MEC # 2 Birds Hill Park Race

MEC # 2 Birds Hill Park Race
MEC #2 Birds Hill Park 2017 3rd Overall After A Sprint Finish!

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Chilly Chase Vancouver 10K

On Sunday, January 27, I ran the Chilly Chase Vancouver 10K race, starting and finishing near Olympic Village Square on Athletes Way, beside the Creekside Community Recreation Center. It was a few degrees above zero and raining lightly as we started out, the 15K race at 11 AM, us 2 minutes later, and the 5Kers 2 minutes after us.
 
 
We ran past the center and along a concrete path until we got the to the Skytrain Station after a few hundred meters, and then we turned right and ran toward the seawall, already passing the slowest 15K runners. We continued to run around the edge of False Creek along the seawall (see the course map http://www.tryevents.ca/images/maps/vancc10kmap.pdf ). We passed hoards of 15K racers, including Mark Hyder, who yelled "Go Flett!" as I ran by him, until we got past the 5K turnaround http://www.tryevents.ca/images/maps/vanccc5kmap.pdf , and then for close to a kilometer it was mostly just us 10Kers, running in a spread out row at our faster pace. At this point we caught up to and began to pass a loose pack of faster 15Kers, until we hit the 10K turnaround and headed back.
 
After a couple of hundred meters a guy ran up beside me, with a woman right behind him wearing a VFAC singlet. It was Mirabelle Tinio, who was the top woman in the Vancouver Historic Half 5K race on November 25, and ended up winning the 10K today by a large margin. After awhile they passed me, but I managed to keep her in sight for most of the race. With a kilometer to go I'd lost sight of her, but could now hear the announcer at the finish line. He sounded close, and I could even see the finish area where he was, but it was on the other side of the water so I still had a little ways to go. I raced around the concrete path along the water and finally the volunteers were directing me to turn right and head towards the finish line. A couple of hundred meters later I was heading down the finish chute and over the line!
 
 

 
A volunteer put a finisher's medal around my neck and congratulated me and I thanked her profusely, plus the other volunteers who offered congratulations. I went over to one tent where they had bananas, oranges, bagels and fudge brownies plus Vega recovery drink samples, and grabbed a few brownies and a small cup of Vega.
 
They did the 5K awards, and Billy Wong was top male by a long shot, with Elizabeth Wong winning the women's race. There were only awards for top three overall in each gender FOR each race, so the ceremonies were over quickly. I ran into Tilman, who had finished second in our age group to me last year, and we talked for quite awhile about races we'd run since then. We wandered over to the other food tent, where they had Muscle Milk and 3 types of Clif Builder protein bars, and got a bottle of the milk and a couple of the bars, which were very good.
 
They'd posted results in the other tent and we went to take a look, and I'd finished 8th overall out of 150, and 1st in our age group again, with a time of 42:41, and Tilman was once more 2nd in our AG, and 14th overall, in a time of 46:36. We shook hands and congratulated each other, and soon after this they had the awards for the 10K, with Stephen Lamb and Mirabelle grabbing top male and female honours.
 
I saw Larry Doan but never did get a chance to talk to him, but noticed he was 2nd in our age group in the 15K, and Mark came in, finishing 1st in his age group. I had no idea he was 60, as he looks a lot younger than that.
 
I talked to Tilman some more, and then he decided to head out, as it was pretty cool out and we'd been hanging around outside for quite awhile. We said we'd see each other at the Historic Half at Fort Langley on February 17th, where we both running the 10K again, and where they'd have age group medals. Mark came up and we talked for a bit, as we're both running the Fort-2-Fort 30K on February 24th, plus the Aldergrove Mud Run 8K coming up right away on the 3rd. Finally it was time to leave and go warm up, and we said we'd see other on Sunday in Aldergrove.
 
Results are up, and Amelia Varsava finished 23 overall out of 81 in the 5K: http://www.tryevents.ca/images/results/vcc2013.pdf
 
They have 2 sets of photos posted from the event:
 
 
 
My next race is the Aldergrove Mud Run 8K trail race, at Aldergrove Lake Regional Park, February 3rd at 9 AM.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Natasha Fraser Wins Gold!

Canada wins 3 NACAC Cross Country team titles in Jamaica; Natasha Fraser wins individual gold

OTTAWA - Athletics Canada's entry won three team titles today at the 2013 North America Central America and Caribbean (NACAC) Cross Country Championships in Mandeville, Jamaica. The junior women, junior men, and senior women's teams were all crowned 2013 NACAC champions.

Individually Canadian athletes registered six top three performances. Cameron Levins of Black Creek, B.C., and Kelly Wiebe of Regina, Sask., in the senior men's 8-kilometre race, Natasha Fraser of Port Moody, B.C., and Rachel Cliff of Vancouver, B.C., in the senior women's 6-kilometre race, Madeline Yungblut of Wroxeter, Ont., and Gabriela Stafford of Toronto, Ont., in the junior women's 4-kilometre race.

"It was a terrific day for the Canadian team here in Mandeville, Jamaica; we could not be more thrilled. I'm especially pleased for our senior women, notably Natasha (Fraser) and Rachel (Cliff), who completely rocked the race," said team head coach Dave Christiani. He adds, "All of our entries made us proud today. The NACAC Championships are always a valuable experience for juniors leading up to the World Champs."

In an extremely tight race the senior men's team finished second with 22 points behind the United States who took positions 1-4-6 and 7 for a total of 18 points for the victory. The senior men were led by Cameron Levins who crossed the line in second in 24:27 just ahead of Kelly Wiebe who was third in 25:04. Vancouver, B.C.'s Chris Winter crossed the finish line in 25:39 for eighth and Regina, Sask.'s Simon Bairu took ninth with 25:42.

The women's senior team (18 points) won with a significant lead over the second place United States (26 points). Natasha Fraser and Rachel Cliff finished one-two in 21:07 and 21:35 respectively. "I am so happy to be part of the winning Canadian team; such an amazing experience", says an excited Fraser.

Canada took the junior men's title with 31 points over the United States who had a team total of 35. Ryan Sleiman of Kingsville, Ont., was the top Canadian finisher in fourth with 19:18. On his heels was Troy Smith of Grimsby, Ont., in fifth in 19:19.

The first race of the day was the junior women's 4-kilometre race. Team Canada won with 17 points ahead of the United States who were second with 21. Leading the way for the Canadian junior women was Madeline Yungblut who was second in 14:18. "It was a challenging course but overall it felt really good." Yungblut adds," It was an awesome experience and we worked really well as a team".  Right behind her were a duo of Torontonians, Gabriela Stafford finished in third in 14:25 while Madeline McDonald was fourth in 14:28.

For the complete results visit: www.athletics.ca/page.asp?id=679.

-AC-

Emily Hooper
Coordinator, Public Relations and Corporate Services
Athletics Canada
(613) 668-6022

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Campbell Valley Stomp Results & Great Blogs

The results and a report for the Campbell Valley Stomp are up. In the 5K, Murray was 5th overall out of 119, and 1st in our age group out of 11, with a time of 22:12, and I was 11th OA and 2nd in our AG with a time of 23:18.
 
 
John Atkinson (B.C. Johnny) has been producing podcasts where he's been interviewing outstanding runners, and his latest features Teresa Nightingale. To check these out on his Inside The Runner's Mind site, go to: http://bcjohnny.podbean.com/
 
 
 
Dan Cumming has a great blog called Running In The Zone: A Handbook (And Blog) For Seasoned Athletes. His latest article is Random Thoughts On Training. To read this and/or anything else from the massive wealth of info available there go to:
 

Monday, January 21, 2013

Campbell Valley Stomp 5K

On Sunday, January 20th, I ran the Campbell Valley Stomp 5K, in beautiful Campbell Valley Regional Park in Langley, near the U.S. border.

The 5 and 10K races started together at 9 AM, and we ran along a wide gravel path through a field and then around the edge of it and into the woods. I started out near the front of the field but I was gradually passed by a number of runners, including my clubmate Murray after about 500 meters. For the first couple of kilometers we ran along the wide, weaving path, alternating between open field and forest. I managed to keep Murray in sight for most of this time, but before we hit the 2K mark he surged ahead and I lost track of him. I looked at my watch at the 1K mark and it said 4:04, and then at the 2K mark 8:09, which meant I wasn't running slow, Murray was just going really fast.

We hit a field and ran over slightly frozen grass, and I found this slowed me up quite a bit. After we ran into the woods a short time later we were running on a hardpacked mud singletrack path, and it was difficult to pass people once you came up behind them. It also constantly twisted and turned, with some nice hairpins, and it actually helped me to have runners in front at times. There were a few occasions when a frontrunner would almost wipe out after tripping over a root or hitting some ice, so the rest of us had a heads up and knew to be careful when we reached the trouble spot.

Before the 4K point I passed a short female teenager, and then we hit a small uphill followed by a fairly steep and rocky downhill, and at the bottom of this she whizzed by me. I lost sight of her on the twisting trails, but as we closed in on the finish I came up behind a small pack and went by 3 guys and there she was again, and I repassed her.

Not long after this though, we hit a steep hill that kept going up and up as the trail twisted, and my legs felt like lead when I finally reached the top. A little further on we came to an intersection, where the 10Kers were directed to go left and onto their second lap, and we were sent to the right and towards the finish line. As I ran down the wide path, just before hitting the field and the last 100 meters to the finish, the young girl went flying by me. My legs still hadn't fully recovered from the hill, and there was no way I could catch her, but I legged it in and over the line as fast as I could go, and the timekeeper called out 23:13 as I crossed it.

Murray was waiting for me, and told me that he'd actually walked parts of the hill, as he found it to be just as quick as running it. I went to the food tables and they had coffee plus sliced bananas, oranges, apples and various types of bagels, with jam, marmalade and peanut butter to spread on them. I had a banana piece and 3 bagel halves with peanut butter and jam plus a cup of coffee, and while I was refueling one of the fellows who I'd passed before the hill came up and told me he'd tried to catch me again but couldn't. He showed me his bloody knee, as he'd taken a spill while running after me, and I said that may have had something to do with it! I wished him well and then went to my car to put on my jacket & warmups and get my camera.

Racers were coming down to where the turnoff to the finish was, and I had to make sure it was clear before I ducked in to the finish area again.
 
 Most of the 5Kers were in by now, and many of the 10Kers had already come home by this time too, so a lot of people were now congregating here.

 Ingo, Mark, Kevin, and before I knew it even Rob Daniel had completed the 10K, and we stood around chatting as we waited for the closing festivities. They did the awards for top males and females in the 2 races, and then plenty of draw prizes. They were calling names out but then went to asking trivia questions, and Mark won the big prize, a $150 Peninsula Runners gift certificate, for being the first to yell out the country of the men's winner of the 2012 Olympic Marathon (Uganda).

It was now time to head out, with a lot of people saying that they'd be at the next series race, the Aldergrove Mud Run 8K on February 3rd.

My next race is the Vancouver Chilly Chase 10K at the Olympic Village Square on January 27th at 11 AM.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Harriers Pioneer 8K

On Sunday, January 13, I travelled to the Saanich Fairgrounds in Saanichton and ran the Harriers Pioneer 8K, the first race of the year in the Timex BC Road Running Series and the Frontrunners Island Race Series.

It had warmed up to just above freezing by the time we were starting the race at 11 AM. Drew Nicholson and Natasha Fraser had come over from the Lower Mainland to run it too, and they were both right up front with the other elite runners. I wasn't as fortunate, being several rows back, and when we started out I was stuck behind some people jogging slowly.

We went a couple of hundred meters on a slight downhill on the "driveway" heading out of the fairgrounds, and by the time I reached the road I'd managed to break free of the dense pack of sluggos. We turned left onto the street and I was now running with people going at a good pace. After a couple of hundred meters we passed the volunteers at the water station that we'd be going by again later in the race, and a few hundred meters later we hung a right onto another road.

The road curved around so we were now heading in the opposite direction from whence we'd come and went by the 1K mark. I sped up and started passing people, eventually coming up behind a pack of runners with two young boys who looked to be about 9 or 10 years old running about 10 meters in front of me. They kept going at a great clip for the next kilometer, but after we turned right again and were running through the small business district one of them slowed his pace a bit and I was finally able to pass him. A little while later we hit the road going back to the fairgrounds, and after a short incline we were now travelling on a not very steep but long downhill, and I passed the second little speedster at long last.

We ran past the entrance to the fairgrounds where there were plenty of spectators clapping, yelling, holding up encouraging signs, and clanging cowbells. This raised the runners' spirits and gave us a boost of energy as we passed the 5K point near the water station. This time we turned to the left as we hit the road ahead and headed up a slight hill for about 700 meters.

I'd just started going up it when the race leader with his bicycle escort went past on the other side of the road, heading home. After 30 seconds or so another fellow went by, followed a short while later by 2 more guys, and then Natasha Fraser came flying down with a guy right behind her. I briefly thought about yelling "Go Natasha!". She went by me so quickly I didn't, but she probably wouldn't have heard me anyway. Plus she didn't look like she needed any encouragement and I was trying to podium myself so it was better that I'd saved my breath. I did yell "Go Drew!" as he went by a little while later, after about 10 or so other guys had already come past, and then picked up my pace as we approached an intersection and turned to the right.

I went by a couple of guys who looked like they might be in my age group, and then made the turnaround about 50 meters later and headed back to the intersection before turning and heading down to the road going back to the fairgrounds. I sped up and passed more people, while a couple of people went by me in return. Finally we reached the final road going home, and before I knew it I was turning into the fairgrounds and racing up the hill toward the finish line. About 10 meters from it a fellow whizzed by me, and try as I might I couldn't overtake him again.

After we crossed the line I asked him how old he was, he told me he was 61, and I congratulated him on being so fast. When the results were posted there was an asterisk beside his time indicating he ran under the elite benchmark time for his age group. Drew was waiting for me and we both commented on how fast Natasha had been going, and he said she might even have finished top 5 out of the whole field.

We went into the fieldhouse and I hit the food room where they had heaping trays of cucumber, ham & cheese, and PB&J sandwiches, cut-up muffins, oranges, bananas, and energy bars, plus pretzels and chocolate chip cookies. To rehydrate they had coffee, water and chocolate milk. After eating a plateful I went to my car to put on my jacket and warmups and get my camera.

On the way there I ran into Nigel from my running club who now lives on Mayne Island. He's just coming back from being off for a year injured and carrying some extra pounds, and was expecting to take an hour to run the race, but he did it in less than 48 minutes, so he was pretty pleased with that.

He headed indoors to refuel and I went to my car, and on my way back I got a picture of the finish line, and then headed into the fieldhouse auditorium where the hundreds of chairs were rapidly filling up with people.      


 
 I went by a table where some women were selling a book called Open Heart Runner by Gregory Marchand http://gregorymarchand.com/open-heart-runner.html . I bought a copy and was told Greg was standing up in front of the stage and would gladly sign it for me, and he graciously did.

Myself, Drew and Nigel chatted while we waited for the awards to start, and when they did we found out that Natasha had smashed the 26 year old course record for top female, and finished 6th overall. Geoff Martinson of Victoria was the top finisher, and there's a great article about them in Athletics Illustrated: http://athleticsillustrated.com/editorial/fraser-smashes-record-martinson-wins-handily/ .

There were many draw prizes in between age group awards, and Drew was 7th in his AG and 19th overall, I told him it was a fast field!      

There were medals for the top 3 age groupers and ribbons to top 10, and when it came to mine I ended up in 8th place, so I did podium! They had all of us come up and stand on our numbered mark on the floor and presented us with our medals & ribbons, and then huddled us together for a group photo op. Drew also got a couple of pictures of me while I was up there.



They finished up the awards, did the final 2 draws for a pair of shoes, thanked the volunteers and us for coming, and it was time for us to head home.

I finished 129 overall out of 655, and 8 of 38 in my age group, with a time of 32:59, 44 seconds faster than last year. I was ecstatic last year to get a 10th place ribbon, after finishing 20th in my age group the year before, so very happy this year, especially since I've been training for a 30K trail race on February 24 and had no idea how well I'd do today. I thought I might even crap out, pretty glad I didn't!    

http://pih.bc.ca/results/Series.php
 
 

My next race is the Campbell Valley Stomp 5K on January 20 at 9 AM, in Campbell Valley Regional Park. 

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Resolution Run Results & Polar Bear Swims

http://runthefraservalley.com/2013/01/03/130/ (no age group result listings)
 
Sunrunner             OA (198)    Time
Paul Mathias            29         35:14
Gordon Flett             32         35:23
Tom Webster           45         38:06
Antonio Cerullo         59         39:31
Michelle McKinnon*  105        46:19
Shonna Morgan        130        48:59
 
*Shonna's friend, not sure if she's a member.
 
Kamloops Polar Bear Swim 2013, courtesy of Wes Kibble:
 
 
Results, report & pics from the 2013 - Year 20 - Vancouver New Year's Day Fat Ass 50 Run and Freeze Your Fat Ass Swim
 

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Resolution Run 8K

Today I ran the Resolution Run 8K trail race in Crescent Park, part of the 2013 Fraser Valley Trail Run Series put on by Peninsula Runners http://www.peninsularunners.com/events/trailseries.htm .
 
It was near freezing but with no rain or wind as what looked like about 200 hardy souls started out at 10 AM, running across the grass and then into the woods. We ran along the winding path for a bit, watching for tree roots, out into the open for a short stint, and then hit the trees again. Now we were on a very twisting single track, with many roots and a wide log across the path every so often for us to vault over. The sun was out now and it blinded me running towards it, but I was lucky enough not to step somewhere bad and wipe out. After the race I heard that a few people took tumbles for one reason or another, but fortunately no injuries were reported.
 
It was congested on the single track but I just took the opportunity to rest up and then break out and pass several people as we hit an open space again. I'd felt sluggish for the first kilometer or so of the race, but now I felt pretty good and increased my speed as we hit the trees again and went over a small bridge. Soon we hit the open field again, ran down to and then around the back of a baseball diamond, and then around the edge of the field for a few hundred meters.
 
One last jaunt through some woods followed, and we hit a good downhill that I ran down quite fast, passing Maureen De St. Croix who was volunteering today, and she yelled "Way to go Gord, keep it up!" after me. Next we ran across the field where we'd started, and onto the second and final lap!
 
It was less congested on the single track the second time as people were more spread out now, but still a rest period once more before passing some people after we hit the open, and then a fellow went by me! Running around behind the diamond I caught him and raced past, but by the time we were almost in the woods again Paul from my club appeared beside me. He said "How's it going Gord?", and went by as I managed to mumble "Okay."
 
I stayed a few meters back of him as we passed some more people, knowing the end was near. He went by a woman in front of me but she sped up and surged ahead as I tried to do the same. We raced down the decline, and Maureen cheered us on as we passed her, and then yelled after me to get up on my toes and sprint, yelling "Attaboy!" as I did so. We turned right and ran across the grass and over the finish line, both at the same speed so she maintained the gap she'd opened up between us.
 
I went over and talked to Paul and then Tom from our club came in, and after some more catching up on things we went to the food tables to see what they had. I took a couple of fig newtons and a banana piece from the bowl of sliced oranges and bananas. There were also various breads and I grabbed a piece of soft grainy stuff and tried to get some Nutella out of the jar but it was really cold and solid. I managed to scrape a few bits out but for my next piece of bread I used peanut butter instead and it worked fine. I talked to Kevin, who I'd first met at one of these races 3 years ago, for quite awhile, and then Antonio came up and I introduced them and we talked some more about how great trail running was. The coffee line was short now so we grabbed a cup, and clubmate Shonna came over to me a we clinked coffee cups and wished each other a Happy New Year. Scott Stewart was there with his grandson Cameron, but he's still injured and so wasn't entered but just accompanied Cameron for some of it. Cameron told us he developed a hip problem during the race, but still managed to finish.
 
Right after this they did some draw prizes, and then the awards were given out, with $50 Peninsula Runners gift certificates going to the male and female overall winners, plus the winners of the 10 year age group categories. With that over with they started packing up things pretty quick, and we all headed out, content with starting off the year on a positive note.
 
No results on the net yet, but I'll post them when they're up.
 
My next race is the Harriers Pioneer 8K in Saanichton on January 13 at 11 AM.