Results - Spaghetti Trees
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2013 Spaghetti Trees Results
(well, 3, and then 4... ahem, Jackal, what time is it??)
Report: Spaghetti Trees 2013
We had a smaller group than previous years (probably because of Easter weekend, and silly ol' Vancouverites who are scared of taking ferries!) but those of us who ran had an AMAZING time. The weather was spectacularly spectacular, couldn't have been better. Sunny but not too hot... kept those Lighthouse beers nice & cool, anyway! [Thank you Lighthouse Brewing for sponsoring our run, the runners & volunteers were very happy about that!]
Carlos the Jackal & Stefan (a CFA newbie!) ran 8k to the start from 17 Mile Pub. They got to the start super early, and when Teagirl & her entourage arrived (husband, 7.5-month-old baby) Carlos somehow managed to convince them it was time to go RIGHT NOW even though it was actually 1/2 hour early! And unfortunately with Teagirl's baby brain, she didn't quite figure out the time problem until about 15 minutes later... So we took a 3-runner starter photo & headed out - but after a kilometre or so Teagirl & Stefan figured it out & made Jackal run back because Kirk (another CFA newbie!) was waiting for us at the start. And then Teagirl & Stefan decided to run back as well because they decided water was boring & wanted to run with some beer :) [disclaimer: no potential illegal consumption of beverages shall be associated with our club or our wonderful sponsors... not that there was any illegal consumption or anything...]
So we took another starter photo, with the 4 people who'd actually let us know they'd be running (despite some website difficulties...) & headed out again. This time, everything was going really well until Teagirl's baby brain struck again and she turned left instead of right at an important intersection, meaning we were doing the route backwards. Which was fine, except there was a surprise aid station (hooray! Placed by Teagirl's husband Brendan, accessed along with baby in offroad jogging stroller) meant to be reached at km 9ish but which we instead hit at km 4ish. That was ok with us though, we were ready for a break. And we were even able to point it out to another runner who happened to be in the right place at the right time & got to benefit from the water, bananas & oranges in the middle of the forest. We didn't share any beer though. Because we weren't drinking on the trail OF COURSE!
Kirk (who competed in Sailing in the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta & taught us about wind & currents as we ran along above the water) hadn't been doing a tonne of trail running lately, so thought he might just cut it short once we saw the ocean. But that Coast trail is just so gorgeous, we all kept running & did the entire short route together (backwards). Which according to Stefan's GPS is 14k (plus 2k extra for Carlos' out-&-back at the beginning). Took us all about 3ish hours - it's a looong 14k...
We saw beautiful vistas, scary copper mine shafts, an aircraft carrier, a few other runners & folks walking with dogs, and of course lots of Spaghetti Trees.
The post-run venue had to be changed from 17 Mile Pub to Stickleback restaurant in Sooke, because Teagirl's daughter is still a minor (for the next 18.5 years...) & the pub couldn't let her in. That was fine 'cause Stickleback is excellent! We look forward to another post-run gathering there in the future!
Stories were told, songs were sung, prizes were distributed, yummy food was eaten & yummy beer was drunk & then we headed out into the gorgeous sunshine to enjoy the rest of the long weekend.
We're already looking forward to next time :)
Here's some awesome video Carlos took with his nifty new toy! Please click the link below if the video doesn't work...
Your host: Teagirl Katie
Photos of the event can be uploaded to Flickr, added to the CFA Flickr group and tagged with SpaghettiTrees, SpaghettiTrees2013 ClubFatAssEvents ClubFatassEvents2013. Instructions on how to add them via Flickr are here. They will automatically be added to the slideshow linked below (coming soon):
Feedback: We welcome and encourage your feedback and comments via the comment form below. Please also take a moment to fill in this brief post event survey.
Thanks to Lighthouse Brewing for yummy beer; Stickleback West Coast Eatery for more yummy (Lighthouse!) beer, yummy food, a great location & super-helpful staff & TrailRunner mag for the two free subscriptions!
Results:
| Runner | Distance | Time | Points |
| Teagirl Katie (Katie Longworth) |
16ish km (short route backwards + Carlos' out-&-back) |
3h35min | 2 + 2** + 1* |
| The Jackal (Carlos Castillo) |
32ish km (from pub, short route backwards + Carlos' out-&-back, back to pub) |
4h20min | 2 |
| Stefan Lehmann |
24ish km (from pub, short route backwards + Carlos' out-&-back) |
4h27min | 1 |
| Kirk Westergaard | 14ish km (short route, backwards!) | 3h40min | 1 |
* Bonus Point for garbage collection
** Host Points
*** membership status
2011 Spaghetti Trees Results
(none of whom are looking at the correct camera... very appropriate to this event!)
(comment from teagirl's husband: WHAT THE HE** ARE YOU WEARING!? Sigh. Good grief. Can't let you out in public...)
Report:
Ah, the lovely sound of rain, rain, rain...
No way! Nuh-uh! Not on our Spaghetti Trees!!
East Sooke Regional Park worked its magic yet again with a brilliantly sunny day beginning about 10 minutes after the start time for Spaghetti Trees 2011. It drizzled in the morning (and on & off all day in Victoria & Vancouver!) but as soon as the clock struck noon and the Spaghettiers got going, Mr. Sun shone down on us on the south-west coast of Vancouver Island for hours & hours (...& hours...!).
One of our fearless leaders was unfortunately unable to come out this year because she had her hands all over the hot bodies of the national swim team - in a purely registered-massage-therapist clinical sense, of course! 
The two brave gals from Vancouver made it *just* in time from the 9am ferry. After some issues with self-timers & cameras, we managed to get at least one sort-of OK starter photo! We got going at 12:04; lucky Sibylle got to do an extra few hundred metres up & down & up again locating the dropped-in-the-parking-lot walkie-talkie, and then it was off to the races. Teagirl stayed behind to wait for a possible cyclist from Vancouver, WA (yikes, that's a long way to ride a bike!), and then she eventually gave up & snuck away to do her sneaky Spaghetti Trees trick-or-treating... 
The token male & his harem (!) (one of whom found out about Spag Trees in TrailRunner mag, then googled it & signed up! Hooray for print media & teh interwebs!) managed to find their way to the scary copper mines, past a "surprise" aid station & out to the stunningly beautiful open-ocean vistas. They soon learned that one of the most challenging things on this run (and there are many challenges on this run!!) is keeping your eyes on the trail when there is so much gosh-darn jaw-dropping beauty around every corner. The sunlight on the ocean, the sound of the crashing waves, the eagles, the ravens... not to mention, of course, the Spaghetti Trees!
The Vancouver gals didn't quite find their way, making up their own custom course, sort of backwards, sort of sideways; you know, whatever, man! They found the second surprise aid station just as it came into being & made good use of portable technology to take a picture of the "you are here" map-in-a-ziploc, then continued on toward the scary old (haunted??) fishing cabin.
Teagirl meandered through the sunlit forest, braving encounters with bulldozers, giant puddles & large (& very small) barking dogs. Plenty of time for a cup of tea & a purchase of frozen Galloping Goose sausages ("Boerewors" & "Loukanikos") for dinner from "Bill's Food & Feed" in the Middle Of Nowhere, East Sooke.
Eventually it felt like time to take down the aid stations... unfortunately, #2 was removed a bit prematurely so Jackal & The Gals didn't get any water, bananas, oranges, Mike & Ikes, Hershey's Caramel Kisses (mmm, caramel) or "chocolate-covered graham crunch thingies" before heading along the Interior & Babbington Hill trails back to Anderson Cove - but they were still laughing / crying about the hotly contested "stay STRAIGHT" instruction, and before they knew it they were barrelling down the last steep section of trail into the parking lot where hot tea (of course!) and more nibblies awaited them. Teagirl & Jackal finally made radio contact about 5 minutes before we all ended up in the same place...
We started to get cold pretty fast since the lovely sun was heading quickly lower in the west, so we stuffed our mouths, left a note for Sibylle & Pat (who had adamantly told us, "Don't wait for us"... we made a plan that if we hadn't heard *anything* from them by 6pm we'd alert the necessary authorities) & headed to the fantastic 17 Mile House Pub who had been holding a table for us for over an hour... oops! It's ok, it wasn't actually busy!
We had a great time chatting with our Antipodean waitress & getting to know the mostly new-to-CFA runners & their significant others who joined us at the pub. Wonderful beery & trail-runner-y prizes were distributed with much laughter (Kathleen's rendition of Cat Stevens' "Miles From Nowhere" & Elaine's "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers" stand out in my memory). Sibylle & Pat showed up just before 5p so we could rest easy knowing they were safe & on their way to catch the 7p ferry which apparently they did in plenty of time. The rest of us enjoyed yummy pub grub & pints of fresh ale before heading out into the sunshine... which, about 10 minutes later, turned into one of the heaviest downpours I have ever seen!
But that's how it goes at Spaghetti Trees...
Maybe next year you'll experience the magic too!? We look forward to seeing you there!
Check out Carlos the Jackal & Sibylle's videos of the event:
http://www.clubfatass.com/blog/carlos-castillo/spaghetti-trees-token-male
Your hosts:
Teagirl (Katie) & Lysanne (absentee hostess-avec-le-mostest)
Photos of the event can be uploaded to Flickr, added to the CFA Flickr group and tagged with SpaghettiTrees, SpaghettiTrees2011 ClubFatAssEvents ClubFatassEvents2011. Instructions on how to add them via Flickr are here. They will automatically be added to the slideshow linked below:
Feedback: We welcome and encourage your feedback and comments via the comment form below. Please also take a moment to fill in this brief post event survey.
Thanks to 17 Mile House Pub, Sooke for holding our table; TrailRunner mag for the two free subscriptions; The Jackal & Action Jackson for fueling teagirl's Need for Beer (p.s. it has been / will be shared with husbind CarGuy & Lysanne + Her Handsome Man); Frontrunners Victoria, The Running Room @ Millstream & Discovery Coffee, Oak Bay for hosting our lovely hand-drawn-on-construction-paper posters.
Results:
So, the GPS says the "Long Run" is 16km... but it does take a REALLY long time to run it... so we all kind of feel like it must be more. But then again, there is a LOT of up & down. So maybe it is "technically" only 16km. But seriously. This is a LONG run. A long, gorgeous, fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime if it's a spectacular sunny day in early spring, run...
Don't miss out!
| First Name | Last Name | City | Distance | Points | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elaine | Galbraith | Victoria | 20km | 2 | 3:52 | |||
| The | Jackal | Victoria | 20km | 2+1* | 3:52 | |||
| lisa | hoffner | victoria | 20km | 2 | 3:52 | |||
| Kathleen | Birney | Victoria | 20km | 2 | 3:52 | |||
| Katie | Longworth | Victoria | custom + tea break! | 2+2** | ||||
| Valerie | Bell | Victoria | 20km | 2 | 3:52 | |||
| Sibylle | Tinsel | North Vancouver | Creative Custom | 2+1* | 4:37 | |||
| Patricia | Barry | Vancouver | Creative Custom | 2 | 4:37 | |||
| Deana | (can't remember her last name right now!) | Vancouver, WA | 30km bike + Short Run | x | DNS | |||
* Bonus Point for garbage collection
** Host Points
*** membership status
Harvesting Spaghetti Trees
Pat and I were the only mainlanders following teagirl's call to harvest Spaghetti Trees in East Sooke Park this past Saturday. A shame really, as the scenery, trails and superb event hosting by Katie make this a must-do trip for any Fat Ass worth their trail shoes ;-)
The trip does require a bit of planning, but can comfortably done in a day. For me, it involved getting up at 5:00am to catch the 6:30 Seabus from the North Shore to downtown Vancouver, then on via the Canada Line Skytrain to Oakridge station, where Pat's blue Happy Car just pulled around the corner. I threw in my knapsack and we continued to catch the 9am ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island. If you plan to participate next year, you can safely leave a bit later.
The weather forecast had predicted a mix of sun and clouds, chance of rain and clearing in the afternoon. The skies were threatening, but we were hopeful that the clearing skies would coincide with our run. Just off the ferry, it started to rain...
It took us a little longer than 1h to find Anderson Cove in East Sooke Park. Katie's instructions on the website were stellar and we pulled into the parking lot with about 10min to spare (note to self, next year have everything ready in the running pack to avoid forgetting items or having them in wrong pockets). We quickly semi organized our packs and greeted the Victoria contingent of Club Fat Ass around Katie and Carlos. A nice bunch, I would have loved to chat a bit more with them, but we instructed Katie and Carlos, to not "chaperon" the turtle pacers, Pat and myself. Last year, Carlos ran with the mainlanders and guided us along the course, but this year, I didn't want to slow down any body and felt confident to find the trails. Pat and I were out to complete the course, not beat any speed records.
As on cue, the sun came out and off we went, climbing out of the parking lot through a mossy forest. We soon lost sight of the group around Carlos as we were still zipping up pockets and securing the wardrobe and packs... At the first intersection, I consulted the course description (where are my glasses), but at the second turn, I confidently veered left without looking at the written description. The trails was very wet and more like a river in long stretches. I mentioned to Pat, that I remembered the trail from the return trip last year. I also mentioned that I didn't remember running down this wet single track last year. As we should find out later, my memory served me right. We continued on the zig zagging trail. Pat was hoping to soon see the ocean, and I assured her that the approach to the ocean was a long one and we will first pass old copper mines.
Eventually, I started to doubt we were on the correct trail and when the next intersection did not line up with Katie's trail description my fears were confirmed. Time to dig out my reading glasses. We determined that we were running the route in reverse. Oops. Running time was 1:20 at this point and there was no way we would loop back. Decision was made to continue in reverse. To our surprise we ran into Katie just a couple of metres up the trail, setting up an aid station. Katie confirmed our suspicions, fed us some bananas and saw us off on our creative custom reverse course.
The trail started to descend towards cabin point. Did I smell salty air and ocean? As discussed with Katie, for time reasons, we opted to cut off the Babbington Hill loop and headed straight for cabin point and the shore line. Soon we caught glimpses of the ocean and greeted cabin point in the distance before continuing north west along a cliff high above the Pacific.
My heart sank when I saw the climb down the mossy rocks... I do not like heights and this was too open, steep and airy for my taste. Without Pat coaxing me down, I would have happily turned around and ran home ;-) Thanks Pat. Half way sliding down on my bum, we saw Carlos and his group climbing up towards us. I instructed them to stay where they were, as I couldn't possibly squeeze by a bunch of bodies on this exposed stretch. Everybody had a good laugh, and we congregated on a big rock for a group photo. Before parting, somebody mumbled something about another nasty, airy climb not to far further. No way, why did I not have any recollection of this from last year? Sure enough, I had a few more heart stopping moments descending towards the frothy ocean, but Pat's presence prevented me from turning around and bolting. How could I have said to her that the trail wasn't technical at all, just much longer than anticipated and lots of up and downs...selective memories for sure.
The views were marvelous. The sun was shining and the wind was whipping up huge thundering waves below us. Picture perfect weather for a run along this shore line. We saw a couple of mating cormorants and kept looking for whales (no such luck). We also came across a few large animal prints and disturbed, dug up, moss... hm, the only other human we saw was a lone hiker...
We passed the intersection for the short course and continued on the longer Coast Trail savouring the views. Katie had mentioned another short cut option, taking the first instead of the second turnoff on the Copper Mine Trail. Given that we were much slower than anticipated (and the ferry wouldn't wait), we cut off the last coastal section and said our goodbyes to the ocean.
The return trip let us through Spaghetti Tree forests and past a couple of old copper mines. More rivers to cross and wet trails to navigate, but lots of runnable terrain. We even came across another aid station set up by Katie complete with oranges, bananas and arrows on where to go. Nice.
We found a good rhythm for our last 5 or so km and happily greeted the car at the parking lot. Katie had left another note for us requesting a check in at the pub or a phone call - my yes, we wouldn't drive past the pub without saying Hi...too bad that we most likely would not have time for Burgers and some greasy fries. Sorry Islanders, we would have liked to share a pint and some trail stories with you. In the end, we probably could have stayed a bit longer as we arrived at the empty ferry terminal with 60min to spare.
To all mainlanders, you want to pencil this one into your calendar. It's doable in a day trip and if we organize a car pool in a mini van, the cost for the ferry comes down considerably.
Spaghetti Trees by the Token Male
This was my second running of the soon to be Spring "Classic".
Kate had managed to convince the weather Gods to shine on us.
I was running with four well prepared women, the nuclius of which was my Sunday long run group, plus one brave newbie to CFA and my group of "usual suspects".
Luckily we were all about the same pace so we could hang together well and there was little or no regrouping stops needed.
We did stop to see the old copper mine, the Island and ocean view at Iron Mine bay and we had a little wander around in the cabin at Cabin Point.
The trails had a fair amount of surface water, and in parts we were running either upstream or down stream.In one case we ran up and down the same stream as Elaine was taking the word "straight" to mean straight.... 'nuf said.
We all congrgated in the 17 mile House on the Sooke Rd. for beer food and prizes.
Yes prizes!
I was the First male finisher.(incidentally also the last " Long Course" finisher!)
Here is the link to my seven minute video of the event.
I think you will see that we took full advantage of our brief window of opportunity.(weather wise...)
ILTS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJpTyZ76XU0
2010 Spaghetti Trees Results
After an inauspicious day-before-the-run with the (first!?) Great Windstorm of 2010, 11 brave runners met up without trepidation to brave the always-wild trails of East Sooke Regional Park. Four of them had been up since 4am to carpool from Vancouver, catching the 1st ferry of the day and even managing to watch one of the heats of the Brown Cup at Elk Lake (THE springtime UBC / UVic rowing event) before booting it out to East Sooke. Another Vancouverite drove down from Nanaimo where he was spending the Easter weekend with his family - he took the morning ferry from Horseshoe Bay on the day of the storm and that was the last boat to leave West Vancouver all day! He just had to get to Spaghetti Trees...
We also had a few CFA newbies, who had a bit of trouble registering on the website but foresaw that the run was going to be a good one so they came out & joined in.
And it's a good thing they did! We had a very enthusiastic group at the start including (of course) the golden pig (who still remains formally nameless??). After visits to the outhouse, which one of our hosts had somehow falsely remembered as an actual flush toilet with running water (oops!) and assignments of walkie talkies to various members of the group (Channel 13, 3 - good numbers), we were off. Lysanne's pal Patty agreed to hang out near the parking lot & guard the loot cars. Unfortunately 2 registrants didn't make it to the start – did they get lost? It is a bit out-of-the-way...
Carlos the Jackal volunteered to sweep the 16k leaving the hosts free to run wild from the the start, joined by a speedy Doug McConnell who gave us a run for our money right up until he suddenly turned left and we realized he was doing the 12k (he actually ended up being the only one to do that route for reasons that will be explained below...). He finished close to an hour before anyone else and decided to head back up to Nanaimo - a good 2-hour drive each way! Thanks for coming out, Doug!
A surprise unmanned aid station greeted us a few km into the race with water, a map and Powerbar "goodies", then it was do-o-o-own the Coppermine trail past the creepy old mine entrances to the Coast trail.
Somewhere along the route we realized there are really no "flat" sections, you're either going up (or straight up!) or down (or straight down!) the whole time... which of course, for trail runners, is why we love it. One of the great challenges of this course is keeping your eyes on the trail when there are so many fantastic things to see... including the Spaghetti Trees! Somehow the whole carload of Vancouverites managed to miss them - they'll just have to come back next year & try again!
The weather cooperated swimmingly. After the crazy winds the day before we were concerned that the trails might be a bit more difficult to navigate than before, but while there were definitely a few more downed trees than a few weeks previous, it was all pretty much par for the course in this generally wind-swept land - there are so many ancient windfallen trees everywhere that it's hard to tell when the newer ones fell anyway...
Every so often the walkie-talkies would crackle, keeping the frontrunners in (sort of) communication with the sweep group. We had a great time after the run figuring out what we had actually been saying to one another as opposed to what we heard! Thankfully we didn't end up needing the walkie-talkies for any emergency situations, although we hope in that event we would be able to get the message across to “get to high ground, I really really need to talk to you”.
Teagirl was feeling slow after Cabin Point but Lysanne egged her on by singing silly songs (in direct contravention of Jackal's instructions at the start: “No singing on this run!”) and finding lots of Easter Bunny tails that looked suspiciously like moss.
Elaine & Fergus were steadily motoring along, then “decided” that 16k was just not enough and added a little extra out-&-back to their run – after this they (literally?!) ran into the Jackal's sweep group consisting of everyone else.
Jackal had not-quite-on-purpose managed to prevent anyone in his group from running the 12k (even though many of them had planned to do so!) by saying “No, no, that's not where you turn to do the short route, we just keep on going along here...”; but everyone was quite happy at the end that they did they whole thing.
The Vancouverite Vanpool-of-Fun crazies took about 22 million photos which will be posted to Flickr for all to enjoy.
The rain that had been threatening all day held off until everyone made it back to the parking lot (this actually happens every time the hosts run here; it's as if there's a special signal - “my run is finished, it's ok to rain now!”) where we piled into cars & headed for 17 Mile House pub with the exception of Fergus who had 7 missed calls on his phone... apparently his family hadn't realized the run would take ALL afternoon! So he & Linda headed off to assuage the concerns.
While we drank good beer & ate really good pub grub, prizes were handed out for “best never-done-a-CFA-run-before story” (Elaine), “best performance of the song that was going through your head during the whole run” (Claudia & Reagan), “super-excellent-fantastic sportsmanpersonship” (Carlos the Jackal & Lysanne), “best guarding of cars EVER” (Patty) and “best organizing & implementation of a vanpool from the Lower Mainland” (Kat & Sibylle). Prizes included run-y stuff from Trailrunner mag, Asics, Brooks & Sugoi AND beverages from fantastic Victoria craft breweries Phillips, Swan's & Canoe (the bevvies weren't donated but the brewers deserve props for creating these works of art... we'll work on getting them donated for next year!).
The vanpool had to rush off to catch their 9pm ferry and the islanders stuck around just a little while longer before braving the rainy, windy (and windy... make those 2 words sound different so you understand the meanings!) road back from Sooke to the “real” world. A rather successful day indeed.
If you still haven't seen a Spaghetti Tree, you'll just have to do it again (or come do it for the first time) next year!
Your hosts:
teagirl (Katie) & Lysanne
Photos of the event can be uploaded to Flickr, added to the CFA Flickr group and tagged with SpaghettiTrees, SpaghettiTrees2010 ClubFatAssEvents ClubFatassEvents2010. They will automatically be added to the slideshow linked here: ccc
Video: Jackal not only guided the city boys and girls expertly, he also produced a video in record time. Sibylle says hers is in the making...
Feedback: We welcome and encourage your feedback and comments via the comment form below. Please also take a moment to fill in this brief post event survey.
Results:
| First Name | Last Name | Points | Event | Time |
| Doug | McConnell | 2 | 12km | 02:05 |
| Lysanne | Lavigne | 4* ** | 16km | 02:51 |
| Katie | Longworth | 4* ** | 16km | 02:56 |
| Reagan | White | 3* | 16km | 03:39 |
| Carlos | the Jackal | 3* | 16km | 03:40 |
| Kathryn | Webb | 3* | 16km | 03:40 |
| Sibylle | Tinsel | 3* | 16km | 03:40 |
| Claudia | Bullington | 3* | 16km | 03:41 |
| Linda | Tyrrell | 2 | 16km | 03:41 |
| Fergus | M | 2 | ~16km | 03:41 |
| Elaine | Galbraith | 2 | ~16km | 03:41 |
| Patty | 1 | car guard! | ||
| Tanya | Berg | -1 | DNS | |
| Kristy | Hillen | -1 | DNS |
* Bonus Point for garbage collection
** Shared Event Host Points
*** membership status