MitoCanada

About a year ago a group of intrepid Harriers ran 100k for MitoCanada.  A very talented local film maker (Neil Webb) made an excellent 20 minute documentary about it and it's now online.  It's REALLY well done and well worth 20 minutes of your time. You can also see quite a bit of the second-worst-BVH-apparel (behind Nick's shorts) if that interests you:
http://www.statinpro.com/RunningOnEmpty.html

Be prepared to cry though...!!!

(You may have to cut and paste the address into your browser, rather than just click on the link, for some reason...)

End of Season Drinks

What?  End of Season run and drinks
Where?  Eau Claire YMCA and then the Barley Mill
When?  TONIGHT!  6.30pm for the run and 8pm for the drinks

See you all there!

Stewart Cup

Jeremy and Scott separated the men from the boys at the weekend with a fantastic showing in the Stewart Cup.  As one BVH member put it "I am sure the 20 year olds in the field felt great about being trounced by their dads"!

Results here:  http://www.ellistrack.ca/results/2011ProvincialOpenXCChampionships.pdf

The BVH end of season wrap is slated for Wednesday November 16.  As per tradition (well we did it last year) there will be a run from the YMCA in Eau Claire followed by drinks at the Barley Mill.  Time to be determined.  All welcome.

Chicago Marathon - Results

A write-up will follow but the Bow Valley Harriers took on the Chicago marathon last Sunday to great success.  The bare numbers are below (placing is gender placing):

Duncan Marsden - 74th - 2:31.19 (PB)
Blaine Penny - 104th - 2:34.37 (PB)
Jody Draude - 118th - 2:36.38 (PB)
Darcy Bell - 198th - 2:43.46
Aaron Swanson - 203rd - 2:44.30 (PB)
Nick Haddow - 331st - 2:51.08
Matt Wanford - 508th - 2:57.56
Jeremy Deere - 555th - 2:59.01
Andrew Wigston - 2341st - 3:27.39
Sarah Penny - 5030th - 4:30.07
Asheligh Haddow - 7144th - 4:47.09.

The results also show us as having finished 4th team.  Had I not been stupid enough to put Jody in the masters team, we would have finished 3rd.  A great achievement!!

Duncan

Run for Water Race Report by Jody Draude

Apologies to Jeremy for jumping into a race with a degree of Running Room sponsorship, but I figured that the good karma associated with supporting a great cause - clean water projects in Ethiopia - would buy me some slack. Having fellow BVH member, Mark Fewster, on the 10km start line, with Mark and my families to follow in the 5km event, added to the fun.

As I suspect is the case for all Chicago Mararthon Project members (including honorary CMPer, Ryan Twa who is training for Victoria on the same weekend), my effort this weekend was undertaken with an eye towards the upcoming marathon. That said, the plan was to go out at a tempo pace and evaluate as the race progressed. Doing so, running the first 5km at 3:30-3:35 pace, resulted in being left in the dust by the leader, Jordan Brydon. So much for any hopes of drafting off of the 6'5" guy. Nathan Kendrick spared me a further beat down by arriving at the start line with an hour plus of hard running under his belt. Thanks, Nathan. In an effort to end the agony as soon as possible, I picked up the pace a bit on the way home and managed to sneak in a decent finish only "marginally" shorter and, I suspect, slower than Blaine and Jeremy's monster tempo the day before, and Duncan and Ryan's hilly half in the day to follow. Mark threw in a gutsy effort in spite of dealing with injury issues, a recurring theme for fellow BVHers in the midst of CMP training.

All told, it was a great day for a run with friends and family: great weather; better cause; and most importantly, all 4-7 year olds from the Fewster and Draude households surveyed post-race gave positive endorsements relative to the finish line bouncy tent ("bouncy, but not too bouncy"), and post race snacks (salt 'n vinegar potato chips narrowly eclipsing hamburgers as the favorite).

One month until race day and counting...

Preview of 2011 MitoCanada “Running on Empty” Ultra Marathon

By Blaine Penny

Mitochondrial Disease affects our body’s ability to produce energy, impairing our cells and often compromising major organs. This video sums up what happened to my son Evan 3.5 years ago, and what Sarah and I have been pouring our energy into to do our part.

"Running on Empty" Promo Video

The MitoCanada “Running on Empty” Ultra Marathon originated a little over year ago with Duncan’s idea of running a long distance through the mountains (Jasper to Banff) to raise awareness and funds for mitochondrial disease. After pouring over the maps and hashing about many ideas and variations of a run, we decided on a simple 100 km loop through Kananaskis Country starting and finishing in Canmore. The run took 18 hours to complete and was one of the most memorable mountain adventures in my life.

Neil Webb, an award winning Calgary Film Maker (and son of Rick Webb who also ran), followed us for the 18-hour journey shooting video, which he put together in a very powerful 20 min documentary of the run. The documentary has since been submitted to several International and local film festivals to help raise awareness.

2010 “Running on Empty” Documentary Trailer

Last years run was very successful in raising awareness and also raised $35,000 towards MitoCanada’s mission. The run far exceeded our expectations and also confirmed we were on to something special that resonated with people from many walks of life who we were hoping to reach. It didn’t take much longer than the mud drying on shoes before we starting throwing about ideas for another aesthetic mountain route for the 2^nd annual “Running on Empty”.

The 2011 version of the run is quite similar to last year and has 100, 50 and 25 km options.

New this year…

Route change – West Bragg Creek to 3 Sister’s (Canmore)

“Rolling on Empty” – mountain bike group led by my friend Brendan McCracken

We have 26 runners and 4 mountain bikers signed up. This is a good size group, which limits the logistics. With that said, when your event course is strung out over 100 km there are still plenty of logistics and safety considerations even with a small group.

Organizing the run over the last 2 years has been a great learning experience and crash course in event planning. There are a lot of details and last minute things, but thanks to Trevor Baine, Rob Armstrong and Sarah it has all come together nicely.  Trevor in particular has been working hard behind the scenes getting all our permits in place for over 6 months with the last one just coming through last week! We all sat down on Tuesday night and went over the last of the details, and surprisingly, it has been a pretty relaxing week.

The weather forecast couldn’t be better and we hit the trails of West Bragg Creek at midnight tomorrow night to start running. We will be watching a beautiful sunrise as we climb up Jumpingpound Mountain on Sunday morning – not a bad treat for knocking off 50 km of running!

The run has an additional parallel this year. Not only is the run a great parallel with the energy aspect of this debilitating disease, but we will be running in parallel with my new friend Dr. Kyle McLaughlin who will be on course in Penticton, BC completing his 2^nd Ironman (in 2 months) as part of his ‘MitoCanada Ironman Double Double’ 

Kyle has raised an incredible amount of awareness in the medical community as well as the general public over the last 4 months since we first met (including raising over $16,500 for MitoCanada). It’s going to be pretty cool to be running along in my hurt zone and texting his wife Carrie words of encouragement to pass on to Kyle.

I also want thank our Sponsors and Supporters – Saucony, Strides, Clifbar, Smith Events, Pure Life Pursuits (and UltrAspire).

Sarah and I are so grateful to be surrounded by such an incredible group of friends, family, work colleagues and supportive community that make lives easier and give people hope.

There is a lot of good ENERGY in this town – now let’s go running!

BVH Wins (2011) Iron Legs Ultra 50 Miler and Takes 2 Podium Spots

By Blaine Penny

Both Carl and I were not feeling terribly confident going into the race given our lack of mileage and were mentally preparing ourselves for a long day.  When racing 50 miles, it’s not a matter of ‘if’ you will have some low spots and challenges, it’s ‘when’. With a warm day in the high 20’s forecast, this was another element to deal with.

Training for ultra marathons while balancing family, work, and all the other things going on in our lives is a challenge. Both Carl and I are on the family plan, which is definitely a much higher priority than fitting in long training runs. Most training tends to happen over our lunchtime runs or early/late in the day when. That means it’s difficult to get the long hours of continuous training runs that one needs to prepare for a run like this. Our longest run coming in to the race was the PowderFace42 marathon a month ago. Other than that, I didn’t run longer than 2.5 hours in the last 6 months.

After last year’s debacle of going off route, one of my goals was to have a ‘clean run’ and just stay on route. My next goal was to go under 8 hours, and if the stars aligned to run 7.5 hours.

Leg 1 (0-25 km) - I pretty much went off the front in the first few kilometers as I was running my own race and going with the flow. The first 23 km went really well and I was feeling quite comfortable. I saw a grizzly bear about 20 m off the trail at about the 9 km mark - nice adrenalin boost! About 23 km in, I stubbed my toe on a root and took a nasty fall. It was one of those falls that when you pick yourself up and let it hit you, you think to yourself “I think I really did some damage and my toe could be broken”. I started walking  - it hurt a bit, but was not incapacitating, so I started to run and it seemed OK. I thought to myself, “Phew, it would be a real drag to have to drop out because of a toe!”

Leg 2 (25-49 km) - After the 25 km aid station, we had a really tough 24 km section ahead that included climbing to the top of Jumpingpound Mountain, followed by Jumpingpound Ridge and then Cox Hill climb and descent. My plan was to take it easy up Jumpingpound, and then turn on the afterburners along the ridge and the descent.

For some reason I just couldn’t find the gear I needed along the ridge and this was the beginning of my struggles for the day to keep the speed going. I trudged along feeling pretty flat, and then hoped to fly down Cox Hill. I began the descent by stubbing my bummed toe and remember being in so much pain!  It was the reminder I needed that I had to very careful on the descent. Then I took another fall, which was something similar to picturing Superman flying into home base! I slid on my stomach and 2 hand bottles and luckily didn’t hurt myself other than scrubbing up a few fingers. “OK” I thought to myself, “Let’s safely get down off the mountain and get to the next aid station in one piece”.

I pull into Aid Station#3 (Dawson), which is 49 km in, and grab my drop bag, swap bottles and take a seat. One of the volunteers asked me, “What does it feel like to be winning the race?” I said that it was feeling kind of lonely (having run 47 km alone), also a bit flat and glad that I had my watch to keep me company! I have to admit I wasn’t too motivated to head out for the last 31 km and knew there were going to be some tough times ahead, especially with the temperature rising quickly as we approached mid day.

Leg 3 (49-80 km) – I remember last year coming out of the Dawson aid station and laying down some serious speed. This was my plan again this year. I struggled to get the legs moving and managed an OK steady pace, but not as quick as I would have liked. I could see my average pace slipping and my sub 8 hour time goal slowly slipping away and I knew today was not going be the day to crank out 7.5 hours. I was bummed, but happy to be doing as well as I was (all things considered).

I pulled into Spruce aid station at 56 km, which was a 600 m out and back. This was a good place to see if anyone was hot on my tail. There was one runner in sight, so I knew I had to keep pushing if I was going to stay out front. The problem was, I was now feeling horrible – stomach, legs and mentally. I hit a new low and was running 7 min/km on flat terrain with spats of walking. I really wanted this to be over - I was suffering. I couldn’t eat anything solid and I was seriously fading. I didn’t know how I was going to finish and wanted to throw in the towel. I kept slowly plodding along and expected runners to be coming by any second. I then have myself a pep talk and decided I was going to salvage what I could.

With about 18 km to go I thought about Sarah and the kids being at the finish line, waiting for me (and how excited they would be to see me). I was so excited to tell Julia about seeing the bear and to see Evan’s smile.  This was all I needed to get a little jam back in my stride to bring it home. I picked it up and was now back on track and feeling a lot better mentally. I pulled into the 70 km aid station knowing I could get through the last 10 km and that this was doable. A glass of Ginger Ale was what the doctor ordered, and I took off anxious to finish this thing off. The last 10 km were uneventful.

Julia was waiting for me about 20 m from the finish line and ran it in with me. I finished in a time of 8 hours and 14 minutes. Evan had a big smile for me and it was so nice to see Sarah, who was also smiling proudly. My stomach felt horrible, so I was very cautious about eating anything - just had a bit of coke, water and orange.  I then pulled off my shoes and socks to see the damage to my toe. Yikes – not pretty. Likely broken. (Difficult to walk a day later).

Simon was next come in, followed by Carl a while later.  Great runs all around for the boys and I think they were quite happy with their finish.

On the drive home I felt the urge to vomit and had to get Sarah to pull over. It all came up, which was a real bummer because I knew I wouldn’t be able to get that tasty milkshake I was so much looking forward to in Bragg Creek. I wasn’t able to eat for another 5 hours!

You must ask yourself, “Why would anyone want to run ultra marathons?” I know I am asking myself that same question right now. I have no desire to race an ultra anytime soon and I question whether I have it in me to race them in the future. The one positive thing about having done a few ultras, it makes the marathon seem like a piece of cake! Looking forward to the Chicago Marathon in October.

K100 Race Report - Part 3

Legs 7 - 10 - The Comeback Kids

by Duncan Marsden

To recap, we were 10 minutes and 35 seconds behind the team in the lead, with 4 legs left...

Leg 7 - Jody Draude - Fastest Leg - 55:49

Jody was ready.  Pumped.  You could see it.  But with every minute that ticked by from the handover of the leaders to the Travis handing over to Jody, hope was beginning to fade.  When Travis finished, he said " Jody needs to bring us to within under 10 minutes, or we're done".  I had to agree.  Worse still, Jody was up against an Olympian - Paul Tichelaar.

Jody had spent some time on the course.  He ran this leg last year and was third overall in 58:12.  He had also managed to get a training session on the latter stages and he said he knew he had to take the first part easy and not get carried away on the downhills.  He told me he was fitter this year and watching him on this leg, he was running like it.  Travis and I kept pace with him in Travis's car (which, if you've never been in Travis's car, you won't know is pretty much top speed), letting Jody know the split times.  And they were coming down.  Fast.  Jody pulled back just over 3 minutes on the lead and by the end of his leg, we were 7 minutes and 34 seconds back.  We can do this.  The leaders were starting to look nervous.  Even more so when Jeremy Deere stepped out of the crowd to take the handover from Jody.  "And we've got Joel Bourgeois next", I shouted to them! 

Two points to note about Jody's leg.  One, he ran 2.5 minutes quicker than last year.  Good lad.  Two, he won the fastest leg competition by one second, typifying the theme of this race - that every second counts.

Leg 8 - Jeremy Deere - Fastest Leg (by over 6 minutes!!!!!) - 51:21

Wow.  If anyone has run this leg quicker, I want them tested.  Jeremy FLEW.  He averaged 5'12" a mile for his entire leg and it looked like it.  The guy in front was running scared.  Seven minutes quickly became 5, then 4, then 3.  The guy in front asked Travis and me "Is he catching?"  We just laughed.  I wanted to say "he's passed you, you just blinked and didn't see it".  Jeremy was going to catch him on this leg.  It was just a matter of time.

Travis and I were in the support car, coming round a bend when we saw the leader pull up.  To say he was hobbling was an understatement.  He was dragging his leg like he was one of the living dead.  He was done.  They swapped him out and another runner took over.  Now, whereas our substitution ended up with me running 8 minute miles, this substitution worked very much in favour of the leaders from Edmonton.  Their substitute happened to be their best runner, admittedly tired from having run a leg, but that was hours ago.  Jeremy still ate into the time and finished only 1 minute and 24 seconds back, but we still weren't in the lead.

Leg 9 - Joel Bourgeois - Fastest Leg - 45:49

That changed very quickly.  With the obligatory Quebecois on our team (they had Maxime Leboeuf after all), we couldn't lose.  Joel looked effortless up the hills despite having run a hard 3,000m steeplechase the day before to finish 4th in Nationals.  The deficit quickly became a lead and Joel ran his leg 4 minutes faster than the guy who had been in front of him.  We had a lead.  2 minutes and 30 seconds.  Would it be enough?  We knew they had Adrian Lambert on their last leg, a 70 minute half marathoner.  But we had Scott...

Leg 10 - Scott Jensen - 3rd Fastest - 63:57

In the absence of Mark Fewster, our traditional finisher, I asked the team weeks ago who we should put on leg 10.  The response was unanimous.  "Jensen".  "He's got game".  "No-one will dig deeper for you."  "He'll do what needs to be done.  He's tough."  Just some of the comments.  And they were right. 

Leg 10 was a delayed start and so the first three teams started together.  That's tough because it meant Scott could fall behind Lambert, but not by too much.  Leg 10 is on trails and so you can't see what's going on.  We all stood waiting by the finish line.  There was a roar from the team from Edmonton.  "It's Lambert!"  And there he was.  Running up the last hill, looking strong.  "Start the clock" they shouted, jumping around like they'd won the Stanley Cup.  Scott had to cross in less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds' time, or we'd have lost.  Seconds ticked by feeling like minutes.  The last hill took at least a minute to run up and he still wasn't in sight.  We haven't got much time... and there he was.  The BVH roar was made all the louder by the silence Scott's presence brought to the team from Edmonton.  Striding majestically up the hill, "The Terminator" crossed the line just over a minute behind.  It was enough.  We had won by 84 seconds.  Less than a second per mile over 100 miles.

Usually these events have stand-out performances.  Jeremy and Joel are obvious choices.  But with a margin of victory of less than one second per mile, this truly was an event where everyone did their bit.  Literally (as Jeremy likes to hear me say), every second counted.

Well done boys.  Enjoy the glow of victory.  Although the Edmonton guys were fantastic sports and gracious to a man in defeat, I think we ruffled a few feathers.  They'll be gunning for us next year.

K100 Race Report - Part 2

Legs 4 - 6 : Everything's Not Lost

By way of recap, our first three runners had all run heroically to hang on to the front-loaded team from Edmonton, and we were only 5 min and 12 seconds back from the lead.

Leg 4 - Duncan Marsden - Fastest Leg - 52:37

Eyes on the Prize

Leg 4 is one of the shorter ones and the team in the lead had used the opportunity to put one of their weaker runners in to bat.  I was running leg 4 for BVH and took the start hard. I realized that I would be able to pull some time back on the leaders when I was greeted by the support crew at about 2 miles in, and they told me that the gap to the lead was already down to 4 minutes.  Spurred on by this, I kept my head down and looked forward to each update (it really is all you have to work with, in races like this).  The gap kept dropping.  By the last mile I was about 3 minutes behind.  It was a downhill mile and although I was tired I took the opportunity to give it one last push to get the gap lower.  I threw in a 5'10" mile and by the time I crossed the line, the gap was 2 minutes and 40 seconds.

Leg 5

It's quite a surreal feeling when you get to the end of your leg and there's no-one to hand off to.  Of course, you know it's possible but you never think it will happen to you.  I kept looking for my runner amongst the crowd of bodies milling about and there was no-one.  I kept expecting him to burst out of the crowd, take the hand off and go, but nothing.  I jogged through the chute and Aaron was there with the bad news.  "He's not here", he said.  Three small words.  Crushing.  "What do you want to do?" Aaron asked me.  I really didn't know.  I was shattered, my legs could barely hold me up and all I could think was that I was facing another 18k straight uphill.  I didn't want to admit to myself that I'd have to do this on my own so Aaron drove ahead while I continued to plod onwards, watching the guy I'd worked hard to pull back into sight disappear again.  Aaron pulled on his running shoes and took the hand off.  I jumped in his car, drove up the road about a mile, grabbed some Gatorade and took the hand off again.  The plan was for Aaron and Natalie to go back to the start of leg 5, get the number for the leg, and bring it to me and then see who (between me and Aaron) would finish the leg.

I was not enjoying myself.  I had nothing.  The hills were terrible and for the first time in the race I got overtaken.  Matt Norminton of the Running Room passed in his car.  "What's going on?"  "We had a no-show".  To his immense credit, Matt immediately pulled over, jumped out with a gel and water and handed them to me.  "What else do you need?" he asked.  "Gloves?  Hat?"  That's one of the things I love about running.  He could see I was struggling and even though I was the opposition, he had no hesitation in helping.  Thanks, Matt.

After about 8k, our runner turned up.  To his credit, he ran a storming last 10k and brought what I had lost right back down.  But the damage was done.  The gap was now 7 minutes and 40 seconds.

Leg 6 - Travis Cummings - 33:47 - 2nd fastest

Travis was a hero.  Having already run leg 1, he flew down leg 6 in the second fastest time of the day.  Unfortunately, the guy who ran faster than him was from the leaders and, given that he was fresh, he ran 2 minutes and 50 seconds quicker than Travis. 

By the end of leg 6, we were 10 minutes and 35 seconds behind.  We had our best runners to come but this was looking insurmountable.  The leaders had beaten us in 5 of the 6 previous legs and we had a serious deficit to pull back.  We rang ahead to the remaining runners "Run like the wind.  Every second counts" but it was more in hope than in expectation.

To be continued...

K100 Race Report - Part 1

K100 Relay - Saturday June 25, 2011

by Duncan Marsden

This.  Was.  Epic.  I simply cannot do justice to this race in one blog alone, so I will be writing a trilogy - legs 1-3 (the forgotten legs), legs 4-6 (everything's not lost) and 7-10 (the comeback kids).  This is part one.

Follow the white line - Travis Eyes 100 miles of Drama Ahead of Him

We had already had our fair share of drama even before the race with our leg 6 runner (Nick Haddow) telling us on Wednesday that a golf cart had driven over his foot and that it was broken and he was on crutches.  What he didn't tell us was that HE was driving the golf cart at the time.  Quite a talent. 

Ever-willing, Travis Cummings stepped up and agreed to do both legs 1 and 6.

 Leg One - Travis Cummings - 68:32 - 2nd fastest



Nick, Our Leg 6 Runner, On Crutches at the Start Line



Travis has often been compared to Steve Prefontaine (usually by himself) and he certainly didn't sacrifice the gift on leg 1.  Up against Maxime LeBeouf, Travis had his work cut out for him.  Maxime built up a small lead very quickly and Travis was staying with the Running Room guy.  Not for long.  In a burst of pace, Travis opened up about a 300m gap in about a mile, to leave the Running Room guy wondering what had happened.  The gaps pretty much stayed at that distance the rest of the way.  Travis came in second, 2 minutes and 38 seconds behind Maxime, his work well and truly done.  We were in second, and still in touch after one of their best runners had completed his leg.  It became apparent early on that they had front-loaded their team, whereas we had not.

Front-Running Pre

Leg 2 - Blaine Penny - 3rd Fastest - 63:12



Blaine was not only up against Matt Normington and Kris Swanson, but he was up against the wind too, in what had to be the windiest leg of the day (in fact, by the time Jody ran leg 7, it had turned round and was a tailwind - no such luck for Blaine).

Blaine Wonders if his new short shorts will be  help

What better way to hear about the leg than through the eyes of the runner?  Here's what Blaine had to say about his leg:

"I was going into this run like it was any other big individual race. I knew it was going to be a tough run and that every one us was going to have an exceptional day if we were going to challenge the win.

Matt Normington's View

Travis Cummings (a.k.a. young Steve Prefontaine) ran Leg 1, and was running in 2nd place with the competition about 3 minutes ahead, and the Running Room team right on our heels. I knew I would be starting with Matt Normington on my heels and have to admit I secretly wanted to hold him off. (Matt is a 2:21 marathoner!) My approach was to start at a good pace (at my upper end), and then adjust by how I was feeling, and not worry about Matt too much. I glanced down at the first mile split and saw 5:08 and was pleasantly surprised to be feeling so good. Definitely some adrenalin in the mix there I realized, and then settled into about a 3:40 min/km pace.

After about 3 km Matt caught me. Matt sat on my shoulder for a few minutes to recover as he was breathing pretty hard. I knew he started really fast and figured I could stay with him. He then surged past me and opened up a 10 second gap. I held that gap for several kilometers and then we were met with a crazy headwind. I could see Matt struggling ahead of me and soon caught him. He tucked in behind me and started drafting. I thought this was cool for a minute, but I thought I either had to shake him or work together taking leads. Duncan was yelling at us to start working together and that's what we did, doing 1 min pulls. It was an awesome way to battle the wind, and we kept a pretty steady (but much slower pace) to the Leg 3 transition where Aaron Swanson was in the chute and ready to go."

Majestic

By this stage the gap was exactly 5 minutes.  Plenty of time...

Leg 3 - Aaron Swanson - 57:03 - 2nd Fastest

I did not see much of Aaron's leg but he looked majestic as he strode into the finish.  I know this for sure:

(a)  He blew the Running Room runner he was up against out of sight, putting 3.5 minutes between us and them.  We never really saw them again.

(b)  He was only 12 seconds slower than the guy who won the leg which meant that, importantly, the gap between us and the lead was only 5 minutes and 12 seconds.  And they were running out of good runners.

Legs 1 - 3 are the forgotten legs.  But the race is won and lost here.  Hats off to the efficient work of the "engine room" boys who did their job with minimal fuss.

None of us knew that the drama was about to begin.

To be continued...



100 Miles of Magic

By Aaron Swanson

Photo Courtesy of Natalie Swanson

100 miles, 10 guys, 1 relay race. This weekend is the epic Kananaskis 100 mile (K100) relay race that goes up and over Highwood Pass in the Rocky Mountains. Its not actually 100 miles long but K100 sounds way better than K97.8. The race starts at roughly 1260m in elevation in Longview and peaks at 2206m on top of Canada’s highest engineered road before making the massive descent into the Nakiska ski area. I think most people would agree, the race is in a world class setting and in one of the best races out there.

This is my second year running the event as part of the Centaur Subaru Bow Valley Harriers team. While we placed 2nd last year, I think we still hold the title for the longest team name. We had a tight battle for second place but lagged first by roughly 25 mins. It would be great if we could close that gap and make those first place guys work a little harder. Overall, I think our team is much fitter than 2010 (not to mention we convinced one of Canada’s best steeplechasers to join our team) so this could turn out to be a very interesting battle.

The race starts in Longview, and as mentioned goes up and over the Highwood pass to finish at the Nakiska ski hill roughly 9.5 hours later. I have the pleasure of running leg 3 which is just before the course starts to get scary with leg 4 and the final push up the pass in leg 5. Legs 4 and 5 combine for roughly 700m in elevation gain in a little over 30km. Despite leg 5 being the notoriously brutal leg, I personally would rather take it down than face leg 6 which screams straight downhill (elevation loss of 340m) for 9.4km and has the potential to ruin your legs for a solid week. Check out the elevation profiles from legs 5 and 6:

Here is our plan of attack:

Leg 1 (18.6km) – Travis Cummings
Leg 2 (16.5km) – Blaine Penny
Leg 3 (14.7km) – Aaron Swanson
Leg 4 (14.1km) – Duncan Marsden
Leg 5 (17.6km) – Ken Myers
Leg 6 (9.4km) – Nick Haddow
Leg 7 (16.5km) – Jody Draude
Leg 8 (15.9km) – Jeremy Deere
Leg 9 (12.5km) – Joel Bourgeois
Leg 10 (18 km) – Scott Jensen

I should point out there will be a little bit of a Swanson battle taking place on the course as my dad is slated to run the same leg as me. Given the staggered start times (his team starts at 7am, we start at 8am) I doubt I will catch him, but that would have been pretty sweet.

Being a runner, it’s not very often we get the chance to compete in a team event like this. I find team events tend to bring the best out in people, as Blaine put it last year, ”letting yourself down is acceptable, letting 9 other people down is not.”

Buckle up, its go time.

Blackfoot Ultra 100km May 28th 2011

by Carl Pryce

This was my third year at the Blackfoot 100km. I finished second in 2009 and third last year, so there was unfinished business to do. 2009 was the year of the heat, where Blaine and I had run the first 75km together, before he opened a gap to win the race by 13 minutes. 2010 was the year of the mud. Continual rain turned to sleet, turning the course into a gloopy mudfest and over half the field dropped out. We had returned to our tent to find it flattened under the weight of heavy snow. This year conditions were much more benign, with the forecast calling for a high of 19C, and underfoot conditions were bone dry.

The Blackfoot Ultra is held just east of Edmonton at the Cooking Lake Blackfoot Provincial Recreation area. It is an area of Aspen parkland, with numerous lakes and lots of wildlife. The area has 85 km of trails and is the home of the Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival which is held in early February. The course uses 25km of trails, making a loop which is repeated four times for the 100km. Other races with distances of 25km, 50km, and 50 miles take place on the same day. Although on the prairies, the course packs in a lot of height gain as the trails almost continuously undulate. The hills aren't so noticeable the first time round, but seem to get steeper with each lap.

Being the longest race, the 100km is the first to start. Approximately 40 runners assembled for the 5:00 am start, just as day was breaking. After a few words of wisdom by race director Gary Poliquin we headed off into the woods. It always strikes me just how mellow the starts of ultra races are: there's no mad dash for the front, just gentle jogging to get the legs moving. I soon found myself part of a breakaway group of three - the other two being Oleg Tabelev and Charles Miron. Oleg won the Lost Souls 100 mile race last year, and Charles the Sinister Seven, so I was in good company. We chatted as we ran the first lap together, the kilometers sped by and soon we had 25km behind us in 1:59. The pace felt very manageable. Along the way we saw a huge bull moose bounding through the forest and heard lots of other animal noises but were usually too focussed on watching our footing to pay any more attention.

One of the great things about this race is the aid stations are well stocked with fruit, including over 90 pounds of strawberries. My nutrition strategy was to rely on a mixture of eload and protein in my drinks bottles, and gels and fruit for solid food. This worked well for the first 60-70km, but after taking seven gels I couldn't face any more. Despite downing nearly three litres of fluid I found myself developing an unquenchable thirst, probably brought on by the gels. As somebody who never drinks coke, I was surprised to find myself looking forward to a cup of flat coke at each aid station after 70km in an effort to quench the thirst. The fruit went down very well, especially as they seemed to have sourced the juciest oranges on the planet. I've always found that getting the nutrition right is the most important aspect of ultra running - get it wrong and you can end up with a very sore stomach, and stories of projectile vomiting are very common. I later heard that Charles dropped out with stomach issues after 50km.

The second and third laps went by in 2:06 and 2:25, and by the 75km mark I had built up at least a 10 minute lead over Oleg. Knowing that Oleg is a strong finisher with a lot of stamina, I was getting a little concerned as I could feel myself slowing. Last year on the Moose Mountain 42km race I was feeling complacent during the final 10km thinking I had built a sufficient lead on Oleg, only to find him cross the finish line just one minute behind. There were now lots of runners from the 25km, 50km and 50mile races on the course, so there was plenty of company. By noon things had warmed up and, without much wind, conditions were feeling warmer in the trees than the forecast high of 19C. As dehydration kicked in my pace slowed and the last lap went in 2:38, slower than I had hoped for. With 1km to go my children Bridie (13), Ben (11) and Anna (9) appeared and joined me for the run in to the finish. I had missed Rick Webb's course record by 19 minutes, but done enough to finish first. Just three minutes after collapsing into a chair Oleg appeared to take second place in 9:11. He had gained considerably on the last lap and was looking strong.

As usual I was feeling quite beaten up by the finish. This is where bringing along a support crew pays dividends, as Rosie and the kids attended to my every need. The coke had done little to quench the unquenchable thirst and when I mentioned to Rosie the only thing that could quench it was a cold beer, one appeared almost instantly. Not perhaps the best way to rehydrate after 100km, but very effective.

BVH 5K Results - June 2011

Results from yesterday's 5k.  Report to follow:

1.  Darcy Bell - 16.39
2.  Frank Wollstencroft - 16:40
3.  Paul McCloy - 16:51
4.  Jody Draude - 16.58
5.  Duncan and Ava Marsden - 17.08*
6.  Ryan Twa - 17:12
7.  Tom Coll - 17:13
8.  Nick Haddow - 17:36
9.  Mark Fewster - 17:37
10.  Kevin Lindland - 17:45
11.  Matt Wanford - 18:15
12.  Kerry Zwiers - 20:24.

*Stroller course record.  (Note that the stroller course is about 150m shorter than the course run by everyone else.)

Series Standings

1.    Duncan Marsden 36 points
2.=  Blaine Penny 25
       Frank Woolstencroft 25
4.    Jody Draude 20
5.=  Travis Cummings 19
       Paul McCloy 19
7.    Chris Hooper 15
8.    Mark Fewster 14
9.=  Scott Jensen 12
       Darcy Bell 12
11.= Colin McArthur 10
        Aaron Swanson 10
13.   Ben Pryce 9
14.= Phil Villeneuve 7
        Ryan Twa  7
16.= Tom Coll 6
        Bob Banks 6
        Alex Harmer 6
        Kevin Lindland 6
19.   Nick Haddow 5
20.= Mike Brewster 4
        Lisa Harvey 4
22.= Bruce Dalton 3
        Kerry Zwiers 3
24.= Anna Pryce 2
        Matt Wanford 2
26.= David Omahen 1
        Glenn Mutsemaker 1

Wednesday 5k

We were busy Harriers at the weekend!  While most of us were tearing up the streets of Calagry and while Blaine was pushing new boundaries in Ottawa, Harrier Carl Pryce quietly strolled to a 3 minute victory in the Blackfoot 100k (that's the equivalent of out-dipping your opponent over that distance).

But it's not all over yet.  Wednesday sees the latest in the "First Wednesday of the Month" 5K race series.  Usual place (under the Olympic Arches in Eau Claire), usual time (7pm start).  As an added incentive we have marathon hero Blaine Penny on the lead bike.  Blaine will be signing copies of his book "How to beat your goals 5 months in advance".

See you all Wednesday!

Ottawa Race weekend

By Blaine Penny

Family Fun Run

For anyone looking for a fun destination family race weekend, I highly recommend Ottawa. This is the second year we have come to Ottawa to visit family and friends - Sarah grew up here - and to do a little running, and there is something for everyone.

It all kicked off with the 2 km family run on Saturday afternoon. There were literally thousands of families running together which is such a fun atmosphere. Julia was tearing it up with her friend Jane while we just tried to keep tabs on her and follow with Evan without losing her.

Sarah’s 10 km

Sarah ran the 10 km (along with our good friend Anne), which was a later start at 6 pm. Evan and I were on course to cheer her on. With her blue tank top, she blended in nicely with the other 15,000 people who wore their new (blue) race shirts. It was mesmerizing trying to pick her out of the crowd! We did manage to catch her on the final few hundred meters and cheer her to the finish. She ran a new PB of 50 min and a few seconds, which is about 14 minutes faster than last year!

Marathon

Next up was the marathon this morning with an early 7 am start. It was misty rain and about 17 degrees to start. I knew the high humidity was going to be tough and made an early mental note to drink more than usual. Within the first kilometer I was just starting to find my pace when I hear “Hey Harrier!”. I turn around and I see this woman in yellow that I didn’t recognize and she was quick to introduce herself as Emily. Aaron and Jeremy mentioned that a speedster by the name of Emily was going to be at the race and joining the run from Boston en route to a summer in Calgary. (Emily I have learned is a running superstar and has won many Canadian titles over the years.

I asked Emily her goal time and she said it was 2:40, and I said “Perfect – me too”. She then pointed up ahead to a 2:36 pacer and we shortly bunched into a group of about 6 or 7 runners with the pacer. I was thinking this was faster than I wanted to be going, but figured I would go with the pace for a few km’s and see how it felt. We all stuck together until about the 15 km mark and Emily started falling off the back a bit, and slowly but surely our pack was diminishing one by one.

I was lucky to get some great cheering on the course from my sister Diana, Rich Thomas, Phil Villeneuve, Heather Gallagher, and of course Sarah and the kids at the finish.


By about the 25 km mark it just the pacer dude and myself left and we kept our consistent pace going. After a few more km’s he was straggling, and faded, and then I was on my own.


My whole approach to the run was to keep myself distracted from the task at hand as long as I could, and then when I needed to I was going to dig deep and really focus on finishing strong. When we hit the canal I knew we had 10 km to go and that it was pretty much flat. I thought to myself, “This is relatively easy now – just keep it steady and it’s 2 back-to-back BVH Wednesday night races I need to survive”. I knew that pain well and it felt just about right.


I continued to reel in a few more people over the next few kilometers and then with 2 km to go I poured out what I had left to bring it home. I was so pumped to see Sarah, Julia and Evan with just 300 m to the finish, which gave me enough for one final kick.


I crossed the line at 2:34 and was quickly being ushered into the elite area. When I said I wasn’t elite and just a ‘wanna be elite’, the guy told me I was the first non-elite to finish. I seriously couldn’t believe what I had just done!


Emily finished in 2:43 and was the top Canadian woman. Given this was the Canadian Marathon Championships, Emily is the 2011 Canadian Marathon Queen. I managed to finish 9th Canadian. A big congrats to Emily for an impressive run and what a great way to meet the latest addition to the BVH group.

Full Results:  http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?lang=eng&racecode=47411


Today I far exceeded what I ever thought I was capable of doing. I was inspired in so many ways today, and I think that was a big part of what helped me be in such a great headspace to pull this off.


With all the great performances in the Calgary races today – congrats to all by the way – I think we need to keep the running project going. Sarah tells me I have qualified for sub-elite status for New York so we already have a fall 2012 project for the Harriers!

Fantastic Motivation!

by Mark Fewster

What were you all doing at 6am this morning? Blaine and I were running…..while you were sleeping! A little blurb from the TDF 2002:


Throughout the Tour de France, a Colombian rider on the Kelme - Costa Blanca Team, Santiago Botero, has been keeping a diary for the newspaper. Each day the newspaper publishes his diary from the previous day. Unfortunately, the only diary entry I have seen appeared in this past Sunday's edition. However, it was worth the read:

There I am all alone with my bike. I know of only two riders ahead of me as I near the end of the second climb on what most riders consider the third worst mountain stage in the Tour. I say 'most riders' because I do not fear mountains.


After all, our country is nothing but mountains. I train year-round in the mountains. I am the national champion from a country that is nothing but mountains. I trail only my teammate, Fernando Escartin, and a Swiss rider. Pantani, one of my rival climbers, and the Gringo Armstrong are in the Peleton about five minutes behind me. I am climbing on such a steep portion of the mountain that if I were to stop pedaling, I will fall backward. Even for a world class climber, this is a painful and slow process. I am in my upright position pedaling at a steady pace willing myself to finish this climb so I can conserve my energy for the final climb of the day. The Kelme team leader radios to me that the Gringo has left the Peleton by himself and that they can no longer see him.
I recall thinking 'the Gringo cannot catch me by himself'. A short while later, I hear the gears on another bicycle. Within seconds, the Gringo is next to me - riding in the seated position, smiling at me. He was only next to me for a few seconds and he said nothing - he only smiled and then proceeded up the mountain as if he were pedaling downhill. For the next several minutes, I could only think of one thing - his smile. His smile told me everything. I kept thinking that surely he is in as much agony as me, perhaps he was standing and struggling up the mountain as I was and he only sat down to pass me and discourage me. He has to be playing games with me. Not possible. The truth is that his smile said everything that his lips did not. His smile said to me, 'I was training while you were sleeping, Santiago'. It also said, 'I won this tour four months ago, while you were deciding what bike frame to use in the Tour. I trained harder than you did, Santiago. I don't know if I am better than you, but I have outworked you and right now, you cannot do anything about it. Enjoy your ride, Santiago. See you in Paris.'
Obviously, the Gringo did not state any of this. But his smile did dispel a bad rumor among the riders on the tour. The rumor that surfaced as we began the Prologue several days ago told us that the Gringo had gotten soft. His wife had given birth to his first child and he had won the most difficult race in the world - He had no desire to race, to win. I imagine that his smile turned to laughter once he was far enough not to embarrass me. The Gringo has class, but he heard the rumors - he probably laugh all the way to Paris. He is a great champion and I must train harder. I am not content to be a great climber, I want to be the best.
I learned much from the Gringo in the mountains. I will never forget the helpless feeling I had yesterday. If I ever become an international champion, I will always remember the lesson the Gringo taught me."

BVH 5k Series Standings - After 2 races

OK so I have unilaterally decided to change the rules.  You get points depending on how many people you beat and the one with the most points from their four best points tallies wins.  This means that even if you run fewer than 4 races, you can still get a lot of points if a lot of people run the race.  So if you come 5th in a race with 25 people in it you get more points than winning a race with 10 people in it.  We'll see how that works.  Current standings are:

1.  Duncan Marsden  28 points
2.  Blaine Penny  25
3.  Travis Cummings  19
4.  Chris Hooper  15
5.  Frank Woolstencroft  14
6.  Scott Jensen 12
7.  Jody Draude 11
8.=  Mark Fewster  10
       Colin McArthur  10
       Aaron Swanson  10
11.=  Ben Pryce  9
         Paul McCloy  9
13.  Phil Villeneuve  7
14.=  Bob Banks  6
         Alex Harmer  6
16.=  Mike Brewster  4
         Lisa Harvey  4
18.=  Bruce Dalton  3
         Kevin Lindland  3
20.=  Anna Pryce  2
         Kerry Zwiers  2
22.=  David Omahen  1
         Glenn Mutsemaker  1

BVH 5k - May 2011 Results

1.  Duncan Marsden  16.28

2.  Blaine Penny   16.36

3.  Travis Cummings 17.06

4.  Colin McArthur  17.16

5.  Paul McCloy  17.19

6.  Chris Hooper  17.33

7.  Phil Villeneuve  17.36

8.  Alex Harmer  18.08

9.  Mark Fewster  18.29

10.  Mike Brewster  18.36

11.  Bruce Dalton  18.49

12.  Kerry Zwiers  20.48

13.  Glenn Mutsemaker  23.06

Report and series standings to follow...

MitoCanada Run

By Duncan Marsden

Last Sunday was the first running of the MitoCanada 5k/10k run in Canmore and I am certain that everyone who turned up would have considered it a fantastic success!  The Rec Centre in Canmore was full of people wearing MitoCanada buffs and showing off the rest of the fantastic swag given away as part of the entry fee. 

The course was an out and back along the river.  The weather was fantastic and apart from the last 1.5k which was snowy, it was all bone dry!  Perfect.

There were not as many harriers present as there have been in other races recently but we had Blaine (President of MitoCanada) and Jeremy running with their kids in 5K race and Mark Fewster manning the water station with his family.  That left Sarah Penny and me running for the glory.  And I think we covered ourselves in it.  Sarah took 8 minutes off her best 10k time ever and came 3rd in her age group - I don't know if she was more pleased with the time or with the cookie she won as a result.  I was helped by a few lost souls going off course, as well as cheers from Blaine and Jeremy in the last mile, to take the victory in the 10k in a time of 35.01. 

As an aside, Calgarians beware!  As I passed Blaine and Jeremy in the last mile, I was running full-out.  Jeremy told his 8 year old son Matthew to try and chase me and chase me he did.  At one stage I was worried he was going to overtake me!  You've been warned, Calgary, the next generation of Deeres are on their way!

Don't forget the 5k tomorrow.  Start at 7pm at the Olympic arches in Eau Claire.

Next 5k

The next 5k is next Wednesday (May 4). Usual drill - Start is at 7pm sharp under the arches at the Y in Eau Claire. Plenty of room for more people so spread the word.  Please drop me an email (duncanmarsden@gmail.com) to let me know if you are going to be running.  We may need to run the short course again as they are currently doing work at the back of the River Cafe so instead of going behind it, we will just go in front of it. That means the course is likely to be 150m short. If anyone wants to be lead cyclist/cattle prodder or Executive Photographer, let me know.

Hope to see you all at the MitoCanada Race on Sunday!
 
There's also training tonight at Edworthy at 7pm...

Calgary Police ½ Marathon (April 17, 2011)

by Blaine Penny

This was one ½ marathon to remember – snow, snow and more snow!

All I could think about off the start was Duncan’s comment a few weeks back about a fellow runner in the ‘Icebreaker’ referring to his running shoes as bowling shoes (because he was slipping and sliding so much). I think we could all relate today!

The Bow Valley Harriers had a good contingent out today, with at least 3 BVH vests being worn by Mark Fewster, Nick Haddow (welcome back from California!) and myself. My goal for the race was to try and stick with the lead runners for as long as I could and give it a good effort to hold them. I didn’t even wear a watch, so I had no idea of pace or time.

Frank took to the front right away, with Jeff Krar, Jody Draude and myself tucking in behind letting Frank set the pace. Within the first couple kilometers Jeff slipped and went down hard on a corner, which reminded us how slippery it actually was. Fortunately he didn’t hurt himself and jumped back up and in the group. In retrospect, the road conditions were not too bad because we could run on the packed down snow with some form of predictable footing (albeit slippery).

Once we left the roads and hit the pathways (approx. 4 km), the conditions became much more varied. There were sections that were plowed, some with fresh snow on pavement / ice, and other sections with deeper old snow and ice covered with the fresh snow. The toughest section for me (footing wise) was the back end of the reservoir where the snow was more than 6 or 8” deep and really soft and mushy. It felt like running in deep sand and was pretty much survival running.

The pace was pretty steady and things started to spread out a bit as we hit the section by the Rockyview Hospital (5 km). As we made our way through Heritage Park, I took a hard fall (on my hip), but fortunately it didn’t hurt too much and I was able to jump back up and keep going. I stuck with Frank and he led most of the first 7 km. I honestly didn’t know who was with us as I didn’t look back until just a few kilometers to go.

Shortly after the 7 km mark as we were heading around the reservoir, I saw a guy on xc skis, and I thought to myself how civilized that actually looked. It was at about that point I realized that Frank was so steady and strong, and made the running look effortless. As for me, my breathing became pretty heavy and I started to feel it, so I decided to just run my own race from that point and limit my losses.

I kept Frank in my sights until we came out of the Weaselhead, but he definitely started putting time into me when we got back on the flats. I was pretty jazzed to be running in second and felt out of my league considering the company I was running with. I had to dig deep to hold it for the last 8 km, and managed to hang in there to finish it off without being caught by Jody who was pretty close behind in 3^rd.

Good work to all the racers who gave their all despite sub-optimal conditions, and especially to the volunteers who had to stand around in the cold to look after us.

Here’s the full results:

Overall Results 

Montreal Half marathon

By Duncan Marsden

I came to Montreal with a dual purpose. To race a national championship in Canada and to go sub 70 in the half for the first time. 1 out of 2 isn't bad.

Getting off the plane yesterday we were met by a torrential downpour. Coming from London I enjoy running in the rain. "As long as it doesn't get windy" I thought...

Somehow on the bus I managed to bash my calf. An innocuous little knock which got really painful. I knew it wouldn't affect me during the race but it hurt like hell.

The morning of the race was, in a word, windy. Gale force sounds dramatic but the metal barriers for spectators were even being blown over. I decided to forget about times and just race. I'd put myself in the biggest group near the front and hide as much as I could. Luckily, the biggest group was about 10 deep and was running exactly the pace I wanted. I needed an average of 5:20 per mile and although the splits were hugely varied depending on our direction, we were holding an average of 5.19. Perfect.

Part of the race is actually run on the grand prix circuit and it was great to be running at pace with a group of 10 guys on such a good surface.

I managed to hide from the wind in the first half. I was 33.21 at 10k and feeling great.  Bang on pace. At 11k we had a long 4k straight (on the grand prix course!) straight into the gale. No one wanted to lead and we almost walked half a k. Then we agreed everyone would take 15 seconds leading and we did that crocodile thing for 4k. At 10 miles I was still on pace for about 70.30 (although my calf was really sore) and although the group had dwindled to 4, I thought the wind was going to be behind us so thought I could still get sub 70. With 2k to go the group split and then we headed back into the wind. I had my virtual partner on my Garmin on 70 pace and I was 58 seconds back from "him". I dropped another 45 seconds battling into the wind those last 2k and finished 14th overall in 71.44. It was crazy. Dustbins flying. Barriers blowing over. Even my legs were getting blown into each other.

That said, it was great to just race for once. In a championship that's how it should be. The time can wait for another day.

Revised BVH 5k (Race 1) Results

1. Duncan Marsden 16.03
2. Frank Woolstencroft 16.04
3. Blaine Penny 16.14
4. Scott Jensen 16.21
5. Jody Draude 16.28
6. Aaron Swanson 16.37
7. Ben Pryce 16.43
8. Travis Cummings 16.43
9. Chris Hooper 17.04
10. Bob Banks 17.20
11. Mark Fewster 17.38
12. Lisa Harvey 17.44
13. Kevin Lindland  17.50
14.  Anna Pryce 18.22
15. David Omahen 19.19.

BVH 5k Series - Race 1

Forget Salazar v. Beardsley.  We had Marsden v. Woolstencroft.

Under Starters' Orders

Last night saw the first of the BVH 5K races of the year.  Given the temperature and the fact that it is quite early in the year, we had a very good turn out.  We also had a number of firsts; our first female ever to run the 5K and our first Juniors ever to run the junior (4K) course.  More about that later.

The First Lap

The race set off at 7 PM sharp from under the Olympic arches in Eau Claire.  Our official starter, Julia Penny, nailed the order of Ready Steady Go and gave us the loudest GO ever.  The course always remains the same - 100 m out to the park, three loops and back to finish under the Olympic arches.  Yesterday, however, there were minor digging operations behind the river cafe and so the course was about 150 m short.

The race was pretty tight for the first lap or so but the main theme of of the race became clear pretty quickly; Marsden would push the lead and Woolstencroft would tail him like a cat ready to pounce.  These heavyweights (ahem) were never more than a metre apart the entire race (including in the "sprint" finish) but Marsden just got the better of Woolstencroft, this time. 

Swanson, Penny, Draude

By far the standout (and outstanding) performance of the night with that of third place Blaine Penny, looking resplendent in his new lightweight racing shoes.  Although the course was about 30 seconds quicker than normal, Blaine took a good 90 seconds off his previous best.  Rumours that the shoes have tested positive for anabolic steroids, have been denied.


Ben Pryce



In the female event, Lisa Harvey was in a league of her own.  Literally.  In the junior race (which runs three slightly shorter laps for a total of about 4k), Ben Pryce showed some serious speed (see the picture if you don't believe me) to finish 7th overall in 16.43.  His sister, Anna, ran a very creditable 18.22.  Carl Pryce finished with Anna and Carl was looking a little bit more out of breath than he should have...

Full results are set out below.  Remember, the times do not count for record purposes but the placings do count for the purposes of the summer series:

1.  Duncan Marsden  16.03

2.  Frank Woolstencroft  16.04
3.  Blaine Penny  16.14

Electronic Timing

4.  Scott Jensen  16.21

5.  Jody Draude  16.28

6.  Aaron Swanson  16.37

7.  Ben Pryce  16.43 (New Junior male course record)

8.  Travis Cummings  16.43

9.  Chris Hooper 17.04

10.  Bob Banks  17.20

11.  Mark Fewster  17.38

12.  Lisa Harvey 17.44

13.  Anna Pryce  18.22

14.  David Omahen  19.19.

These same races will take place on the first Wednesday of every month, throughout the summer.  Always starting and finishing at the Eau Claire Olympic arches.

Anna Pryce