24 July 2004 - The First Official Running
| Name | Home town | Peak time | Total Time |
1 | Mark Klaver | North Vancouver | 1:46 | 2:54 |
2 | Wendy Montgomery | North Vancouver | 1:46 | 3:04 |
| | Bill Dagg | Vancouver | 1:46 | 3:04 |
4 | Desmond Mott | North Vancouver | 1:46 | 3:11 |
5 | Edward Haboly | North Vancouver | | 3:24 |
| 6 | Rob Ruff | Surrey, BC | | 3:35 |
| 7 | Greg Crompton | North Vancouver | 2:04 | 3:43 |
8 | Ron Adams | North Vancouver | 2:10 | 3:49 |
| 9 | Kathy Nomura | Burnaby, BC | | 3:59 |
| | Mike Palenthorpe | Vancouver | | 3:59 |
| | Ean Jackson | North Vancouver | 2:30 | 3:59 |
| 12 | Ken Hardinge-Rooney | New Westminster, BC | 2:17 | 4:09 |
| 13 | Doug Mackay | North Vancouver | 2:26 | 4:10 |
| 14 | Dave Laforest | Whitby, Ontario | 2:30 | 4:30 |
| | Keith Nicol | Vancouver | 2:30 | 4:30 |
| | | | | |
| | Suzanne Johnson | North Vancouver | | 2:30 |
| | Jason Niles | North Vancouver | | 2:30 |
17 starters, 15 finishers
Report
The inaugural running of "Bill's Grouse Peak Ascent" is now in the books. Seventeen runners, mostly from North Vancouver but one from as far away as Whitby, Ontario and ranging in age from 19 to 55, took up the challenge of running the approximately 30km route from the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve (LSCR) to the peak of Grouse Mountain (and back) on what was a beautiful, at times rather warm, Saturday, July 24th. Perhaps it was the temptation of a free beer at the post-race event at the Mosquito Creek Bar & Grill or, maybe it was the prospect of being lucky enough to win one of the great KINeSYS draw prizes to be given out at the post-race event that brought them out but, whatever the reason, they came, they ran and they conquered (well, almost -- read on).
A pre-race survey showed that most of the participants were already familiar with most of the route and at least one of those who wasn't familiar had taken the pre-caution of printing himself out the detailed route description off of the Club Fat Ass website. That was a good sign. No-one would be getting lost or off-course today. Unfortunately, I neglected to account for the "Jackson Factor" as Ean was too busy talking to his running companions to notice the St. George's Trail bench and passed by an important right-hand turn. As nice as Mosquito Creek is, it wasn't exactly where they were supposed to be so they had to backtrack to the bench to rejoin the event. Next year, I'm thinking of a yellow jersey for Ean -- not as an indication of the current leader -- but as a warning to others!
The plan was to wind our way up Mountain Highway to the Grouse Mountain Chalet and then, from there, take the 10-15 minute jaunt up to the peak of Grouse. Unfortunately, those plans were foiled when, just past the Grizzly Bear pen, all were forced to a sudden stop. The entire peak area was fenced off with "Do not enter. Construction Area" signs. A few tried to find back ways up but to no avail. The fencing was complete. No peak today.
At the turn-around point, 19 year old Mark Klaver decided he'd being hanging around with the old folks long enough and put on his after burners, heading off down Mountain Highway and finishing the event in what proved to be the fastest time of the day in 2:54. Wendy Montgomery was the first female and second runner across the line 10 minutes after that.
Eleven participants partook in the post-race event at the Mosquito Creek Bar & Grill, enjoying one free beer each courtesy the Grill, great food, great service, and lots of camaraderie.
Thank you to all participants, sponsors, and the amazing Sibylle Tinsel and Ean Jackson for all of their hard work with Club Fat Ass, making my job, as event host, incredibly easy.
Next year's event will be on Saturday, July 23rd, 2005. And remember, because we couldn't actually get to the peak this year, all course records are still up for grabs!
Hope to see you there.
Bill Dagg, Event Host
