Lake Cowichan Vancouver Island B.C.
Saturday September 16th.
The GLW Ultra, or Great Lake Walk,( as it is refered to by the 400 or so walker that have been doing this event for the last 5 years), were joined this year by about 100 runners!
The first year I ran it I was lucky enough to win, that year we were about 30 runners.(small fish in a small pool!)
The second year I was beaten by Rob Grant, a great Ultramarathon runner and good friend of mine and Ean.
The Third year Rob and I were beaten by Bob Wall, a good friend of us both again, and fellow team mate of Ean in a 100K Canadian team.
The fourth year, I came in, on this ever swelling pool of over distance runners , one week after running my first 100 miler! Surfice it to say I didn't put in a steller performance!
This year was the year to regain a hold on this race, but lo and behold, the pack was stacked! Nick Walker, one of the finest Track and Road stars on the Island, decided to dabble in overdistance racing and wiped our dials.
This is an extract of his and my PIH Chatline entries from last night...
Nick wrote:-
I'm not sure of all of the results.
1. Nick Walker 4:40:40 *New Course Record by 7mins
2. Bob Wall 4:54.??
3. Buddy Bhandar 4:59:??
I don't know any other results as I didn't recognize very many of the runners out there. There was just over 500 participants. Excellent support with 12 aid stations with tons of food and volunteers cheering us on. Also it is so beautiful around the lake and the weather was a treat, despite the low temperatures in the morning.
I wrote:-
RJ was ecstatic with his 22 place overall, in a more than one hour PR!
He ran a well paced race and really enjoyed his Brooks trail shoes, (Nick had the same shoe),I was kind of disappointed with my Mizuno waves(road shoe),
I had a solid run coming in in 5:32 only 56mins. ahead of RJ, Dr.Thin was happy with his 7:45 ish, but he did hike the first part with his sons scout troup.
Buddy Bandar had the run of his life, I never got to shake his hand, he told me that he had to rush off to work!(maybe that's why he was so fast.)
'Twas a shame about Mark cramping up just after the asphalt started near Honeymoon bay..
I think they both have real potential in the over distance events.
Ean, maybe you shold pencil this one in on your quest to bag you 100 Ultras, you will be running with all your friends!
