December 2008 Newsletter

Pure Satisfaction: Sunday 14 December - North Vancouver, BC. 12km or 24km on slippery, wet, rooty, dark trails...the perfect way to start the busy Christmas season. Bring your bear/jingle bells and wear your Santa hat. Details here.

Photo right: trail conditions during the 2007 Pure Satisfaction were challenging to say the least

Photo left: Craig enjoying the views Galbraith Mountain Tour has to offer

Galbraith Mountain Tour. 20 December - Bellingham, WA. A run to the not so hidden falls on the dark side of Galbraith. This will be a group run. Prepare for the lack of stairs, boulders, roots and bears but with all the fun of the true single track. If we have clear weather there will be amazing views of Mt. Baker, San Juan Islands & the North Shore mountains of Vancouver. More details here.

Flash - Vancouver Christmas Fat Ass Run. 21 December - Vancouver, BC.  Great opportunity if you are training for the VNYDFA50K, if you procrastinated too long and didn't get into the VNYDFA50K, if you want to get an early start to losing some of all that weight you're going to put on over the holidays or if you signed up for a spring 100 miler and you need to get in some miles.  Same course, distance and start time than the Vancouver New Year's Day FA 50.  Free for members and non-members alike. Details and registration here.

Vancouver New Year's FA 50 Run. 1 January 2009 - Vancouver, BC, Canada. A 50 km resolution run to kick off the New Year on the right foot. Those who are more hung-over and those with resolutions they are not likely to keep can opt for a custom course of 1 to 49 km. More details here!

Photo right: The Coquitlam contigent of Club Fat Ass always is in good spirits during their annual Vancouver New Year's Day Fat Ass 50 tradition - that is of course assuming their leader, Pete, isn't bonking...

 

 

NEWS

2009 Membership Registration. Registration and Renewal for Club Fat Ass for 2009 is open!  Don't miss out on the special order no-stink, long-sleeve, 2009 collectors Club shirt... and be sure to kick the new year off on the right foot with a Club resolution run. 

2009 Club Garment. Did you know Club membership dues include a garment? Collectors take note... the 2009 Club t-shirt will be pale blue for women and navy blue for men.  It will be the same fabric and cut as the overwhelmingly popular 2008 "FatAssWear" long-sleeve garment that was custom-designed by CFA member Vanessa Fors and cut, sewn and screened in Vancouver, Canada.  As in previous years, we expect to have the new shirts ready for mail-out/pick-up toward the end of February. To make sure you get the limited edition 2009 Club colours, you must sign up before December 31st, as that's when the order goes in. Don't miss out, sign up now!

Photo right: Jess's latest submission to the 2008 Travelling Colours Contest.

CFA ON THE WEB




PAST EVENT RESULTS AND REPORTS

Flash - Foolish Gerbil 12 Hour Trail Run. Event Host - Karl Jensen. There were not as many participants as in the six hour version of this run.  I'm don't know if that was because of the ridiculously early start time, the weather or perhaps some of the runners in the previous version have simply concluded that running with Fools is not really an experience that they want to repeat.  It was a treat to have some out-of-town friends join us.  Van "Pigtails" Phan drove up in the morning from Maple Valley, south of Seattle.  For those of you who don't know Van, she is a phenomenally prolific marathon and ultra runner.  In 2006 she ran 53 marathons/ultras and won the 2006 Trail Runner Magazine Ultra Runner Series with 1462 points.  That was 561 points more than her nearest female competitor and 888 more than the nearest male.  In 2006 she also kicked my butt at the Lost Soles 100 Mile Race, taking first place in the women's division and fifth place overall.  She finished 33 minutes ahead of me, a humbling experience. Lorie Alexander and Barry Hopkins drove from Kelowna, risking their lives on the Coquihalla Highway to join us.  Both of their names appear frequently in Ultra race results.  Lorie recently completed two 100 miler races on consecutive weekends. Claudia Bullington did 43 K and qualified to become a Marathon Maniacs member.  She joins at least one other CFA member, Gilles Barbeau, in that distinction.  Being a Maniac beats being a Fool I suppose, although Gilles seems to be hedging his bets. Kirstin Ramage came out and ran 30 K in the morning and returned in the late afternoon to drag one Fool along for the last 20.5 K if his run.  Thanks Kirstin, I really appreciate your help. Thanks to all who braved the mud and somewhat cold and miserable weather.  Stay tuned for details of the next event in the Foolish Gerbil series, a 24 hour run on the weekend of January 17/18. Results here

Mike and Melissa's Fun Run. Event Host - Michael Wardas. Congratulations to all that came out for a wonderful day of camaraderie and running!  I'd like to thank Melissa and her daughter Justine for being our two 'un-official' aid stations; one at the Vancouver picnic area after the first climb and one at the LSCR.  They had chips, brownies and M & M's for those that wanted to stop long enough to partake. 36 starters today plyed the treacherous trails of the North shore, some on route some not!  The 'official' route is ~27km with 3,200 ft (975m) of elevation gained and lost.  The weather was wet most of the time with temperatures around 5-7 deg C and puddles-o-plenty on the trail.  We encountered 2 hiking entourages with 20+ members that made zigging and zagging through moving obstacles all the more challenging! I ran with Jeremy who ran extremely well which enabled us to challenge each other duelling it out down Ned's!  Of course Nevee the wonder dog accompanied me the whole way having a blast! 

Chris and Ran ended up ahead of me when I hit Bridle path and was surpised to see them in front of me.  I accused them of going the wrong way and they looked at me puzzled.  After the run we compared notes and it was me who went wrong!  I went up Mystery creek and should have gone up the Hyannis connector access trail!  There were many stories like that.  We run so many events in those woods that we get them all confused!  The Bean Around the world venue worked out well as we seemed to have enough room for everyone as people filtered in and out.  More here. 

Flash - Foolish Gerbil 6 Hour Trail Run. Event Host - Karl Jensen. It was great to see so many new faces at the start of the run.  I regret that I wasn’t able to run and chat with all of you.  It was especially nice to see an “old” face that has recently been missing in action.  Gilles has been out with sciatica and made his CFA comeback in style, running five big loops and one small one for a total of 51.5 K in 5:53.  Welcome back Gilles.  Kirsten came out intending to run just one or two loops, but did a bit of bonus distance on the first loop and then got connected with a couple of Fools.  She did a total of 52 K in 5:53.  Gilles and myself decided to do the second loop in reverse because we got tired of only seeing the backsides of the speedy kids: Chad, Ran and Rick.  The scenery didn't improve.  However, this was a learning experience because we discovered that doing the big loop counter-clockwise was more enjoyable. It seems that quite a number of people put in some bonus distance.  That was in most cases a result of the foolproof directions being somewhat vague for the section between the Camoson and the intersection of the Salish and Clinton trails.  We will fix that for the Twelve Hour version.  Our apologies to all.  Please read the motto. As an accountant I insist on accuracy, so I’ve added an extra 1 K to those who indicated that they did a bit extra but didn’t know the distance. Results here.

Go Deep. Event Host - Cheryl Johnson. Gotta love the Vancouver Fat Asses. In spite the rainy, cool weather, 27 runners showed up to run Go Deep and we enjoyed it.  Many people commented on the beautiful day and the beautiful course.  Adrian was the fastest finishing in 2 hours with Bill, Ran, Des and James close behind.  I'm surprised that very few people got lost.  Some did go off course but made their way back  - Jonathan, Claudia, Phil, and Michelle added a kilometer or two.  Several of us followed the time-honored Fat Ass tradition of customizing the course for a shorter run. Laddie completely customized the day by starting late.  Amazing to see Neil Ambrose there after finishing the H2H 100k just the weekend before....but the girls said he did do some whining about being tired or something.  Eric Zeller came all the way from Germany to run and set a good pace for Ean Jackson.  Eric won a Trail Runner subscription for coming the furthest. Thanks to Trail Runner, Kintec Footlabs and Kinesys who contributed such good draw prizes.  Especially thank you to Mosquito Creek Bar and Grill for the free beverage and a great lunch. Lastly, thanks to Dom Repeta for designing the course.  Full results, photos and some fun video footage from our German guest here!

CONTESTS

 

New Year's Resolution Contest. It's time to stop thinking and to start acting about your New Year's Resolutions!  We're again offering CFA members and anyone else who is interested a place where they can log their 2009 fitness resolutions. You can look at this as a goal-setting tool, as a way to keep yourself honest or as a contest to see how close you come to meeting your goals. More information at New Years Resolution Contest.

On a similar note, the 2008 New Years Resolution Contest is coming to an end... only 3 weeks to the end of the year!  This year's contestants are asked to look at their original resolutions and provide an update either as a blog post or as a comment on their original resolutions by December 20th.  You can check out any musings related to the contest here: http://www.clubfatass.com/blogs/new-years-resolutions-2008. The member who comes closest to their resolutions will win a pair of running shoes courtesy of our friends and sponsors at Kintec Footlabs.

Photo right: One of many contributions to the Travelling Colours Contest by Mudrunner - here seen scrambling up Black Tusk.

Photo Left: Colin at Tyax Lake sporting his "antique" red shirt. A contender for first place.

Photo right: Action Jackson and Graham from Kintec on a little detour to Goat Mountain

2008 Travelling Colours Contest. The winner of this popular contest will receive a full refund of his or her 2009 Club membership dues.  Pictures of your 2008 adventures wearing your Club shirt (any colour) can be posted to Flickr following the instructions here. All submissions to date are posted here.  Please feel free to comment on photos or add them to your Flickr faves.  The image recording most views/comments and faves (as determined by Flickr) will win this years contest.

 

 

2008 Point Series. Des is the run away leader and on track again to win the pair of shoes, Kintec Footlab is sponsoring for the winner of this contest. Second prize will be a combo of a tech shirt, running cap and waterbottle provided by the kind folks and business members of Club Fat Ass, AxisGear. Des is trailed  by Bill Dagg, Baldwin Lee, Ran Katzman,  Penny Jakobsen, Gord Thompson and Jess Bassil (and no, "Out of Action" Jackson and I do not qualify to win, but we like to play anyway.  Word has it that there is some last minute mud slinging and vying for photo, crew and referral points going on.  All requests for additional points need to be submitted by 20 December to qualify for this year.  

Up-to-date standings here. Read about how to collect points here.

Photo left: Action Jackson, Chris and Des sporting three generations of Club Shirts during a run on Gambier Island

CAUSES YOUR CLUB SUPPORTS

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 favourite cause while hosting a free CFA event.

Run for the Cure.  The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure is Canada's largest single day, volunteer-led fundraising event dedicated to raising funds for breast cancer research, education, and awareness programs.  If you would like to support one of your fellow members, please click here.

Easter Seals 24 Relay. The Easter Seals 24 Hour Relay is an annual community based fundraising event that challenges groups of people to run or walk Relay-style for 24 hours. Teams of runners and/or walkers made up of Corporate and Recreational groups collect individual pledges or organize team fundraising events to raise funds towards their collective team totals.

In 2008 CFA member, Glenn Pace, set our to run 100 miles during the 24 hour relay and raise funds for less fortunate children. Here the link to his fundraising page. Read here how it panned out. 

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 CFA. 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

CFA does not sell or otherwise distribute our member list.