April 2007 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Members of Club Fat Ass,

Wherever this finds you, I hope you are on the trails enjoying warmer weather, daffodils, hay fever, and other signs that spring is really, finally, here.

On the North Shore of Vancouver where I am, we’re seeing some real progress in the repair of trails and bridges that were damaged in the fall storms. The wet is slowly receding, as is the snow on the upper trails of the local mountains. While some not-so-fat asses have been running and playing hard throughout the extraordinarily long winter, some of us are only now getting off the couch and back onto the trails. Thankfully, Spring brings some great Club events to help keep us motivated!

There are still some gaps in our event calendar that we would love to fill with new events, especially outside of British Columbia. We need you to take the plunge and host a Club event. Waiting for one more reason to convince you? Not only does hosting a CFA event give you a way to put on a fun, challenging and eco-friendly event for your running community, it also offers you the opportunity to raise funds for your favorite cause.

Event host Craig Moore uses his events, including the upcoming Vancouver 100, to raise funds for the BC Lung Association. In the past, the Burnaby Mountain Run has contributed to an SFU scholarship fund. Close to many of our hearts is the Mary Leliveld's Happy Trails Run, which donates to the the Tri BC bursary fund in Mary's name. When you put on a fundraising event, your cause receives a portion of single-day memberships as well as donations made by your community-minded annual members. To learn more, visit the fundraising section of our Host an Event pages.

Happy Trails,

Sibylle Tinsel
Chief Executive Fat Ass

New Ontario Event!
Spring Bunny Hop: 21 April 2007 - Claremont, ON Canada. Thanks to James Sinclair, this 25 km trail run takes you up and down two of the Oak Ridges Moraine forest tracks: Walker Woods and Glen Major. The moraine's rolling hills and valleys were carved by glaciers over 12,000 years ago. Today this ecologically rich forest playground hosts over 200 km of trails, attracting hikers, mountain bikers, x-country skiers, and horseback riders alike. More details here.

North Shore Enduro: 12 May 2007 - North Vancouver, BC Canada. Join us on a 6-hour solo or relay challenge. Run as little as one loop or try to beat the record for most loops completed in 6 hours. Event info here.

2007 Membership Registration. If you haven't registered yet, you missed your chance to get the special green 2007 collector's shirt. But don't despair, members signing up now will receive our classic black Club shirt and can still participate in all upcoming events during 2007. Such a deal!

What was unique and exciting about the 6th annual Spring version of Mountain Highway Madness? Most noticeable was the impact of the new, improved start of daylight savings time that had gone into effect a week earlier. It was pitch black when we woke up and equally as dark as we made our way to the start of the run in the Lynn Valley area of North Vancouver. The weather Gods had not been kind of late. It had been raining heavily in the Vancouver area for at least a week. I'm sure the promise of a pause in the monsoons motivated many participants of the run, as elsewhere in the city it was dry and spring-like. However, as early arrivals huddled with me in the car to stay warm and dry to the last possible minute, we concluded it would be another wet one in the mountains. Full results, more photos and a report here.

Only four people showed up for the 6 a.m. start of the Big Fat Ass 100 km at Brockton Oval in Vancouver’s beautiful Stanley Park. Perhaps the torrential rains of the previous few days made people decide that staying in bed was a much more sensible way to start the day.

Photo: Ryan during the Big Fat Ass

The four starters, Ellie, Baldwin, Gilles and Karl set out together. Baldwin soon implemented his planned strategy of running one mile followed by a short walk. The remaining three continued at a fairly brisk pace set by Ellie, a 4:35 finisher of the New Year’s Fat Ass 50 km. Gilles and Karl, in spite of knowing that the pace was a little too

fast, were not going to allow a GIRL to run away from two MACHO MEN.

Photo: Bradley Jones sporting his new green CFA shirt at the turnaround for the Big Fat Ass.

At Spanish banks a lovely Angel of Mercy in the form of Gilles' wife Lucinda met the three runners. She provided much needed aid and continued to do so at various points along the course for the rest of the day. Many, many thanks Lucinda. The punishing pace continued through Pacific Spirit Park to the turn-around and all the way back to Brockton Point. The first 50 km were completed in a little over 5:23. You can read Karl's full report here!

2007 Point Series. The Point Series began anew in 2007. Up-to-date standings are posted here. Read about how to collect points here. A new way you can garner points is by wearing your CFA t-shirt during a non-CFA event and posting the photo to prove it.

If you have any causes close to your heart and want to raise awareness and/or funds let us know. A number of CFA Event Hosts use their events as fund raisers. Be sure to consider the special section on the Club website that offers ideas on how to raise money for your favorite cause while hosting a free, CFA event.

BC Lung Association. Event Host Craig Moore uses his events to raise awareness and funds for the BC Lung Association.

Mary Leliveld Tri BC Fund. Mary was a friend and member of Club Fat Ass. The fund was established in her memory to help deserving athletes get to competitions they otherwise might not be able to race in.

PRPAWS (Powell River Parks and Wilderness Society). The boys who ran the Sunshine Coast Trail 180 in 2003 and 2004 vowed to help raise funds for PRPAWS, a society that aims to protect old growth forest in the Powell River area.

SPONSORS