2009 - Year 16 - Vancouver New Year's Day Fat Ass 50 Run and Freeze Your Fat Ass Swim - Results

 
78 total starters - 37 ran 50K
 

We live in interesting times.  What an interesting day it was for our little Club resolution run.  We were served-up a smorgasbord of winter conditions:  snow, sleet, rain, wind, ice, slush, mud, puddles, all with a little blowdown thrown in for good measure.  Given that the snow was deeper than at any time during the run's history, let's call the 2009 run "The Year of the Big Snow."

Snowed-in driveways, icy roads and hangovers aside, a near record number of fat asses made it to the start.  We had representatives from as far away as Toronto, Prince George and Vernon including an enthusiastic mob of 18 from snowed-in suburban Coquitlam.  Despite the frozen pens and wet sign-in sheets, we managed to start skating down the trails of Stanley Park promptly at 9.  (Hey Vernon, where were 'ya?)

The running may have been less sure-footed than normal as we traversed Stanley Park, but the snow and ice gave the park a surreal beauty.  Funny, too, how something so familiar looks so different when blanketed in snow.  Ask Baldwin, Chad and Ellie how they earned a few bonus k's by missing the turn to Second Beach! 

I've been injured on and off so long, I'm becoming quite creative at finding the positive in not being able to hang with the big dogs in our Club runs.  First, I get to set records for the shortest "custom" distance run in my own event.  Second, I get to see a wider cross section of friends and their families and offer them encouragement in my event.  Third, I get to take a lot of pictures and try my hand at making a movie... so be sure to check the links below (as soon as they are available) to see if I managed to capture you in a moment of glory.

After checking in with runners along the way, I stopped at the Kintec aid station at Spanish Banks.  Eight runners had managed to beat me there... very impressive given the conditions.  Kristin and Graham were trying to stay warm against the icy wind off the ocean by pampering passing runners with goodies and encouragement.  Who was the gentleman who brought the muffins and big coffee container full of hot soup?

The turnaround at Camosun and SW Marine was busy with family and friends out to cheer their runners on.  While shuffling from one foot to the other to stay warm, I was entertained by trying to guess which of Bradley's 3 kids would be first to fall into the icy mud puddle.  Then came the Coquitlam Crew.  It was an instant party!

Fishtailing down an icy Point Grey Road, heater on high with a car full of soaked runners, we shouted encouragement to the 50K runners who still had a good 20K ahead of them.  Although we were back to the start by shortly after 1:00, Ryne Melcher had beat us and was already cracking his first celebratory ale after completing his 127th ultramarathon. 

In between triumphant runners who stopped briefly to kiss the fire hydrant before heading off to the beach for a brisk dip, 4 of Vancouver's finest stopped by followed by a paddy wagon.  Oh, oh... did one of our number rob a bank while out on the course?  Was it the howling of the security alarm at the showers?  (Honest, ossifer, I have a key!)  No, "Just on our break," quoth the gendarme who, after we got to chatting, implied that he'd be signing up for our little New Years day run/swim challenge in 2010.

Speaking of the showers, how much hot water was there when you got there?  Claiming to have set the record at 45 minutes last year, Gary Robbins took another run at improving his "longest under the shower" record in 2009.  Not sure if he set a new record, but there was apparently quite a number of contestants in the mens' facilities this year.   What goes on the trails, stays on the trails...

As always, the Mosquito Creek Grill hosted our motley post-event party in fine style by offering all finishers and crew a cool, craft ale and some warm "real" food.  With thanks to Norco and Kintec, everyone who showed up also received a prize for their particular accomplishment.  

On behalf of the Club, Sibylle also announced the 2008 Club recognition awards.  Congrats to:

  • Baldwin Lee, who won a pair of shoes from Kintec for achieving 91% of his 2008 New Years Resolutions
  • Desmond Mott, who won a pair of shoes from Kintec for getting the highest score in the 2008 Club Points contest (he participated in and astounding 16 CFA events in 2008 and got bonus points for picking up trash at most of them.)
  • Lucina Iglesias, who won a refund of her 2009 Club membership dues for obtaining the greatest number of votes for her photo in the travelling t-shirt contest and
  • Dom Repta who won a jam tart for signing up, but not showing up, to the most Club events in 2008.

Whatever the distance you ran today, my sincerest congrats to you... and I hope that you achieve all of your New Years resolutions!

Ean Jackson
Your Club Fat Ass Event Host

Photos can be posted to Flickr, added to the CFA Flickr group and tagged with VancouverNewYearsDayFatAss50 VancouverNewYearsDayFatAss502008 VancouverNewYearsDayFatAss ClubFatAssEvents

Photos posted so far are displayed in a slide-show here.

Video:



Post Event Survey. Please give us your feedback via this brief survey:

http://www.clubfatass.com/events/VancouverNewYear/posteventsurvey

Results
*      bonus point (garbage point/good sportsmanship)
**     Event Host Point
***   Membership status needs to be updated at www.clubfatass.com/join
**** crew point

 

First Name Last Name Event Points Time
Ryne Melcher 50km 2 4:12
David Papineau 50km 2 4:17
Gary Robbins 50km 2 4:27
Ellie Greenwood 50km + 2 4:42
Tim Wiens 50km 2 4:46
Mike Palichuk 50km 2 4:49
Ran Katzman 50km 2 5:13
Bob Hermanutz 50km 2 5:38
Jackie Muir 50km 2 5:42
scott donatelli 50km 2 6:02
glenn pace 50km 2 6:03
Matt Sessions 50km 2 6:03
ken legg 50km 2 6:10
David Crerar 50km 2 6:15
steven lee 50km 2 6:15
Lara Seguin 50km 2 6:17
warren laird 50km 2 6:17
Gilles Barbeau 50km 2 6:33
Kirsten Ramage 50km 2 6:33
Sarah Konefal 50km 2 6:34
Claudia Bullington 50km 2 6:35
Mark MacRae 50km 2 6:37
Angela Spooner 50km 2 6:37
Rhonda Gallant 50km 2 6:37
David Kam 50km 2 6:37
Peter Stace-Smith 50km 2 6:37
Debbie Suzuki 50km 2 6:37
Phil Kong 50km 2 6:37
Lorie Alexander 50km 1 6:57
Barry Hopkins 50km 1 6:57
Sharon Skitch 50km 2  7:15
Hardial  Athwal 50km 2 7:15
Keith Nichol 50km 3* 7:15
Michael Grosso  50km 2 ?
         
Gottfried Grosser 25km 1 2:40
Benni The Ultradog 25km    2:40
Bradley Jones 25km 2 3:01
Tim Hill 25km 2 3:11
Rick Arikado 25km 3* 3:15
Dan Daoust 25km 2 3:25
Donna Smood 25km 1 3:25
Susan MacRae 25km 2 3:25
Ron Adams 25km 2 3:32
Deirdre Arscott 25km  2 5:22
Susan Barr 25km 2 5:22
Edward Mills 25km 2 ?
         
Chad Hyson custom - 46km 2 6:10
John Neels custom - 40km 2 4:26
Simon Driver custom - 40km 1 ?
monica foell custom - 43km 2 6:30
Ryan Conroy Custom - 36km 2 3:40
Pete van Gaalen custom - 36km 2 4:05
Rob Ruff custom - 35km 2 3:50
Philip Waters custom - 35km 2 4:50
susan reynolds custom - 30km 2 2:55
Baldwin Lee Custom - 30km 2 3:44
Terry Bushnell custom - 30km 1*** ?
Sukhi Pawa custom - 22km 1 2:22
Eric  Stacey custom - 23.8km 1 3:13
Celina Coombs custom - 23.8km 1 3:3
Carie Moran custom - 20km 3* 2:10
Sarah Weinkam custom - 20km 2 2:10
Lori Clerkson custom - 20km 2 2:10
Steven Lowe custom -20km 3* 2:10
Penny Jakobsen custom - 18km 2 1:54
Lara Taylor custom - 18km 2 2:30
Sibylle Tinsel custom - 18km 3* 2:30
Janice Vallis custom - 18km 3* 2:30
desmond mott custom - 17km 3* 1:45
Craig Moore custom 3* 2:30
Graham Archer custom - 4km/crew 2**** 0:30
Ean Jackson custom - 4km 4*   ** 0:30
Kristin   crew 1**** 0:30
Chris Benn Custom 2 ?
Maureen  Forrestal custom 2 ?
Mark Gilbert custom 1 ?
Reg Hornsby custom 2 ?
John  Machray custom 2 ?
         
Dave Berg DNS 0 ?
Sian Echard DNS 0 ?
Sean Lavin DNS 0 ?
Don Phillips DNS 0 ?
Perneet Sekhon DNS 0*** ?
Shannon Shum DNS 0 ?
Donald Smith DNS 0 ?
Marguerite  Stolar DNS 0 ?
Katherine Thomas DNS 0 ?
Michele Mitchell DNS 0 ?
carol mulder DNS 0 ?
Laddie Hannam DNS 0 ?