thanksgiving, but still wanted to run, this GI-based 10k race was a great option.
GoodLife Fitness Toronto Marathon
Mark scored a PB in stinky old Toronto (sorry, couldn’t resist)!
Rubber Ducky First Half
Jackie and Dave both scored half marathon PBs on this double-loop of Burnaby Lake. Congrats to you both!
Around the Lake Give’r Take 30
Doug took part in this beautiful loop around Cultus Lake.
Marathon du Medoc
Ahhhhh…. Easily the most stress-free, easy going marathon in the world. Wine aid stations, a median finishing time of over 6 hours - and it all goes down in the south of France. Here are the results:
This race (point-to-point from Kits beach to Ambleside park via the Lions’ Gate Bridge) is officially billed as the most scenic race within BC’s Lower Mainland. It’s also unofficially billed as the race where it never rains. Well, guess what? It rained hard and the “scenic” part was mostly obscured by fog, but we had fun anyway.
Dan tackled the first 27k of this notoriously difficult (hilly!) ultra in Manning Park.
Doug ran the “Ultra” Half Marathon option (closer to 25k than 21.1) on this last episode of the great Five Peaks trail series.
One of the big ones. Part of the Marathon ‘Grand Slam’, and where the current world record was set. 6 of our members ran this one:
Seek the Peak
This is a fun one… popular to do as a four-person relay, but Monika did it solo: starting at Ambleside park, she ran up through Capilano Canyon up Nancy Greene way, up the Grind, and up again to the top of the Grouse Mountain.
Knee Knacker
Ugh, this race. Its legend precedes it… 30 miles across the entire Baden-Powell Trail with over 8000 feet of climbing and barely runnable downhills. Yuck! To top things off this year, it was really hot! Despite the adverse conditions, we had some really good times from our club members.
Also of note: Former member and friend-of-PRR Ellie Greenwood broke the female course record by over 12 minutes and finished 5th overall (and first female, obviously) with 5:06:09. Congrats to her and everyone else crazy enough to endure this horrible race!
5 Peaks: Sun Peaks
Now, Grant and Laura were the smart ones here. Instead of a 50k slog through the BP trail, they opted to slip off to the lovely Sun Peaks resort and take part in one of the (short!) 5 peaks trail races. They both placed in their divisions:
Enduro course (15k)
Sport course (8.5k)
5 Peaks: Mount Seymour
Doug did the Enduro course and Rachel did the Sport course on this one, the shortest but by far the most technical race of the series.
Enduro course (11.7k)
Sport course (6.2k)
Fat Dog 100
Oy. I take back everything I said about KneeKnacker. Fat Dog, Hot Dog, Lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnng Dog. This was the inaugural running of BC’s first ever point-to-point 100 miler that stretched from Keremeos back around to Manning Park. There was also a 100k and relay option too. Given that this was the first year, we expected a few hiccups, but we didn’t expect a course that was almost 20% longer than advertised, and super-technical terrain that was supposed to be runnable. Oh, and did I mention the heat? But all in all, more fun was had than not.
100 mile relay:
It’s important to note that these 100 miles were actually closer 117 miles. This doesn’t include the extra 4 miles that Ross ran getting lost.
100 kilometer solo:
Jess got some bonus k too! Hers turned out to be closer to 120k.
Ed tried the conquer the 100 mile solo, but ran out of steam around the half way mark. Here’s to next year, Ed!
Vancouver 100
Bill took on 3/4 of this gruelling Club Fatass Run which covers the entire Baden Powell trail from Deep Cove to Horseshoe Bay and back again. Basically, 2 Knee Knackers in a row. Since he only did 75k, I guess he’s only 75% crazy, but that’s still more crazy than sane. Congratulations, Bill.
Ambleside Masters Mile
This is North America’s largest masters mile, and three of our members went all out to see how fast they could cover it. Some pretty impressive times:
Oliver Half Iron
Having the word “half” in the title shouldn’t diminish the amount of effort required to do this race: 2km swim, 93 km bike ride, and capped off with a half marathon. Amanda did this one, while Monika had a go at her first Will we see her in Penticton in 2011?
Sandcastle City Classic 10k
White Rock was the venue for the latest race in both the Timex BC and the LMRRS Series.
Edge to Edge Marathon Relay and Half Marathon
This one got a little bloody for our competitive teams, but it ended up being a story of triumph in the end, as we came in 1st among the mixed teams and 2nd overall, despite having two of our runners doing double legs, and starting 5 minutes late due to a runner/photographer collision.
Janet also did a great job in the half marathon, finishing first in her division!
Five Peaks: Burnaby Mountain
Doug did the Enduro Course (9.8 km) of the second race in this local trail-running series out at SFU.
Longest Day 10k/5k
Huge PRR turnout for this one. Lots of great times, too.
10k times:
5k times:
Scotiabank Half Marathon
Big turnout and gross, cold wet weather (great for running!) made this a fun one. Here are the results:
Scorched Sole 50 Mile - 50k - 25k
Another year, another new course. Lots of great showings for PRR members at this ultra in Kelowna that saw both sun and snow.
50 Mile:
50k:
25k:
Elk/Beaver Ultra
Sukhi was one of two pacers for PRR Hall of Famer Ellie Greenwood’s first stab at a 100k Ultra. The Elk/Beaver 100k consists of 10 consecutive loops of the its namesake’s lake. For those who haven’t yet heard, the result was…
Only Carol and Arthur decided to do the full marathon in 2010, a year where we might have had more volunteers than runners! Their results were:
Dan headed down to Oregon to try this marathon which finishes at the track on legendary Hayward Field. He describes his experience as so:
“Great race and a wonderful vibe around Hayward Field. There is so much history there. And now, I am part of it.
I had another recent personal best at 4:28:15, which was good enough for Third M65-69. NOT good enough for Boston, but hey, it is my best raw time since October 2000 and third best raw time! And, since I so love Age Graded times, it is now my second best graded time, ever.” Vancouver Sun RunThanks to Victoria and Dean for volunteering!
Tenderfoot Boogie
This was the inaugural running of what is sure to be an annual event. This race was offered in 50 Mile, 50 km, 28 Km, and 50 Mile relay versions. The 50 Mile route went all the way from Squamish to Whistler. Bill and Jess did the 50k*, and Rik was one of the (scarce!) volunteers. Here are the results:
*GPS data revealed that the distance was actually 57 km, so even more impressive!
Shaugnessy 8k
Part of the Timex Road Running Series and the Lower Mainland Road Race Series.
SOWA Half Corked Marathon
The first running of the Okanagan’s version of the Marathon du Medoc sounded like a lot of fun: just over 17k, with delicious Okanagan wines from the local wineries served at each aid station. Thankfully, all of our runners somehow managed to make it to the finish line:
Also, congrats to Dave and Jackie for winning first prize in the costume contest!
Calgary Marathon
Not content with having just one monumental victory this month, Ellie ran the Calgary Marathon on the 30th, winning first female, and breaking the course record for women by over 10 minutes. Congratulations!
Diez Vista 50k
John was the only PRR member to tackle this 50k course, which is probably second only to kneeknacker as the toughest 50k in BC. He had a bit of a spill, but managed to soldier on to a great finish.
April Fools’ Half Marathon
Lots of PRR folk at this race on the Sunshine Coast.
5th in the Club Standings, too. Well done!
Five Peaks: Golden Ears
Doug was the only PRR member participating in this; the first of 5 great short-track trail races that takes place throughout BC this summer. He chose the longer, Enduro course(14k):
Alright, looks like racing season is in full gear, and a lot of us have been showing up at a lot of races.
Harry’s Spring Run Off 8k
Dirty Duo
25k:
50k:
For those of you keeping track, this is a 1 hour 15 minute+ time improvement over Ed’s time last year, and also his best 50k time to date. Well done!
St Patrick’s Day 5k
Chuckanut 50k
This was a tough one. It was my best trail ultra time by over three quarters of an hour, and I probably would have placed significantly higher if this race wasn’t totally stacked with ultra-running superstars like Erik Skaggs, Hal Koerner and Gary Robbins. So yeah, my final placing - a glorious 146th. Speaking of superstars, PRR hall-of-famer Ellie Greenwood came in first in her age category but missed the overall women’s top place by a mere 13 seconds. Hopefully, this will keep her humble…
Los Angeles Marathon
David was suffering through a man-cold during this race, so that makes his time all the more impressive.
Birch Bay International Road Race
5k:
15k:
30k:
Even with these stellar times, we sadly did not win the Group Challenge this year, as the Runner’s Den beat us by one point. ONE POINT! It should be said that we only had 16 runners to their 35, so we did much better in terms of placing; they just had a lot more people. Next year!
Dave Reed Spring Classic 5k
A bunch of us got on the ferry to Orcas Island from Anacortes to try our hand at this race. Orcas Island is the largest of the San Juan, and we basically got to take over one of its campsites at Moran State Park. The acommodations were less than deluxe, but that’s not why we were there. The trails around the park offered amazing views, gorgeous terrain, and some horrible, horrible climbing. There was a 25k race and a full 50k ultra. Here are the Results:
25k
50k
There were 6 PRR members who came out to Langley to run 10 and 15k races this weekend. The turnout was great and the results were even better. Five of us had personal bests and ALL SIX of us placed in the top 3 of our age groups.
Here’s who ran:
10k:
Bill C - 40:24 (3rd in group)
Ross - 40:41(1st in group and PB)
David P - 41:14 (2nd in group and PB)
Sarah - 44:49 (2nd in group and first ever 10k - Automatic PB!)
15k:
Grant - 1:05:38 (2nd in group and PB)
Laura - 1:13:41 (2nd in group and PB)
Some of us decided to start out the New Year with a big long run. Some of us might opt to stay in bed this time next year.
For 17 years Club Fat Ass has run a race that goes from Brockton Oval through the trails of Stanley park, along the entire seawall until UBC, and then all the way through the endowment lands until you reach Marine Drive. Oh, an then you gotta go all the way BACK.
Only 2 PRR members were dumb enough to do the whole thing:
Ross - 4:42
John N - 5:10
Other more sensible members chose more reasonable, customized courses:
Stephen - 30k - 2:48
Sukhi - 29k - 2:40
Doug - 25k - 2:28
Ed - 25k - 3:21
Susan - 24k - 2:25
As it stood my time was as follows:
“My time was 4:31:38, which was still my third best marathon after Vancouver in 1988 and Victoria in 2000. It was number 12 and for those who believe in age grading it worked out to 3:30:48 and my second best effort ever. So, while I really wanted to go to Boston, I am very happy with the result yesterday. Weather was pretty good but there was a fairly strong headwind. Thankfully it was bright sunshine, so even though air temp was cold, the radiant energy from the sun kept things reasonably warm.”
Only one PRR Member braved the legendarily unpleasant weather of the pacific northwest to compete in the Seattle Marathon this year.
Len ran the half in 2:25:27.
Hopefully he was able to treat himself to some Black Friday Booty after enduring that hilly, rainy course.
Congrats, Len!
Two PRR Members participated in this trail race on the North Shore this weekend. It takes place in and around the Lynn Canyon area, starting and finishing in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve. It is offered in 12k, 19k, and 24k sizes and had a 60% increase in signups over last year. Everyone seemed to enjoy the race despite the cold and the odd bits of hail and ice.
Both PRR Members chose the 24k course:
16 hour day + 100 km + 37/40 runners + 7 volunteers + at least 12 inches of rain = Haney to Harrison 2009
Interesting race fact: The Ultra Marathon was designated a 2009 ACU 100k National Championship and a total of 29 participants completed the Ultra Marathon this year. Darin Bentley of Surrey, BC came in first in the men’s division with a time of 7:49:37 and Denise McHale of Whitehorse, YK came in first in the women’s division with a time of 8:15:56.
This is only my 3rd H2H - and I can unequivocally state that it was the worst weather. I’ve heard from our veterans that it may not be the worst ever but it ranks in the top 5. It’s all part of the day.
So here is how our teams fared:
PRR CU L8ters 8:10:34
PRRedators 8:20:50
PRRfect Legs 8:27:23
PRRactically There 8:34:27
PRRaying for Sunshine 8:57:07
Every team had at least one member willing to run 2 legs - and 3 of the teams needed it. Bill had to drop out due to knee problems so Grant ran legs 2 & 3 for his team - just a regular weekend run for Grant.
Ed - who was the person willing to run the extra leg on his team - had to drop at the last minute with a cold. Stephen found out that morning that he was running 3 & 4. Yikes. Hey instead of running 15 - why don’t you run 29km? Won’t that be fun? What a good sport you are Stephen. Dave - who was running leg 2 in the second last step of his backwards progression (in his 6 previous H2Hes he has run in order 8,7,6,5,4,and 3) offered to run some of leg 3 but was secretly thrilled when Stephen said he’d do it all - because we all know how leg 3 starts. YUCK.
And then Ainslie was back east for a family emergency so her team substituted John on Leg 8. Hmmm 40 minute 10 km-er for a 60 minute 10 km-er. Gee why did that team win???
If you got cold running - imagine how our 7 volunteers felt. They were out in that weather for hours! Thank you to: Barb, Paul P, Judi, Bettie, Sally, Roger, Matthew and Dierdre for making it possible for our teams to compete. Thank you also to the runner-volunteers who helped out before or after their legs.
A good time was had by all - despite the bad weather. (Seriously - why isn’t this race in September?) And wasn’t it delightful that the sun came out just in time to blind us on our drive back to the Mission Leisure Centre.
Thanks to Jess for her splendid job organizing the after party. As a reward for her hard work - her table’s order was lost by the kitchen. When we were all ready to leave the restaurant they were still waiting for their food. Grrrrr.
Despite the weather, despite the long day, despite the logisitical issues (or maybe partly because of them) - this event is a highlight of our year. If you haven’t tried it - put it in your calendar for next year. And invest in warm waterproof clothing.
Forget the Chicago marathon - the real reason to head to the windy city is the Hot Chocolate 5km / 15km run. PRR was represented at this race and one other Chicago run over the weekend.
What do you do when you’re in Chicago for a business trip? Run of course. And if you happen to be there on the last weekend of October - why not run twice?
Jackie ran the Race of the Dead 5 km on Sat Oct 31 - in a personal best 27 min and change. Then followed that up with another 27 minute performance at the best race ever(!) - the Hot Chocolate run on November 1. The course is in and around the Lake Shore area - great location if the weather is good - which it was. But forget all of that - check out this link to see the swag! http://www.hotchocolate15k.com/goodiebag/
And if that isn’t enough - there’s a chocolate fondue at the end. Hershey’s - the sponsor - served 900 gallons of Hot Chocolate, 300 gallons of warm chocolate fondue, and over 200,000 assorted pieces of candy post race.
(Note to First Half Race director: can we get a chocolate sponsor????? Please????)
I’ve been informed by an inside source that the personal best performance has affected Jackie. She enjoyed the race but chose NOT to participate in any of the chocolate post-race festivities. I repeat - no chocolate. There’s something seriously wrong with that. Susan, it’s up to you to convince her that you can be a runner and even improve on your speed while regularly indulging in chocolate of all forms.
An opportunity squandered.
3 PRR runners were among the 40,000 runners that took part in the New York City marathon - putting on a show for somewhere in the range of 1,000,000 spectators! . We’re all looking forward to hearing about their event. Here are the results:
3 PRR members participated in this race on Oct 25. But did any of them wear costumes?
Laura ran the 10k in 1:04:45
Grant and Ross ran the Half Marathon coming in at 2:06:54 and 2:20:59, respectively.
The Burnaby Lake 7 miler and Half Marathon was likely well suited to ducks this year. I’m guessing there were some big puddles! We had 2 PRRers in it.
Susan - recovering from injury - still managed to finish as the first woman in the 7 miler - at 46:45. Sadly the 7 miler doesn’t reward you with as big a duck as she received for her win in the half marathon last year.
Dave M ran the half in 2:04:39 - convinced to enter by Jackie whose name was mysteriously absent from the results.
With 105 club members, it’s harder to recognize the names as I scan the results list. So if you ran this race (or any other race) over the weekend - let me know and I’ll post your result.
Sit back, cut yourself an extra slice of pie and grab a cup of coffee. It may take a while to get through the Thanksgiving weekend results - because we had 20+ runners participating in various events.
Starting from the furthest away - David Parker ran the Chicago marathon in a terrific 3:10:54. Should be proud of that one!
Victoria:
We had runners entered in all 3 distances on a truly spectacular day. (Thanks to Karen and Catherine - the self-proclaimed weather jinxes - for NOT running this race!)
8km
Monika - 40:13
Deanna - 49:30 (how long has it been since we’ve seen Deanna’s name in the results??)
Half
Janet 1:38:34
Emily 1:57:08
Ian 2:00:37 (first ever half - automatic PB)
Bill P 2:11:27 - running with his old nemesis and former training partner Bill R. They appeared to enjoy the race.
Nicki & Mike 2:17:23 (I promise I’ll train next time.)
Our PRR Masters team placed fifth.
Full
Ross 3:33:49
Sukhi 3:37:48 - in his 20th marathon!
Monique - 3:52:51 (never believe her when she says she’s expecting a 4:15 finish)
Jon - 3:58:46 - meeting his goal of under 4 hrs
Carol - 4:05:28 - 3rd in her age group!!!!!
David Poon - 4:16:33
Dan - 4:32:32
Arthur - 4:57:23
Our PRR Masters team placed fifth - even though Monique and Carol’s results weren’t counted. If we can get that fixed we might move up the rankings.
North Shore Half Marathon
A personal best for Bill C - 1:28:36!!
And finally closest to home - the Turkey Trot.
Susan - 44:21.9 (still recovering)
Mark S - 44:12.3 (H2H training)
Len 57:31.4
There were supposed to be two Parslows in this race but unfortunately Matthew hasn’t recovered from his injury yet.
But Stephen had a great run - completing the race in 3:33 and change. We’re looking forward to hearing about it.
