October 2009 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Members of Club Fat Ass,

No doubt about it. It's fall again. The air is crisp, there has been some white stuff in the higher regions and for most of us, our best races of the year are behind us. Time to start thinking about (gulp!) what we want to accomplish in 2010.

Yes, that means it's also time to get off your fattening behind and join or renew with CFA for the upcoming year.

Great news for renewing members: Your annual Club membership dues won't change and the number and variety of Club events continues to grow.

Great news if you're thinking about joining: New members get 14 months of CFA events to enjoy.

Scared of being called a FA and need a gentle kick-in-the-behind before you join? Take advantage of the free trial membership for Ann's Get Your FA Off The Couch run on Saturday 17 October. Ann's event has beautiful 10K and 20K trail loops and there's a free beer at the finisher party. Tell a friend and pass it on...

Be sure sign up before the end of December so you don't miss getting the hot new long-sleeve, no stink, Club t-shirt. Everyone who registers between now and the end of November also gets included in a draw for a refund of their dues, so sign up now!

Don't miss the Adventure Slideshow 4 November at Kintec Footlabs in North Vancouver. This is our big annual Club social event and a warm-up for Christmas party season. Catch up on the adventures of your fellow members, plan your adventures for the upcoming year or just kick back and eat some munchies while fellow members share stories and photos about their adventures during the Bagger Challenge. The event is free and open to all, but please register.

Lastly, please join us for our November Steering Committee meeting. We need your help to manage and improve your Club! Details below.

Happy Trails,

Sibylle Tinsel
Chief Executive Fat Ass

Bagger Challenge 2009 July 1 - October 22, BC, Canada. Only a few days of baggage left! Competition has been intense, but with snow on the higher peaks, the baggery is descending while excitement for the Bagger's Banquet and award of the coveted quaich are climbing. Find out more here.

Photo left: Wendy Montgomery happily bags Little Crown Mountain (Peak #4) on a recent peak bagging blitz

Photo right: Pamela Keck negotiating the trails during last years Get Your Fat Ass Off The Couch

Ann's Get your FA Off the Couch: 17 October - 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. Trial membership available. More info and registration here.

Seawall 100: 24 October - West Vancouver, BC. An urban 100 miler, mostly on the Seawall path from Dundarave Park in North Vancouver to UBC. Enjoy an ultramarathon challenge with minimal concerns about wild beasts, altitude or elevation gain. Could definitively be described as the easiest 100 miler in North America if there is such a thing as an easy 100 mile run. Custom distances of 25-50-75 miles. Find out what else run100widow and her hilarious husband have up their sleeve here.

Adventure Slideshow: 4 November - North Vancouver, BC. Join us and our friends and sponsors at Kintec for a social wrap up to the year. The evening will start with images from our 2009 events, munchies and the opportunity to mix and mingle. Slideshows and presentations of recent self propelled adventures, including the Baggers Challenge will be the highlights of the night. If you would like to contribute with a story and/or photos please contact Sibylle. This evening is free for members and non-members of CFA, but please be sure to preregister.

Photo right: Paul Cubbon reaching for Hat Peak on the Howe Sound Crest Trail

CFA - Steering Committee Mixer: 5 November - North Vancouver, BC. Please join us Thursday, November 5th at 19:30 in North Vancouver for a Steering Committee Mixer. We'll talk about plans for next year and you'll have the opportunity to ask questions about the roles of the different Steering Committees. Please drop me a line if you can attend the evening.

We need you! Join the Club Steering Committee and help improve your Club. We are especially looking for an enthusiastic person to chair the Membership and Event Host committees, some help with media relations and marketing promotions (any tweeters out there?) and the Sponsorship committee.

Flash - Coldstream Chilly Willy 100: 7/8 November - Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park, Vernon, BC. Lorie dares you to run all night long under an almost full moon just after Halloween around a haunted lake! 100 miles or custom distances - pick your poison. Find out more here.

Flash - The Silly Chilly Triathlon: 11 November - North Vancouver, BC. A triathlon with a spicy twist. Do one, two or all all three disciplines. Family friendly. Check out what's involved here. Because the last leg of the tri is held in our kitchen, space is limited and we ask that all pre-register. Don't miss out.

Go Deep: 14 November - North Vancouver, BC. Challenging but beautiful 20 km course on lower Seymour Mountain. Register her e.

Seymour Super Fun Run: 28 November - North Vancouver, BC. A late fall challenge not to be missed. Check it out here.

Photo right: Jess Bassil negotiating the tricky trail at Mystery Falls during a previous Go Deep adventure.

Photo left: Arthur Chat Gee keeps his ears warm with this funky hat on a wintery Baden Powell Trail

Pure Satisfaction: 13 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 and jingle bells and wear your Santa hat. Details here.

Galbraith Mountain Tour. 19 December - Bellingham, WA. A 20 or 5.8 mile trail run of the Lake Padden & Galbraith Mountain trail systems. 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 Northshore mountains of Vancouver. More details here.

2010 Membership Registration (Yikes!). Club membership registration for 2010 is now open. Yes, that means it's time to get off your fattening behind and join or renew with CFA for the upcoming year.

Great news for renewing members: Your annual Club membership dues won't change and the number and variety of Club events continues to grow.

Great news if you're thinking about joining: New members get 14 months of free CFA events to enjoy.

Scared of being called a FA and need a gentle kick-in-the-behind before you join? Take advantage of the free trial membership for Anne's Get Your FA Off The Couch run on Saturday 17 October. Anne has beautiful 10K and 20K trail loops and there's a free beer at the finisher party. Tell a friend and pass it on...

Subscriptions. Ever wondered how to set and fine tune your subscriptions for notifications when there are updates to the Club Fat Ass website? Log in and go to your account page, look for the "Subscription" tab and click on it. From there you can set your default subscription settings for different content types like blogs, events and forum topics. Note that you can override these settings for each individual post. Just look for the subscribe/unsubscribe link at the bottom of most posts.

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.

North Shore Rescue. NSR is a volunteer Mountain Search and Rescue Team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The team consists of approximately 40 volunteers skilled in search and rescue operations in mountain, canyon and urban settings. A few of our members are also NSR members. We'd like to continue our record of not using their services and rather help with their promotion of back country safety. NSR depending on your donations... consider a few bucks donated as a life insurance policy for yourself or a loved one!

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.

CFA member, Glenn Pace, again ran the 24 hour relay (this time he completed 110 Miles) to raise funds for less fortunate children. Here the link to his fundraising page. Read about his 2008 adventure here.

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. You can help, too, by participating in the Marathon Shuffle.

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