Archived News: 2009
Stewart Mountain 10 Mile XC, Victoria, December 12/09
Lorne's race report (this sounds like a race Roger would enjoy!):
Greg ran a great event. The first words out of his mouth upon finishing were, "I won't be doing that again next year. That hill was a pig!"
Although parts of the course are a hopelessly rocky scramble, the view at the top is stunning (nearly a full 360° viewpoint) and other sections are exceptionally well-groomed for running so you get to open it up for 200 or 300 metres along the soft flat segments. People's finish times over 16k are almost matched to their half-marathon times.
Lisa and I toodled off with the early wave of starters with the objective of just jogging together and making a day of it — very hard to do on that course as the terrain variation is so severe. I think that only a very unique personality would select this as a "goal event". It is more like a "tough-guy" competition. If a person considered themselves a mountain-racer or knee-knacker type runner, then they might really enjoy this course. Or if you just did it as a fast hike in conjunction with a weekend of shopping in Victoria, then it is an interesting experience.
The photo gallery was done by a guy sitting on a rock at the top. In the photo of Lisa, she has her arms raised happily after just being told that the ascent is over.
I pulled my sleeves back down & put my gloves back on in case I fell on the descent. Even though we were jogging, my pod has records of speeds around 22 kph on sections of the descent and I had the brakes on all of the way down the grades.
1:18:49 Greg Tait 5th M40-49 1:44:29 Lorne Morrow 10th M50-59 1:44:29 Lisa Morrow 7th F40-49
Gunner Shaw XC 10k, Vancouver, December 5/09
Cold but sunny conditions this year, and no giant puddle! Because of icy conditions, we were detoured completely away from the puddle, on a parallel path. To make up for the missing hazard, the organizers gave us more than twice as much distance on the soft beach sand... and we still had to go through the stinky stagnant creek at the far end of the loop — two steps in mid-calf-deep smelly water/sludge, with no big puddle later to clean off the shoes (some of us just brought them into the shower afterwards and washed them in there!). This year's turnout was even bigger than last year's record, with 190 finishers in the 10k and another 22 in the 5k. Plenty of food this time, with the pizza rationed out gradually. To all SCA members who missed it this year, it was a good one, hope you can make it in 2010!
39:00 Larry Nightingale 3rd M45-49 43:17 Teresa Nightingale 2nd F40-44 55:41 Helen Sabourin 1st F65-69
Photos by Linda Wong of LGRR:
Cross Country Ramble, Aldergrove, November 22
It was wet and cold but lots of fun nonetheless! Great course, a 'classic' cross country route on grass, gravel and dirt trails, mud, big puddles, wet leaves, a log to jump, one 'killer hill' in the loop (not really that bad) and just enough gentle ups and downs between the flat sections. All on a spectator-friendly 1.9km loop run 4 times = 7.7k. A good crowd showed up, 83 finishers in total. This will be the BC Championships course in 2010 and 2011, with some slight modifications.
Lorne and Lisa from our Powell River division came out as they had been staying on Vancouver Island at the time, so only one ferry to catch. The last draw prize was given to the person who travelled the farthest to get to the race. Since Lorne and Lisa were gone by the time the prize was drawn, that left us from Halfmoon Bay, so we later passed the prize along to them (a men's tech shirt).
The prize for first female was a $50 gift certificate from Peninsula Runners, which Teresa used in Langley on the way home, towards a new pair of trail shoes.
31:23 Larry Nightingale 4th M40-49 34:05 Teresa Nightingale 1st Female overall, 1st F40-49 35:34 Lisa Morrow 3rd Female overall, 2nd F40-49 36:01 Lorne Morrow 9th M50-59
Crescent Park XC, White Rock, October 3
A perfect day for fall racing with crisp temperatures warming up as the sun rose, and no wind. This year we ran the proper 8k course, except for Susan who was directed to the finish line 1 lap too soon and waited for a few minutes before being urged by Larry to head out on the final lap. Larry earned 2nd place in the masters (35+) and 1st in M40-44; Teresa was first in F40-44 and 4th in the women's masters but that included 2 runners age 35-39 in the top 2 spots. Tammy nabbed 3rd place in the F40-44 (out of 6) and Susan got a 6th place ribbon in F50-54 but would probably have been 5th if not misdirected.
In the kids' races Maria had a fun 1km romp around the field with 71 other kids age 6-8, finishing with a strong sprint and a smile. Alex and Andy both ran the 2.9km race for 12 year olds. They worked together very well, exchanging the lead around the 3-lap route, until Andy unleashed his killer finishing kick to finish 10th among the boys, with Alex not far behind in 12th spot. Of note, Alex ran about 3 1/2 minutes faster today than at the Pinetree 3km two weeks ago!
Open/Masters 8k 7. 30:29 Larry Nightingale 1st M45-49 25. 34:38 Teresa Nightingale 1st F40-44 58. 42:04 Tammy Dean 3rd F40-44 68. 45:26* Susan Blair 6th F50-54 *should really be about 42:00 and 5th in category Mixed 6-8 yr old 1000m 51. 4:34.60 Maria Nightingale Boys 12 yr old 2900m 10. 13:00.52 Andrew Dean 12. 13:08.37 Alex Nightingale
Loon Lake Run, Powell River, September 27
Larry was 2nd overall by a few seconds. It was a perfect sunny day on a beautiful course with 58 participants in the 13.4k and 15 in the 7.35k. Full results
2. 49:57 Larry Nightingale
Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half-Marathon, September 27
20,000 participants total in the half, full and 5k, and a new 'fastest marathon run on Canadian soil' record set by Kenneth Mungara of Kenya: 2:08:32! That was a $75,000 payday for Mungara (wouldn't you love to earn $35,000 an hour).
In the half, Teresa ran 1:38:11 (chip time), finishing 45s behind the amazing 78-yr-old Ed Whitlock (did 2 sub-3:00 marathons at age 72 and 73) and about 90s ahead of Silvia Ruegger (Canadian women's marathon record holder, 8th in 1984 Olympic Marathon). Joan Benoit Samuelson was 2nd woman in the half (1:22) at age 50 (or 51) — very impressive! The weather was cloudy and humid but not uncomfortable at about 17 degrees with a light breeze. A very fun weekend as always.
1:38:36 Teresa Nightingale 10th F40-44
Pinetree Classic XC, Coquitlam, September 19
The first race of the 2009 Lower Mainland XC Series was attended by 4 club members plus 2 of our kids, and some strong points were earned for the club tally. The weather turned out great. It looked like it could be very wet at first (we came through a torrential downpour en route, in Burnaby, but it was just a slight sprinkle when we arrived at Mundy Park) — but the clouds blew away later and it was sunny by the time the open/masters race was done. Great temperature, not too cool or too warm. And no bear sightings. (click team photo to enlarge)
A change of start/finish location change made for a faster finish than past years — gradual downhill and flat smooth trail near the end — nice! The overall course distances were all reduced by about 0.5km due to the change.
In the women's race (4.4k or 4.5k according to different sources) Teresa ran hard to finish 6th overall, first master 40+ and first in the F40-44 division. Susan and Tammy finished close together and both were 3rd in their new age groups: Susan in F50-54 and Tammy in F40-44. Maria isn't quite old enough yet for this meet: the youngest division was for kids born in 2000. Next year...
In the men's race (7.5k), Larry was 3rd in 45-49 and might have been 2nd except he wiped out on the final turn in the parking lot, on wet pavement (puddle with leaves and needles) just as he was accelerating to catch Mike Moon — resulting in a big road rash!!! and the crowd went "ohhh"... See photos! (these were taken after initial clean-up by first aid). Notice the hole in the sock... He did get up right away and finished but of course couldn't catch Mike with only 50m to go. Too bad there was no prize for 'best injury' like Roger received in Whistler.
Andrew Dean had a great run and speedy finishing sprint in the highly competitive 3k for 1997/98/99 Boys and Girls; Alex Nightingale had his work cut out for him in the 1994/95/96 race (also 3k), being the youngest and smallest (the rest were 13-15 year olds!). He went in with a positive attitude and finished strong and feeling good, despite being last.
4.5k 18:02 Teresa Nightingale 1st F40-44 22:32 Susan Blair 3rd F50-54 22:35 Tammy Dean 3rd F40-44 7.5k 27:37 Larry Nightingale 3rd M45-49 3k 1997-2000 14:47 Andrew Dean 7th M1997 3k 1994-1996 16:48 Alex Nightingale 7th M1996
5 Peaks Buntzen Lake, Port Moody, September 19
AND World Masters Mountain Running Championships, Croatia, September 12
Roger Handling has had a busy September so far! Roger's Report: "Croatia was fantastic, Zagreb is a beautiful city full of life. I really felt the effects of the long travel time (28 hours from door-to-door) but managed to improve two spots over last year to 24th (52:14). Got home on Tuesday and squeaked in some training runs before this weekend in an attempt to loosen up my legs. Yesterday was another tough race due to jet lag and generally dead legs, finished second in the race but captured the overall series title for my age group (50-59) which was my objective for the day."
15.5k Enduro Course 1:39:00 Roger Handling 2nd M50-59 5 Peaks Series Results, Enduro Division: Roger Handling 1st M50-59 (5 races, 57 points)
Roger was ahead of 2nd place by just 2 points!
Photos from Croatia:
Club Fat Ass: Sunshine in September, September 5
More like Liquid Sunshine... with the rain pouring down just Larry headed down to Langdale to help out and possibly run (our kids wanted nothing to do with it on such a dreary morning). He ended up running the whole thing (about 25k) with a small group and had a blast, despite very sore quads later from the downhills coming back.
Skookumchuck Narrows Group Run, August 30
A beautiful late summer day with sunshine and a light breeze. A bit humid, to work up a sweat. Ten of us went to see the rapids, along with about 150 hikers and a few other runners... the busiest we've seen the trail! Even so, most of the distance was clear enough to run through — only a couple of 'traffic jams'. At 3:30 (15 mins after peak tidal flow) some of us decided to race back to the cafe to buy cinnamon buns and coffee, before the 4:00 closing time. Chuck, Susan B. and Teresa took off at a quick clip and arrived with just five minutes to spare. Alas, the cinnamon buns were sold out but we bought up all the remaining cakes and cookies in the place, then waited for the rest of the group. This was amusing to the hikers we'd passed on the trail... one woman looked at the three of us with all the goodies and said 'I thought you were athletes!' Karen, Peter, Laura, Susan and Keith arrived about 30 mins later for their share. Larry and Maria had time to walk the trail, having stopped at the cafe FIRST (good thinking). Click group photos to enlarge (is that an overturned kayak in the left photo below?).
Four Lakes 10k, August 23
The weather couldn't have been nicer for this year's edition. Sunny and cool, no wind. But warm enough for a swim in the lake later! Chuck is getting closer to his former fitness level with a 49:25 finish on this hilly course. Full results and photo gallery available on the race website.
Club results:
49:25 Charles Steemers 2nd M50-59 57:04 Susan Blair 1st F50-59 57:31 Dave Bromley 3rd M50-59 1:02:30 Frank McKenna 1st M70+
5 Peaks Trail Running Series, Whistler, August 22
Roger's report: "Whistler was tough as always with the thin air. I started really well but tripped and wiped out on the first big downhill section (going too fast), landed on chunky rock/gravel. I was a bit stunned for a minute or so but, once I figured out that I had nothing but cuts and bruises, kept going. Afterwards I won the prize for the 'best' injuries! The partially hidden hip gouges really sealed the win for me when I showed the 'judges'." (click photo to enlarge)
Enduro Course 10.6 km 1:09:05 Roger Handling 2nd M50-59
Tammy's report: "It was fun... overall times went from 28:22 to 1hr 31 mins... so really I cannot complain. (I wiped out at the 3 km mark... bounced off the rock and back on my feet... bloody knees! OOOPS) Clear and dry... cool but very sunny and intensely warm on the initial climb off the start line. Well organized.. great kids race, well marked and monitored trail (water, first aid etc.) Best tip from a sponsored trail runner: do not try to run the big inclines... power hike them instead — make your move on the down. It worked... for the first 2/3 of the race... and at the 2 km mark... I was doing a 6 minute km. It was the last climb out of Harmony Lake that killed me... it is hard to climb normally, let alone power hike or run it... killed my time! Oh well... next year will be awesome. I will be better prepared for altitude!"
Sport Course 4.9 km 40:49 Tammy Dean 15th F30-39
Lower Mainland Road Race Series
The series wrapped up after the Richmond Oval 8k with the awards ceremony in a room inside the Oval. The F40-44 division was the most competitive, with 8 qualifiers, and the top 3 women all scoring 160 points (Helen Ritchie, Rebecca Reid and Janette Purdham, our top 3 women finishers at this year's April Fool's Run, in that same order). Prizes were provided by Timex, Running Room and Impact Magazine. (photo by Frank Stebner)
F40-44: 4. Teresa Nightingale 6 races, 121 points
Richmond Oval 8k, August 16
This turned out to be 8.5km (approximately) due to some last minute detours after the City of Richmond added some sand piles to the dike... The weather was great, just slightly too warm but quite pleasant overall running mostly by the Fraser river without any strong winds. The Oval itself is spectacular and well worth a visit (see photos). The race was the final one of the Lower Mainland Road Race Series, last chance to get in the minimum 6 races required to qualify for awards. (photo by Rick Horne)
36:30 Teresa Nightingale 4th F40-44 (equivalent to 34:20 for 8k)
Squamish Days 10k, August 2
This was a warm one. Not scorching hot but enough above normal to slow down everyone's times. Teresa and Crystal got a ride from Horseshoe Bay with some Vancouver runners for this race. There was also a group of mostly teens from Roberts Creek who ran the 10k. Flat out and back course with a few nice shady sections and several much appreciated water stations (most of the water was dumped on the head and back, very refreshing!). Great post-race refreshments, including thick watermelon slices.
Note: Tammy was going to run but wisely decided to let her legs recover from a 24km marathon training run 2 days before! She warmed up with us, then took some photos and cheered us on instead. (photo by Maurice Wilson)
43:38 Teresa Nightingale 4th F40-44
Seek the Peak 16km, July 5, Grouse Mountain
Helen braved this challenging course and reports: "I did better than I expected in the Peak. Was hoping to finish in under 3 hours and did 2 hr 34 min for second place F60-69. I was thrilled. It was pretty gruelling though and very hard on the knees and thighs but I'll do it again next year." Helen also says she wore her 2008 April Fool's bright yellow and orange singlet and got loads of comments and compliments from other runners about the shirt!
2:34:57 Helen Sabourin 2nd F60-69
Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon, June 28, UBC to Stanley Park
It was a gorgeous sunny day, about 14 degrees (though it felt a little too warm along Spanish Banks, but cool breezes after that). Helen obliterated the competition in her age group, winning the F65-69 division by nearly 20 minutes! Photos below: Carl, Helen, Frank. Chip times shown here:
1:36:29 Carl Green 4th M60-64 1:39:24 Teresa Nightingale 16th F40-44 1:52:44 Helen Sabourin 1st F65-69 2:11:30 Frank McKenna 8th M70+
Sandcastle City Classic 10k, June 7, White Rock
35:55 Larry Nightingale 4th Overall, 1st 45-49 57:02 Frank McKenna 1st M70+
Shaughnessy 8k, May 31, Vancouver
This was a challenging run with more hills than I remembered, and on top of that a very warm morning! We had a good club turnout with 6 members running and Alex N. volunteering. Three medals won. Lots of draw prizes but only Helen's name was drawn from our group - 3 minutes after she had left!
28:52 Larry Nightingale 2nd M45-49 34:30 Teresa Nightingale 2nd F40-44 41:55 Helen Sabourin 1st F65-69 42:59 Tammy Dean 10th F35-39 46:17 Susan Blair 10th F45-49 47:17 Frank McKenna 4th M75+
Iron Knee 25km Trail Race, May 31, Grouse Mtn, North Vancouver
A very enjoyable course on a great sunny day. Maybe more of us will try this one next year. There's a 12k too.
2:01:16 Roger Handling 3rd M50-59
May Day 4km, May 16, Pender Harbour
We all woke up early and headed out to Madeira Park for this annual fun run. Not the biggest turnout at 31 participants (maybe because it wasn't sunny yet?) but hey, we each got a draw prize, and there were leftovers! Don't ask about the weird age categories, it's some tradition passed on. The group photo was taken by William Jans. Click that one to enlarge. Beside it is a shot of Maria getting her 3rd place certificate.
13:41 Larry Nightingale 1st M46+ and overall 19:39 Tammy Dean 2nd F26-45 and female overall 20:01 Liz Dilasser 1st F46+ and 3rd female overall 20:36 Susan Blair 2nd F46+ 22:22 Frank McKenna 5th M46+ 23:03 Alex Nightingale 2nd Boys under 12 35:15 Maria Nightingale 3rd Girls under 12 35:15 Teresa Nightingale* * 17:00 solo run later, self-timed
Mother's Day 5k Spring Classic, May 10, Port Moody
Record numbers turned out for this one, nearly 400 finishers including lots of kids. Perfect temperature for racing with warm sunshine continuing for the outdoor awards ceremony. Tammy's son Andrew surprised us all with a very fast 24:34, leaving his mum in the dust! There were 31 boys in the 16 and under division. Alex ran nearly 3 minutes faster than last year, while Teresa was just 1 second faster than 2008. Larry was the only one of us to win a first place age group award. Maria had fun in the kids 1km, finishing much farther up in the field than last year. Overall results | Age group results. Photos by Warren McCulloch (sorry no good ones of Larry or Andrew).
17:24 Larry Nightingale 1st M45-49 (10th overall) 20:38 Teresa Nightingale 3rd F40-44 24:34 Andrew Dean 14th M16&U 25:01 Tammy Dean 6th F35-39 26:47 Susan Blair 5th F45-49 30:54 Alex Nightingale 24th M16&U Mother/Child Competition (46 teams): Tammy and Andrew: 4th Teresa and Alex: 7th Kids 1km fun run: Maria Nightingale (no times recorded)
Vancouver Half Marathon, May 3
1:59:15 Helen Sabourin 2nd F65-69
TC10K, April 26, Victoria
A beautiful run in a beautiful city, with perfect weather (cool and sunny). We just didn't run that fast... travel legs?
36:51 Larry Nightingale 4th M45-49 43:13 Teresa Nightingale 5th F40-44
Boston Marathon, April 20, Boston
Helen placed 5th in her age group!
4:24:06 Helen Sabourin 5th F65-69
Vancouver Sun Run, April 19, Vancouver
Tammy got a personal best - way to go!
50:55 Tammy Dean 98th F35-39 56:42 Dave Bromley 217th M55-59 56:49 Lindsay Hatloe 234th F40-44
Sunshine Coast April Fool's Run Half-Marathon, April 5, Gibsons to Sechelt
A record number of registrants and a glorious sunny warm day made it our best year yet! The new start and finish worked out very well. See race report for full story.
Pl. Category Pl. Name Time ============================================ 25. 1/19 M55-59 Roger Handling 1:30:50 44. 5/17 M40-44 Brian Fournier 1:36:34 124. 6/21 F35-39 Marisa Alps 1:50:44 173. 8/21 F35-39 Tammy Dean 1:59:15 198. 1/3 F65-69 Helen Sabourin 2:02:22 212. 3/10 F60-64 Liz Dilasser 2:05:07 245. 19/33 F40-44 Lindsay Hatloe 2:09:34 298. 16/19 M55-59 Dave Bromley 2:19:33 300. 19/30 F50-54 Jenny Rasmussen 2:20:35 325. 21/30 F50-54 Pamela Knowles 2:29:22
Dave Reed Spring Classic 5k, March 28, Stanley Park
Report from Teresa: Just me at this one. The rain held off until after the race. The conditions were fine for racing. Same course as the St. Patrick's 5k except starting and finishing at Lumbermen's Arch and with some extra distance overlap between start and finish - about 30 seconds longer due to the way it was measured (cutting tangents on the bike path). Despite the extra distance I ran 5 seconds faster. At the awards ceremony I was surprised to be 3rd female master and win $50 cash! The event was a fitting memorial for Dave Reed; his brother donated the masters prize money.
20:35 Teresa Nightingale 2nd F40-44, 3rd F40+
St. Patrick's Day 5k, March 14, Stanley Park
Just Crystal came along with Teresa for this one. It was a great day, cloudy with the tiniest bit of rain before the start, nearly 1000 people registered!
20:40 Teresa Nightingale 21st Woman, 8th F40+