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

Icebreaker 2011 Report

by Duncan Marsden

I was not planning on running this year's Icebreaker but managed to sneak an entry, late on Friday, and so I decided that it would be good a good opportunity to see how fit I was at this time of year.  I guess the clue is in the title, but I did not bank on the 20 cm of snow which fell in Calgary throughout Saturday, leaving Sunday's race course somewhat of a skating rink.  When I warmed up with Jeremy Deere, there were a number of discussions about what shoes we should wear and we decided that there was no correct shoe (the course being either sheer ice or dry road) and that no one would win simply based on their choice of shoes.  As we watched the eventual winner (who was wearing spikes!) pulling away from us with ease on a particularly icy stretch in the first mile, we had to concede that we might have been wrong! 

Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable race with plenty of BVH interest upfront.  Jeremy was in second throughout most of the race but ended up finishing in third place, closely followed by Frank Woolstencroft in 4th, with me in fifth.  The picture above shows the only time I was in front of Frank in the whole race!  Scott Jensen (also ruing his choice of shoes) was a little bit further back but showing promising form after returning from injury.

All in all, it was a crisp, sunny day to be out running fast round some quiet neighbourhoods and was a very enjoyable race.  The times reflect the conditions and that is all I am going to say about that!  I missed the brunch but by all accounts it is unmissable!

Don't forget the 5K tonight.  Starting at 7 PM under the Olympic arches outside the YMCA in Eau Claire.  It will be a slightly shorter course (by about 150 m) due to some digging that is taking place behind the River Cafe in the park.  There may also be a few small pockets of ice so be careful on your feet.  See you all there!

MitoCanada Race and 5k race series

Don't forget to enter the MitoCanada run on May 1 in Canmore. Link to the entry here:

http://www.active.com/running/canmore-ab/mitocanada-canmore-5-and-10-km-fun-run-walk-2011

Let's make this one of the premier races in the area!

Also, keep an eye out for the start of the 5k summer race series. The plan is to have them on the first Wednesday of every month, leading up to Chicago (six in the series). The first one is planned for April 6. Time to get some speed...

MitoCanada Inspiring Success at the Canadian Birkebeiner (February 12, 2011)

By Blaine Penny

Kirk and Blaine at the start. (Photo by Marg Fedyma)

I am a big believer that you definitely give a little more when competing for something bigger than just an individual result. 

Just getting to the start of the Birkie seemed like a feat in itself. The week leading up to the event was a long week for all 3 of us (Brendan, Kirk and I) topped off by a late Friday evening drive to get to Edmonton (due to a Charity Gala I attended to promote MitoCanada as part of a Michael Bernard Fitzgerald concert at McEwen Hall). We arrived after midnight and checked into our “Express” hotel.  Totally bagged, we all just wanted to sleep in the next morning and drink copious amounts of coffee. Racing was so far from our minds.

With a 6 am wake-up, quick breakfast at the hotel, we were off to the start line to try and figure out the grip wax for the day.

The temperature was +2 degrees in the morning with a predicted high of +6, which meant it was going to be a beautiful warm day to ski, but tough waxing and likely KLISTER. For those who have experienced xc skiing with klister, you know it can be fantastic, but also hit and miss when skiing a long course with variable condition and temperatures (like the 55 km Birkie.) After talking to a few people who were wax testing and helping wax skis, a purple Swix klister was the goods. 

As if skiing 55 km wasn’t enough, the Birkie tradition was to replicate the great feat during the civil war of 1206 where 2 Birkebeiner Warriors skied the young 12 lb Norwegian Prince to safety. http://www.canadianbirkie.com/birkie-legend Yes, our version is a backpack with 12lbs!

GO! Kirk and I started in the front row to avoid the start line carnage and quickly settled into a nice groove of double poling across the lake in the beautiful sunshine. Before we knew it, we were a few kilometers in and as we skied through the opening for an 8’ high elk fence gate, I thought to myself that it was a whole lot easier to have the gate open than to have to jump it like last year. (Someone forgot to open the gate last year – serious carnage with 1,000 skiers hucking their skis and poles over the fence and then climbing over after them!)

Our wax was working pretty well, and the conditions were nice and fast with a rock solid track. As good as I have seen for Birkie grooming and conditions overall.

At about the 5 km mark, I looked around and was surprised to see that we were skiing along in about 4^th or 5^th spot (with over 1,400 skiers in the event), and many who chose the Birkie Lite (sans 12 lb pack).  Most of the younger competitive skiers tend to do the Birkie Lite, so I was quite surprised to not see more skiers around us – or maybe we started too fast.

In a long ski like the Birkie, there is definitely an advantage to skiing in a group and getting a bit of a draft to rest. Kirk and I were leading a group of 4 and at about 20 km the other 2 skiers fell off. We decided to just keep it steady and no t push too hard in fear of bowing up.

It was pretty uneventful for the next 20 km and then our wax started to slip quite a bit. Fortunately we could muscle our way up and over the hills and it didn’t slow us too much. With 5 kilometers to go we decided to ski it in together and give one last push to make sure no one overtook us. I spent most of the last 5 km reflecting on my son Evan who has Mitochondrial Disease and is a quadriplegic, and so many others who are suffering like him. I felt so alive, happy, sad and fortunate to have the option to be able to do things like this.  We crossed the finish line together to win the Birkebeiner, pumping our hands in the air and feeling proud of our ski and for MitoCanada.

The MitoCanada racing suits did garner some attention and I was approached after the race by a researcher from UofA who researches mitochondria and was asking what we were all about. Very cool!

My friend Brendan came up with the great idea of ordering MitoCanada racing suits for the WMC, and soliciting corporate sponsors to put their logos on the suits.  In no time we raised $5K and had the suits designed and ordered. Unfortunately it has taken the vendor longer than anticipated to deliver and the bulk of the order is just clearing customs as we speak. However a few suits did make it through and were debuted in the Canadian Birkebeiner last weekend in Edmonton.

A Living Legend

Two clips of my former coach talking about the British Milers Club that he founded in the '60s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koHkgVzyxTg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AAS_WNMyb4