Registration - Flash - 5Peaks Golden Ears Warm-Up

Thank you for registering online and in advance.

This is a Club Fat Ass (CFA) event, so we adhere to CFA event management guidelines and privacy policy. Please complete the whole form. Your personal information is needed to make sure I spell your name right in the results and so I can contact you... or your next of kin! The other information helps me to plan any aid or post-event activities. Please help me to host a safer, better event by registering early and by notifying me if you can't make it. I'm constantly looking for ways to improve, so please share your thoughts or questions with me in the Suggestion Box below. After you click on "Yes, I agree" below, your registration details will be confirmed.

Your Club Fat Ass Flash Event Host

Registration - Flash - Squamish Warm-Up

Thank you for registering online and in advance.

This is a Club Fat Ass (CFA) event, so we adhere to CFA event management guidelines and privacy policy. Please complete the whole form. Your personal information is needed to make sure I spell your name right in the results and so I can contact you... or your next of kin! The other information helps me to plan any aid or post-event activities. Please help me to host a safer, better event by registering early and by notifying me if you can't make it. I'm constantly looking for ways to improve, so please share your thoughts or questions with me in the Suggestion Box below. After you click on "Yes, I agree" below, your registration details will be confirmed.

Your Club Fat Ass Flash Event Host

2010 5Peaks Burnaby Mountain Warm Up - Results

Starter Photo: May 22, 2010 - 21 Starters

Report - We had a nice cool day for a group run on top of Burnaby Mountain. In fact it was only about 8C with a breeze that lacked the warmth of the previous few days when temperatures where up to double that. I for one kept my sweatshirt on until we started to run.

Starting in parking lot C was the right place to be for access to the race day course, but, as many of us hadn't been there before it was a little fun to find. Slowly everyone trickled in after driving in circles a bit and making phone calls to help locate the lot. Then we had the challenge of buying a parking ticket to steer clear of the campus security forces that I saw driving around. Actually, that was a nice way for some of us to get a little warm up run because the ticket meter was quite a distance from the area where we parked (it was $3.25 per hour or $6.50 for the day).

A quick survey at the start showed us there was a good balance between first timers and veterans to the course and also several Club Fat Ass members to share in the fun. We headed out a few minutes after 9:00 am and quickly split into small groups. Once we got into the trees, we found the first part of the trail is an exciting and very twisty downhill before coming out much lower on the hill at the Power Line Trail. Janice and I were carefully corralling the rear of the group while Debra and John were happily keeping us company.

John and I stuck to the shorter Sport Course after seeing Janice and Debra circle around for the second loop of the Enduro Course. And that meant we got to experience the thrill of Cardiac Trail before everyone else. There wasn't a lot of talking up there as John steamed ahead of me. And eventually we watched as the leaders, Byron and Heather, came back to parking lot C, with the others finishing soon thereafter.

Thankfully, this event was uneventful except for the adventures in parking. And for those of us doing the race on Saturday June 12, we now know what to expect, when to push it hard, and how to avoid the heartbreak of Cardiac Trail. Lastly, thanks to the leaders as always for helping out. 

2010 5Peaks Golden Ear Warm Up - Results

17 April 2010:  Starter Photo - 35 Starters

Report: It was a perfect day for a run in a rain forest.  The sky was overcast when our car pool arrived at the parking lot near Alouette Lake in Golden Ears Provincial Park.  Soon excited chatter bonded the runners trying to figure out which group to sign-up for. We had 9 run leaders for about 30 runners, not a bad ratio. 

There were two different distances, 8.8km Sports- and 14km Enduro to choose from.  We set out together on the Valley Trail, following Eric, who had devlish fun guiding via his GPS.  The rest of us leaders navigated from our memory of the course from years past and maps.

I had forgotten, how beautiful the area is.  Moss covered trees, gentle, runable trails, waterfalls, lots of creeks and some mud.  Duncan and Craig had set out on a custom course and saw a huge owl shortly after they left the main group.  The rest of us didn't see any wild life or maybe we were too occupied huffing and puffing up the Lookout Trail to notice.  The long downhill back into the Valley was well deserved and Spirea Trail brought us safely back to Alouette Lake.

Thanks to Jackie, who baked and brought along yummy date bars, MEC, who provided the PowerBar Gel Blasts and all the run leaders who came out and guided a group through the forest.

Photos of the day are posted in the slideshow below.  If you have more photos of this event, please upload them to Flickr, add them to the Club Fat Ass Flickr Group, tag with 5PeaksGoldenEarsWarmUp2010 5PeaksGoldenEarsWarmUp ClubFatAssEvents2010 ClubFatAssEvents and they will automatically appear in the slideshow and in the Members In Action section on the right.

Survey: Please take a moment to fill out the post event survey.

Note: 5Peaks and Club Fat Ass already are planning orientation runs for the Burnaby Mountain Run 2010.  Details here.

Results: (please note this was an orientation run with an emphasis on staying together and we did not keep times)

Buntzen Lake Warm Up Run - Report

Despite teagirl's mess-up (more details below!) a fun time was had by the 4 run leaders and 4 participants who showed up to the 5Peaks Buntzen Warm-Up on a beautiful Saturday-of-the-long-weekend morning.

Teagirl (Katie) arrived at 8.30a only to realize the parking lot was *already* getting full and she hadn't specified a meeting place & time. Luckily people in running gear stick out like a sore thumb, and Eric was wearing his bright orange 5Peaks vest, so we gathered our group.

Katie had also not quite realized that posting information for run leaders on the website only (as opposed to sending them individual emails) was no guarantee of getting in touch... big oops, guys. I will do better next time! Because of this major muck-up, only Tim (& Dario, who got roped in to leading!) had actually planned to come. My apologies to the other two folks who had volunteered, Ward & Christine. I've been in touch now and am planning to make amends! (slaps self on forehead)

However, it all worked out in the end, because only 4 runners showed up, and the groups worked out perfectly. All participants had planned to run the Enduro, but Anna had a time limit of 2 hours so we recommended she try the Sport course instead (in the company of Eric) since it's fairly challenging to do the Enduro in less than 2h.

Tim, Dario & Katie led the Enduro group: 3 Lions Gate Road Runners (Josh, Ray & Kelly - Dario had encouraged them to come out - they're from his "other" club!), some of whom were fairly new to trails. This was Tim's first long-ish run after being away due to injuries - but he's still a speed-demon on the ups! He waited for us a few times, but then Dario volunteered to stick with us less-quick folk so Tim could enjoy his run. The rest of us slowed on the uphill slog (there were cries for "MEDIC!" in the first few metres, then later some fascinating analyses of every Star Trek movie in which the Borg featured) and then had a great time bombing the Diez Vistas (we missed #7 & #9 because you have to head uphill off the trail... extra uphill bits?! no thanks...). We met up at the bottom where Dario informed us the rest was on "baby trails". The flatlanders' speed picked up showcasing their road skills and we all eventually met up at the very end (in just over 2h I think? Tim must have been quite a bit under 2h). Teagirl jumped in the lake, after making sure Eric & Anna were also back safely from their 1.5h sojourn 'round the Sport course.

Lessons learned: email is good; the Buntzen lake parking lot is huge and daunting, especially if you've never been there before; cell phones don't work at Buntzen; and the lake feels GREAT after running 15km.

Thanks to all our leaders (both the ones who did come, and the ones who didn't come through no fault of their own!).

See you on the trails,

Teagirl Katie

5Peaks Mount Seymour Warm Up 2011 Event Report

When Chief Executive Fat Ass Sibylle put out a request back in January for event host volunteers for the 2011 5 Peaks Warm Up (orientation run) events, I jumped at the chance to host the Mt. Seymour event. Visions of warm and dusty trails on a mountain I love but was mostly unfamiliar with (at the time) sounded great.  Alas, the extended spring followed by an early winter June-uary and July-uary set a slightly different scene.  The formula goes something like this:  4-feet of snow minus 3-feet of snow by way of rapid melting over 30 days, does not equal dust.

6 keen 5Peaks runners along with 2 Fat Ass volunteers made the most of a moist and foggy Mt. Seymour earlier this morning at Club Fat Ass' 5Peaks Mount Seymour Warm Up 2011.  Optimism reigned at the start and for the first several kilometers.  As a group, led by run leader, Ryan Conroy, and tailed by event host and sweep, yours truly, we sloshed and mostly ran our way around the first part of the Sport course.  A "trail closed due to washed out bridge" sign gave us pause on our way to the Flower Lake trail junction, but we pushed on, noting that the same sign was here back on July 1st when the snow was 4-5 ft deep in places (and arguably dangerous). 

By this time, we were tromping on more continuous stretches of snowpack broken up occasionally by bits of trail or a tiny 4-foot washed out bridge over a 6-inch deep stream, making our way around the lower half of Flower Lake trail clockwise.  I may have overheard some whining about the snow and deep mud and puddles, and I may have heard some comments to the effect of "these conditions would suck on raceday".  I tried to empathize with the runners, none of whom were Club Fat Ass members (club events, afterall, soldier on in just about any trail and weather condition you can think of)  -- the 5Peaks runners probably deserve a better course than what they saw today which was mostly unrunnable.  According to one runner, if today had been raceday, it would have been ugly with no way to safely pass people.

Next thing I know I pop-out of the forest near a chairlift.  Hmm, where am I, this doesn't look familiar.  Lloyd and Christine, Sport Course entrants, were nearly up the hill with Ryan and the others.  When we huddled at the parking lot shortly thereafter, I theorized that we made an unintentional ~2km short cut, somehow missing the top half of the Flower Lake loop and climb back to the lot from a different direction.  I also pointed out that come race day, an aid station is indicated on the map at the precise junction we happened to miss.  A couple of the runners asked themselves if they wanted to backtrack and complete the Sport course and said "nahh", and instead headed off to an afternoon tee time. 

At this point Ryan and his group of 4 Enduro course runners headed off.  I was uplifted to see Kristiina look back and give her second two big thumbs up of the day (the first one is in the starter photo) - positive attitude now that's what I'm talking about! 

The day ended without a complete running of the longer Enduro course however, with Ryan and company finding the course too difficult to navigate due to remaining snowpack, returning to the parking lot within an hour.   

Thank you Ryan for your run leadership, and for Marianne, Dave, Megan, Kristiina, Christine, and Lloyd for coming out for the run (aka voyage of discovery).

Best wishes to the 5Peaks Mt Seymour 2011 runners.  Be prepared for some challenging conditions and most of all, have fun!

Happy trails!

2011 Golden Ears Orientation Run Report

Starter Photo

Event Report: Pam will add an report on "How best to get lost in and around Golden Ears Park" soon. 

From what I heard so far, the conditions were chilly, but perfect and after both the Enduro and the Sports course runners added about 1.5k extra to each route, everybody had a great run.  Thanks to the run leaders, Helen, Ward, Janice and Pam.

Happy Trails,

Sibylle
Photo above: Hm, which of these trails are we taking...