Club Fat Ass members are active and always looking for new outdoor adventures. We're also very social and love to hear what our friends have been up to.
The objective of the speaker series is to provide another way to share our love for running. The series is modeled on the Hawaiian tradition of "talking story" where people casually share their wisdom and adventures with friends and friends-to-be.
Like the Club's running events, speaker events will be small (under 100 people with an average of 20-40) so we get to know one another. They will range from 1 - 2 hours in length. Some may be simple chats while others involve slides and movies.
Themes range from great adventures, to motivation, to training hints and tips and tips and beyond. Speaker events reflect the personalities and styles of the Event Host: It's their party, so there are few rules.
As with all Club Fat Ass events, Speaker Events are free to Club members. To encourage other community members to learn about the Club and the activities we love, Speaker Events are also free to non-members. If a speaker event is held in support of a fund raising cause, the speaker may, however, pass the hat.
Speaker Events are held in smaller, intimate venues that have limited seating. Out of courtesy to speakers and the hosts of the venue, we ask everyone who attends to preregister on the Speaker Event website.
We are currently scheduling speakers and venues for 2006. If you are interested in speaking, or have a suggestion for someone who might like to speak, please contact us. To make it easy for the speaker, the Club will provide a Speaker Event Host Manual with helpful hints and tips for a successful speaking event.
Please come back soon for a complete listing of speaker events.
Primal Quest. CFA member Gary Robbins and his team of adventure racers speak on their experiences at this grueling event in Utah during the summer of 2006. Gary and his team is hard at work putting together a multi-media slide show that will dazzle and inspire. September 06 - (exact date TBD.) North Shore Athletics, North Vancouver, BC.
Atacama Crossing. We're working on CFA member Wade Repta to share his account of this self-supported footrace across 250 kilometers of the Atacama Desert in Chile. The race consists of six stages, lasting 7 days, with distances ranging from 20 - 80 kilometers per stage.
Western States 100. This is the Stanley Cup, the SuperBowl, the Kentucky Derby of all 100-mile runs. CFA members Ron Adams, Glen Pace, Ean Jackson, Dom Repta and others have completed this event... and proudly wear the coveted belt buckles while out on training runs! We'd like to schedule a speaker night on the WS100 sometime in November to coincide with registration for 2007.
Sunshine Coast Trail. Until July of 2004, nobody had ever run this 180K trail from start to finish. We'd like to get CFA members Dom Repta, Wade Repta, Dave Cressman and Ean Jackson to tell us about the trail and how it almost killed them and also invite Eagle Walz, the man who designed the trail and saved the city boy's butts. (You, too can try to run the Sunshine Coast Trail as a CFA "challenge" event!)
Badwater. Even the name sounds harsh! This is a 217K nonstop run from the lowest to the highest point in the continental United States. Matt Sessions, Ferg Hawke and Jane Ballentine are on our radar to share their adventures.