September 2007 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Members of Club Fat Ass,

There's a nip in the air and night is falling a lot earlier. On the West Coast, summer came late and that was just fine with everyone who participated in the full slate of Club events this past month.

The upgrade of our online clubhouse (the website) to Drupal 5.1 and the move to another server went well. I trust that you were not inconvenienced during the short time that you couldn't share your adventures.

We are now looking into streamlining how we distribute this newsletter, the layout of the website, and registration, as well as how we might implement the other updates you asked for in the annual membership survey last spring. It's a big project, but once done, I think you will appreciate the changes.

We have a lot of plans for 2008 as well. If you could spare a few hours a week, please consider playing a role in the management of the Club. The annual Steering Committee mixer is today. If you can join us, contact me.

Happy Trails,

Sibylle Tinsel
Chief Executive Fat Ass

Flash - Howe Sound Crest Trail: 29 September 2007 - West Vancouver, BC. Come out and join Berglind on a group run of the Howe Sound Crest Trail. This trail is approximately 37 km long and has it all - steep scrambles, some light bushwhacking, beautiful alpine meadows, a short but exposed traverse, amazing views in all directions, technical sections, fast and smooth downhills, fixed ropes . . . in short, it adds up to an awesome day of fun and adventure!! Check it out here!

Photo left: The Lions on the Howe Sound Crest Trail

Ann's Get your Fat Ass Off the Couch: 20 October 2007 - North Vancouver, BC. A fun run on winding trails and backroads of lower Seymour Mountain. Two distance options, the "Old Chesterfield" 20 km or the "Cushy Couch" 10 km. Enjoy the fall atmosphere in a temperate rain forest. More info and registration here.

Flash - R2R2R Road Trip: Date TBD - Colorado, USA. A road trip to run the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim. This run is currently in the planning stages and tentatively scheduled for early October. Express your interest and take part in the planning here, or better yet, participate in the planning session over a cool one with Geoff and Ean.

Photo right: Enjoying the trails at Wendy's Get Your Fat Ass off the Couch in 2006

Go Home: 17 November 2007 - North Vancouver, BC. Challenging but beautiful 20 km course on lower Seymour Mountain. Register here.

Mike and Melissa's Fun Run: 24 November 2007 - North Vancouver, BC. A late fall challenge not to be missed. Check it out here.

2008 Club Garment. Sourcing, pricing and ordering our Club garment is one of the big stresses in my life. The fear, uncertainty and doubt has its roots in the fateful year of the red t-shirt when a whole batch was delivered in the wrong sizes, then screen-printed with only half of the text, then burnt when rescreened. What a disaster! (Hopefully, you didn't even notice.)

We would like to see our 2008 garment be environmentally friendly and maybe even "no stink." Rachel Nelson and Vanessa Fors have been busily helping me behind the scenes evaluating organic cotton shirts and an interesting fabric called Chitosante. The ideal garment supplier is local, offers eco-friendly technical shirts and best of all would be open to a sponsorship of the Club. Any suggestions and hot leads are very welcome.

2008 Membership Registration (Yikes!). Club membership registration for 2008 will begin in October (you will get an email reminder). New members get 15 months of Club Fat Ass events to choose from. Renewing Fat Asses, don't forget to sign up before the end of December, or you will miss the opportunity to get the new t-shirt. To encourage the procrastinators amongst us, we will include all 2008 members registered before December 1st in a draw for a refund of their membership dues.

Please also plan ahead for a membership fee increase, which received broad support in the survey earlier in the summer. Fees will be $75 (with t-shirt) and $50 (without t-shirt) . . . and you will want the shirt! With over 40 events and growing, that translates into less than $2 per event. All Club events will continue to be free for members.

Free 2008 memberships. Just a reminder that all Event Hosts of scheduled events in 2007 will automatically receive a complimentary 2008 membership in Club Fat Ass. If you decide to host a scheduled event between now and December 31st, you can still get in on this deal! A big thank you to our Club Event Hosts for putting back into the community by hosting free events.

Promoting your Club. We would love your help in promoting the Club in person and online. The easiest ways to achieve this are, of course, to wear your Club t-shirt and tell your friends. Another is to provide a link to our website on your blog or website. We also have a nice brochure we'd like to get into race packets, community centers and running stores. Please contact me if you would like some brochures to distribute.

ADMINISTRIVIA

Website Update from the Technology Committee: Both our website upgrade to Drupal 5.1 and our move to another server has been relatively smooth. There was no downtime and a very short period when no new content could be added. We are now looking into streamlining the different databases for the newsletter, membership and surveys - kind of a big hairy project, but once done it should make things a lot less time consuming for me and more logical for you.

Photo Uploading. Given that a lot of people post their photos to different websites or blogs, we opted to keep Flickr as our tool of choice for sharing photos in our online clubhouse. It's simple; It's neat! In order to share your photos online, all you need is a digital camera and the simple instructions outlined here.

CLUB FAT ASS ON THE WEB

PAST EVENT RESULTS AND REPORTS

The logistics were a bit overwhelming at times, but in the end a hardy group of 5 runners and 2 drivers made their way to the trailhead. Read about their adventure here (scroll down to see the blog posts and comments for this event).

Photo left: Colin and Geoff preparing for a cable car crossing in the Stein Valley

Mountain Highway Madness: Event Host - Ean Jackson.

I confess, after attending a neighbor's annual "End of Summer" garden party until the wee hours leading up to the run, I felt ripped off by the less-than-ideal weather and the fact that summer had been declared over. As I drove to the start of the 4th annual

Mountain Highway Madness, I was greeted with a spectacular view of Mt. Baker on a backdrop of sunny, cloudless skies. Maybe summer was a bit late this year? What a great day to be outdoors! Read more here.

Photo right: Carolyn and Cheryl during this year's Fall Mountain Highway Madness

Sunshine in September: Event Host - Berglind Hafsteinsdottir.

The Sunshine Coast lived up to its name as we were greeted with nothing but glorious sunshine for the inaugral running of the Sunshine in September event. Sibylle, Craig and myself headed out on what can only be described as a stunning day.

Photo below right: Berglind, Sibylle and Craig commuting to the start of Sunshine In September

We met at the church on Taylor Way, and, after sampling some of Craig's fresh homebaked choc-chip cookies (yum!), loaded into Craig's car for the quick drive to Horseshoe Bay. We were pleasantly suprised to find out that today was Faresaver day on BC Ferries - half price fares for everyone!!! - we paid our mere $5.40 for a return ticket, hopped on, sat back and enjoyed the views on the very short ride across to Langdale.

As expected, the trail was in perfect condition and we ran along enjoying our surroundings. We didn't come across another soul all day and the opportunities to pick up trash were really few and far between.

Reaching the clear-cut at almost 10 km offered us the chance to take in the views down to Roberts Creek and across to Vancouver Island. Sibylle turned around at the 10 km mark while Craig and I, after some quick calculations, decided we had enough time to complete the extra 6 km loop and get down to catch the 12.20 pm ferry. The additional distance was great - especially blasting down Red Baron trail - but time was of the essence and thankfully it was practically all downhill. We reached the terminal with less then 10 minutes to spare.

Read Sibylle's blog about the run here.

Photo left: Cheryl heading up the scree field on the BP during the Nelson Creek to Cleveland Dam Run

The Fat Ass Eastern Alliance was well-represented in the 19 fresh, frisky runners at the start of the 2007 Go Deep or Go Home event. The day started cool and overcast, as predicted, with rain holding off until well after the beers at Mosquito Creek had been downed. The dry trails kept the Deep Cove Baden-Powell and Ned’s interesting.

Curb, Geoff, Rob and Desmond, had a fast first loop. Great job guys.

Photo right: Lorraine navigating "Dirty Diapers" during the Go Deep

We were joined by visitor Sebastian, fresh off his plane from Montreal late the night before and wondering if there would be rocks on the course. Seems Sebastian runs roads and had never run 20 km before. Kudos to Monty for keeping Sebastian on-trail and under 3 hours. That was a flying finish! Awesome job, also, for Arlene and Cynnimon who have now got the route nailed.

Lorraine took the Purple Heart, not for the cracking sound of her ankle, but for the trail-rash on her knee. Seems she had a dust-up on dusty Ned’s.

Soon-to-be birthday girl Carolyn and entourage of the running-accomplished Maple Ridge FA’ers used the run as a kick-off for a party-hard day.

Awesome day. Mellow, mellow, good vibes and karma. Many thanks to Arlene and Kinesys for the prizes and to Mosquito Creek Bar & Grill for the après-run beer! Full results are posted here.

Speaker Night - Injury Prevention: Event Hosts - Kintec and Club Fat Ass.

A fun run in the jungle followed by pizza. Thanks to Graham Archer at Kintec who provided a very informative evening talking about injury prevention for runners. Did you know that Kintec provides you with a free gait analysis when you come in to buy shoes?

Capilano Canyon Night Run (A Midsummer Night's Dream): Event Hosts - Ean Jackson and Sibylle Tinsel.

What a wonderful evening it was: The rains held off, nobody got lost, no injuries drew blood and the party lasted until 5:00 am!

The event started early when a faint voice from the backyard drifted to our dinner table questioning, "is there a run here tonight?" I almost said, "yes, but you are 2 hours early!" Turns out, the two early birds from London, Ontario arrived in Seattle the day before and hoped to squeeze in a race before heading to Ironman Canada. A quick Web search got them to the Club Fat Ass website and Google maps guided them non-stop from Seattle to the yellow house on Fairmont Road and the start line of the Capilano Canyon night run. Read on here.

Photo above right: The start of the Capilano Canyon Night Run
Photo right: Petting Llamas during the Monty

The Full Monty: Event Host - Carlos Castillo.

Big thanks to the support team of Gillian's parents and boyfriend Erin, for manning the turnaround, tending to Ludo and lending Stefan a watch (he doesn't own one!) and for lending Jennifer the shirt off his back as hers was unsuitable for a 50K (chafing issues with hydration straps). Also a big thank you to David Dennis for driving Ludo for an X-ray and driving his bike home for him. Great day great people. ILTS! Full results here.

2007 Point Series. Sibylle, Ean, Des Craig and Baldwin are in the top 5, but Ryan and Cheryl are in hot pursuit. Don't forget to pre-register, pick-up litter during the event and refer your running buddies to CFA to maximize your chance of winning. Up-to-date standings are posted here. Read about how to collect points here.

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

For information on how to become a sponsor please go to http://www.clubfatass.com/business-memberships

Please visit the Club Fat Ass store to find cool merchandise with the happy porker logo.