Looking to Kick 2010 off with Some Serious Mileage? Jan 2 Peter Lougheed Ski Buffet

Happy New Year to all fellow Harriers! We hope everyone has a nice relaxing Christmas and have rested up for what is going to be great year for the Bow Valley Harriers.

Matt planted the seed a while ago

about skiing all the trails in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park (PLPP). What a great idea! So why not kick off the new year with working off all that Christmas turkey.

Carl Pryce, Blaine Penny and a few other xc ski enthusiasts (or shall we call them lunatics) are planning to ski all the trails in PLPP on Saturday Jan 2. The distance is about 112 km once you link all the trails. PLPP is classic only and has a double track on most trails. The conditions are excellent and if we are lucky we'll even score some fresh grooming. If you are still not sure if this is for you, check out a recent ski at PLPP that Blaine and the gang put in just before Christmas.

Peter Lougheed Ski Video

It will be about a 10 to 12 hour day (depending on conditions, level of skill and fitness) and the plan is for an alpine start leaving the city at 4:30 am.

For those who may be interested and want more details, drop Blaine an email

blaine.penny@worleyparsons.com

For anyone else out there just planning a nice day of skiing, there is a great website SkiHere.ca that is really up to date on all the local trail conditions.

Cheers and Happy New Year to all!!

Check out this link...

It shows what it's like at the front of the CRR races:

http://speedtheorycyclingteam.blogspot.com/

Go to the Monday posting and click on the video link to see all 27 minutes of the Silver Springs XC from the viewpoint of eventual winner, Trev Williams. Trev had a camera mounted on his head for the entire race. Better still, Trev trails a bundled-up (due to the -24C temperature) Harrier Mark Fewster for much of the race. I understand Mark was asked to show his best side for the camera... :)

Wednesday Night Training

Don't forget Wednesday night training tomorrow at the Oval. Meet at 8pm inside the Oval and we will look for a 20 minute warm-up and then start the session at 8.20pm. I am hoping to be there holding a watch and calling out times.

Please try and wear your vests so that we are recognisable.

I am thinking 800s tomorrow (or, rather, 2 laps of the Oval which is slightly more than 800m). Maybe 2 sets of 4 x 800m with 90 secs recovery and 3 mins recovery between sets. I'm happy to discuss... :)

Sacramento and Silver Springs

The last two weekends have seen some more BVH performances on a global and local scale.

First off was Don King in the Sacramento marathon. Known to be a fast course for its "downhill" profile and warm weather, I'm sure Don was looking for a fast time. And he won't have been disappointed, clocking 2:37.36 for a very impressive 43rd overall (2nd in his age group). That's a constant 6 minute miling - good work Don. This was all the more impressive given that I am led to believe that conditions were far from ideal - 0C and a headwind the whole way.

0C would have seemed positively balmy to those brave Harriers who lined up for the Silver Springs XC event yesterday. Three Harriers were on display (presumably under several layers) - Harriers Ukrainetz, Fewster and Wilcox. In what must have been a slog of a race, Ukrainetz was just edged out by Trev Williams for the victory, with Fewster missing out on bronze by 2 seconds. By all accounts, Fewster took the race by the scruff of the neck and led from the gun for much of the race and was unlucky not to hold on. The pictures show a wrapped-up Fewster leading Trev (who seems to be videoing the whole race with a camera on his head). Run-in-all-weathers Wilcox ran a dogged race to finish high up the field in 16th. Well done to those brave souls!

Finally, A big shout out to Friend-of-the-Harriers Paul Mainwaring who came 3rd in the Charlotte marathon this weekend in 2:38...

Don't forget training at the Oval at 8pm this Wednesday everyone!

Wednesday Night Training

The oval is shut next Wednesday and so we're having a week off the regular Wednesday night training sessions. The next session will be on Wednesday 16 December. Meet at 8pm with the aim of doing a 20 min warm-up and starting the session at 8.20pm. The session will be posted a few days beforehand but we'll probably do some 800s or a whistle fartlek.

Don't forget the next race which is the Silver Springs XC on Saturday December 12, 2009 at midday.

Enjoy the weather everyone!