The Sunshine Coast Trail is a 180 kilometer (118 mile) hiking trail located approximately 100 kilometers up the coast from Vancouver near Powell River, British Columbia, Canada.
The Sunshine Coast Trail offers some of the most spectacular scenery on the planet. The trail is not well known and it's natural beauty threatened by logging.
To raise awareness of the trail, raise funds for trail maintenance and as part of a "boys weekend on the road" four Vancouver ultrarunners from Club Fat Ass attempted to run the full length of the trail non-stop in 2003. The trail won. They came back in 2004 and one runner completed the distance. Their adventure was documented in a movie: XS NRG.
The runners wanted to share the logistics of their run with other experienced ultra runners who might want to beat their running record time of 44-hours. To that end, their run is listed as a Club Fat Ass Flash event: STC 180.
Runners can expect to enjoy rocky coastline, flat and fast trails through old growth forests of Douglas fir and red cedar, nasty, rooty climbs up steep mountains and equally challenging descents. The trail passes through several communities including Powell River. Total vertical gain and loss over the course of the trail is approximately 8,300 meters. In perspective, that is like climbing to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and back twice from sea level.
Each year, running friends of the Sunshine Coast Trail get together in April for the Flash - Marathon Shuffle for a 12K or 30K taste of the trail.
