2006 - Year 4 - XTC Results

Thinking back over the past 4 runnings of the Vancouver Skyline XTC, I tried to come up with some thoughts about what was special or unique about this year.  It didn't monsoon, nor was it hot and dry.  None of the participants got hopelessly lost.  Nobody got hurt.  There were no bear sightings or earthquakes.  Everything went well and everyone had a good run... what more could we ask for?

For the first time in the history of the XTC, we started exactly on time.  The 20-odd runners aiming to run the "up" route soon broke into pace groups and started to peel layers on the challenging, but runnable Mosquito Creek section. 

The nice thing about this event and this course is that there is little competitive stress and the course can be easily adjusted on the fly to accommodate a hangover, hard training week or for that matter, lack of training.  While the main pack headed off on the infamous Dogleg section, a small group made an executive decision to shorten their run from 25K to 18K.  Meanwhile, Desmond from Richmond lost his course description and also unintentionally deviated from the main route, while Rick Arikado kept to the course but cursed his old nemesis, the Dogleg.

The solitude of the trails was interrupted on the Grouse View section of the run.  As the Fat Asses ran downhill to Cleveland Dam, the last of the Seek the Peak runners were soldiering uphill.  There were high 5s and shouts of encouragement as running friends briefly crossed paths.

Once through the winding trails of the Capilano Canyon and on to the TransCanada Trail, the map route is a straight shot of only 8K.  Easy, right?  Not!  While the map is accurate, the trail climbs and descends dozens of canyons and crosses innumerable little creeks with slippery little bridges as it contours around Cypress Mountain.  (Check out the maps and trail profiles with thanks to Rick and Tim.)

Ah, the solitude of the trail.  As Tim Weins charged down the trail in the lead, he enthusiastically wished a, "Great day, eh?" to a pair of hikers he approached from behind.  The first almost had a coronary from fright and the second a coronary from laughing at her friend.  With Desmond Mott close behind, Tim continued to storm toward the 25K turnaround.

While the majority of XTC runners progressed uphill, my kids and I were doing the "down" course.  There had been a lot of brush cleaning done under the telephone lines recently, so we were spared having to wade through the chest-high salmonberry bushes as in previous years.  We passed the time calling out "soaker!" every time one of us stepped in a creek, spongy moss or mud hole.
Feeling his legs after completing the Vancouver 100 only a week earlier, Bill Dagg begged a few stale chocolate Easter eggs off my kids. They worked a miracle and, rejuvenated, he continued to chase Elke down the trail toward the 25K endpoint.  While most of us regrouped and headed home to clean up, Desmond Mott ran back to the start and a place in the record books as the only person to complete the 50K "up and down" version of the XTC this year.Thanks to the Mosquito Creek Grill, North Shore Athletics, KINeSYS and Trail Runner magazine, everyone who came to the finisher party enjoyed a free beer and went home with a draw prize.
Congrats to everyone who participated in and supported the XTC this year!

Ean Jackson
Host of the Vancouver Skyline XTC

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