2005 Fluffy Bunny - Year 1

Fluffy Bunny Trail Run 2005 Race Report

Or

How an event host can get lost on his own route!

I don’t throw the title “hard ass” around loosely, but to call Carlos Castillo Sr. a hard ass would be an understatement. 8 hours and 19 minutes after starting the Fluffy Bunny Trail Carlos emerged from the trail tired, sweaty and covered in blood.

The day began innocently enough. The warm temperatures and clear skies made for ideal running conditions for the 14 runners of the inaugural Fluffy Bunny Trail Run. Shortly after 8:30 the race began with 2 runners planning on doing the 35 km route, 1 planning on the 25 km route, 9 doing the 15 km loop and 1 doing the 8 km loop.

For most of the runners, the run began on the Diez Vista trail. After a moderate climb, the runners were treated to some spectacular views of Deep Cove and Indian Arm. The trail was particularly tough for trail running beginner Adam Shih. Despite his lack of experience on the trail, he was able to keep a brisk pace and said the views were well worth the climb.

After the Diez Vista Trail most runners headed back while 2 headed for the Dilly Daly trail: myself and Carlos. Ken Hardinge-Rooney was also on the DD trail as part of the 25 km run.

The trail began with a climb; a LONG climb. Unfortunately about ¾ of the way up a different trail broke off from the main trail. Not having noticed this turn off on any previous trip up the trail I was not looking for it and for whatever reason we headed down the wrong trail. I didn’t know it at the time but Ken had also headed down this wrong trail about 2 hours before we arrived there. We soon arrived at a boulder field. I knew at this point we were on the wrong trail because I didn’t remember this from any of my previous trips on the trail but I figured that because the trail was well marked it was simply an alternate route to the summit of the trail. We decided to continue across the boulder field. At this point Carlos took a bit of a spill and hit his head on one of the sharp granite rocks. It only took a few seconds before his face and arm were covered in blood. Luckily after a sitting for a minute the wound healed enough to continue. This happened about 3 and a half hours into the trail. So we continued on the trail we thought would reach the summit. The trail did hit the summit alright… the WRONG summit. Once at the wrong summit we decided to turn around and retrace our steps. About 2 hours and 8 km after missing the trail we made it back to the split point and this time headed down the correct trail. Ken eventually turned around and made it back to the trail split point over 3 hours after going down the wrong trail. So finally on the correct trail, Carlos and I headed to the summit. At an elevation of 1270 meters the views were amazing in all directions. Along the way we passed several hikers all wondering how a guy whose face was covered in blood could still be running. We eventually hit the upper lakes and soon after began the long run down back to the car. About 5 hours after hitting his head, Carlos was finally able to clean his wound.

I would like to congratulate all those who ran all the distances. I’m sure there were many stories from the run and I invite all those with good stories to post them on the website. I hope to see you all again next year.

Here are the official times:

And the Pics - click here to see all Event photos