13 June 2009 - 18 Starters/18 Finishers
What a perfect day for a run in the woods with some friends!
Yes, the sun shone against a backdrop of cloudless skies for the 7th running of the Vancouver Skyline Cross-Country Trail Challenge (XTC)...not just for the start, but for the whole day. Could it be that Pano and I battled hypothermia for 50K and ended up in the hot tub for almost 1/2 hour before our teeth stopped chattering on this same 2nd Saturday in June a couple of years ago?
Everyone was in great spirits as we counted down to the start at Griffin Gym in North Vancouver... start of the 25K up and 50K events. Several folks immediately jumped in my car and we rushed toward the Cypress Mountain start of the 25K "down" event. "Stop!", came the cry, "Garage sale!!" So, we stopped to check it out. As the 4 of us headed back to the car with a 1-liter beer mug (25-cents) and a kite ($2), I swore I saw the golden piggy wink at me. "Hey guys... our new mascot!" And so it came to be that Club Fat Ass acquired the golden porker ($4)!
Our run started out great and got even better as we made our way down a fairly wide section of the Trans-Canada Trail. By 9:00, it was already toasty warm. Given almost 3 weeks of sunshine, it was surprising to see patches of mud on the trail. No bear skat, though, which is a good thing this time of year!
The Skyline Trail section of the XTC follows a ramrod straight telephone line across the side of Cypress Mountain. The trail itself is anything but ramrod straight, however, as it zigs and zags into the forest and dips down into about a dozen canyons. Each canyon has a waterfall and a refreshingly cool breeze. One of these days I am going to go for a dip in Brother's Creek...
Claudia, Pat and Sibylle said they saw an eagle and heard a grouse in this "Canyon Crawl" section. Steve and Christina apparently saw a grouse. Our little group stopped often to stuff our faces with salmonberries. I think that's what we were doing when Penny crossed us. All smiles and looking great, Penny said she was feeling the heat.
Paul and Jason, out for his first ultra, were next followed relatively closely by the other "up" and ultra runners. After being sidelined more often than not for the past year-and-half, it was great to slap hands with passing running buddies again.
We stopped briefly to pay our respects to Grandpa Capilano then had a long drink of icy cold water at the Cleveland Dam fountain. Unfortunately, there were no garage sales on Nancy Greene Way today. The parking lot at Grouse was full of 'grinders and out-of-town folks eager to see the lumberjack show, though. It was a bit chaotic as we made our way toward the power line trail.
Ever run in California in the summer? I was reminded of runs near Lake Tahoe on this year's XTC. Hot and dusty trails, with fresh air filtered by a million pine needles as it blew through the trees and into our lungs. Gotta love it!
I figured better safe (from reinjury) than sorry, and cut off Rick Arikado's beloved dogleg section of the course. Gave my 11-year old son a high 5 for gutting out a new course record in the under-12 age group, then hauled dirt into my back yard as the ultramarathoners enjoyed their afternoons on the trial.
The weather held, making for an epic afternoon on the patio of the Mosquito Creek Grill. Lot of great stories. Cool beer. Tasty yam fries. Thanks to Kintec, prizes for all.
Thanks to all participants for making this a special day!
Ean "Back in Action" Jackson
Host, XTC
PS Have any post race comment? Please post them below.
Photos: A slideshow of photos can be found here (coming soon). Photos added to the Flickr CFA group and tagged with XTC2009 XTC and ClubFatAssEvents will automatically be added to this slideshow.
Report: Coming soon
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Results
| First Name |
Last Name |
Event |
Points |
Time |
| Paul |
Cubbon |
50K |
2 |
6:09 |
| Jason |
Oliver |
50K |
2 |
6:13 |
| desmond |
mott |
50K |
3* |
6:17 |
| scott |
donatelli |
50K |
2 |
7:17 |
| Jessica |
Glowacki |
50K |
2 |
7:37 |
| Dave |
Smith |
50K |
2 |
7:37 |
| Gord |
Thompson |
50K |
2 |
7:42 |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Gilles |
Barbeau |
25K - Up |
1 |
4:23 |
| Craig |
Moore |
25K - Up |
3* |
4:23 |
| Claudia |
Bullington |
25K - Up |
3* |
5:25 |
| Sibylle |
Tinsel |
25K - Up |
3* |
5:25 |
| Patricia |
Barry |
25K - Up |
2 |
5:27 |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Steve |
Deller |
25K - Down |
1 |
4:00 |
| Christina |
Pow |
25K - Down |
1 |
4:00 |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Rick |
Arikado |
Roll Your Own |
1 |
5:01
(40K) |
| Penny |
Jakobsen |
Roll Your Own |
2 |
5:02
(38K) |
| Ean |
Jackson |
down without dogleg |
4** |
2:54 |
| Erik |
J |
down without dogleg |
|
2:54 |
*garbage P
** EH point |
|
|
|
|
Comments
new mascot
Ean - I think you misunderstood me
When you thought I said 'I feel great', what I actually said was 'I feel like crap'. Anyway, after reading about all the salmon berry pickers, you now know why I went early....he he Thanks for organizing. P
No Misunderstanding
Even though you may not have felt all that great at the time, you sure *looked* good!
also my first one
Thanks Ean for a fantastic event, as I completed my first ultra. I appreciate the nice weather, although I'm not so sure about the rocks on that dogleg section...Thanks also to Paul and Desmond for keeping me entertained and putting up with me for 6+ hours.
my first one
thanks Ean for an awesome day on the trails. This was my first XTC in all these years. I am grateful to have had the company of Gilles and the way too nice weather for this time of year. And the salmonberries were incredibly good along the powerlines on our way around and up. Fantastic!
And thanks very much for the prizes. You'll see me coming in the yellow shirt.
Craig
another ultra done
Thanks Ean for putting the event on.I made it to the turn around in 3:04 but I couldn't keep up to Paul and Jason on the downhill . I finished a few minutes behind both of them my total time was 6:17 . I really suffered from the heat on the uphill .I drank over 6 liters of water in just over 6 hours, it was warm out there. Sorry I missed the after party . I of course picked up some trash on the way and have a witness. Congrats to Paul for a great run and also to Jason for finishing his first ultra.
Cheers
Des
BIG THANKS!
a big thanks to Sibylle, Ean, and everyone else who helped put on this great event. It was a fun run and it was nice seeing everyones smiling faces along the way!
thx again and maybe see some of you at another event
scott
Tx Scott
Hope you had a good run. It was such a fantastic day. I loved the warm pine smell and all the other fragant plants...and of course the sunshine and views.