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Dear Friends and Members of Club Fat Ass,
The no-stink, long-sleeve, environmentally friendly, 2008 Club colors are now collectors items!
If you joined the Club for the current (2008) year before January 1st, and you didn't opt-out of the t-shirt, you should now have a first run, original "Club Fat Ass Wear" garment in your hot little hands. Woo hoo!
Producing this year's colors has been quite a journey. Please share what you think of your t-shirt, as we're already planning next year. In particular, please share your thoughts on the material, the fit, the feel and the colors either with a comment on the club website, with a private note to me, by responding to the online poll later in the spring or all of the above if you feel strongly either way.
As in years past, please submit photos of your adventures with your t-shirt to our Travelling Colours Contest. The winner will get a refund on their 2009 Club membership and priceless bragging rights. Details are in the newsletter below.
Happy Trails,
Sibylle Tinsel
Chief Executive Fat Ass
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UPCOMING EVENTS
 Spring Bunny Hop. 5 April - Claremont, ON, Canada. The opportunity for Ontario members to mix and mingle and show their loyalty. This 25 km trail run (which may turn into a cross country ski outing) takes you up and down two of the Oak Ridges Moraine forest tracks. Find out more here.
Photo left: A little Ontario FA preparing for the Spring Bunny Hop - the course is currently under a meter of snow!
Run to the Clouds. 12 April - Port Coquitlam, BC, Canada. A 12.5km or 25km run, all on trails with some gravel road sections. Come see and run around beautiful Buntzen Lake and surrounding mountains. A challenging route with over 2000 vertical feet (or 600 metres) of elevation gain/loss. Fantastic views of Buntzen Lake and the Greater Vancouver area. Details here.
 Photo right: A crowd gathers at the super aidstation Pete Stace Smith orchestrated at last year's Run to the Clouds
Flash - Hyson's Hijinx. 25 April - North Vancouver, BC, Canada. A 160 km aka 100 miler on the Baden Powell Trail between Deep Cove and St Andrews Rd. Read Chad's motivations here.
North Shore Enduro. 10 May - North Vancouver, BC, Canada. A fun run in Vancouver's rugged North Shore mountains, the Enduro is on a 7.6 km loop course that lasts up to 6 hours. A safe and challenging first trail run featuring some easy and some technical terrain. A great social event for the team runner (2-6 runners can form a team). A tune-up for Western States and other summer 100-milers for the competitive solo runner. More info and registration here.
2008 Shirts. If you ordered the 2008 collectors shirt with your membership you should have your shirt in your hands by now. Thanks for your patience waiting for the first edition of the Club Fat Ass Wear high fashion line. Jess Marshall handled the graphics (cute porker label, Jess) and Vanessa Fors was the driving force behind sourcing the innovative no-stink chitosante fabric (and no, we are not claiming that the wearing the shirts will make you healthier, but working out in them should), designing the shirts and handling the pattern making and sewing. Both Jess and Vanessa very patiently addressed all my anxious questions. Packaging and mailing almost was fun with Michele Sherstan and a bottle of oaky chardonnay at my side. Once you had a chance to test drive your shirt, we are planning a small online survey to get your feedback. Please be generous with your comments.
2008 Membership. If you haven't yet joined the Club, what are you waiting for? Sign-up now to participte in almost 50 free events and get a classic black technical Club t-shirt as well. Such a deal!
Sponsors. It is great to see our family of business members grow. Please make sure you consider them when looking for gear or health care providers.
 Our newest advertising member is Axis Gear based in Toronto, Canada. Started in a garage in 2001, Axis Gear strives to deliver technically superior, yet stylish custom performance apparel. Best of all, Axis Gear shares our vision of preserving the environment, the sustainable growth of our sport and their gear is 100% sweat shop free!
.JPG) Kintec Footlabs has been very busy this month. They held the first of four speaker events planned for this year. Everybody who came out was treated to a run and an infomative session on how Kintec Footlabs can help you prevent or deal with injuries. Their gait analysis and highly qualified staff is especially helpful in finding the right  shoe for you. Their next seminar, 21 May, is on knee injuries.
Active Life Physio is planning a 1 hour evening seminar in early May. Details and registration will be posted on the website soon.
Photo right: from the Outdoor Adventure Relay for Dafur's website. With permission from the organizer.
 Other Events of Interest. Outdoor Adventure Relay for Darfur . Any plans for the last week of April yet? Take a stand against the genocide in Darfur. The organizer's (Jeremy Frimer) goal is to raise awareness of the crisis in Darfur by linking a non-competitive ski, snowshoe, climb, paddle, and cycle relay--from Whistler Mountain to downtown Vancouver, BC--culminating in a rally at the 2010 Olympic clock on April 27. Registration for the week long relay (do one stage, do all) is free.
 STORMY Trail Race. Club Fat Ass will be organizing and hosting the training runs for western Canada's most popular 100-miler this year. What does that mean? You can you can get up close and comfortable with the STORMY course on your own terms while helping fellow runners and Race Director Wendy Montgomery. Several Club members have already stepped up to the plate with both scheduled and Flash events. Find out more here.
ADMINISTRIVIA
CFA Website. A reminder that website help is posted here. Instructions on how to upload photos and use Flickr to get photos on the Club Fat Ass website are here.
Behind the scenes, Ran Katzmann has been very active fixing this and enhancing that in and around our Online Clubhouse. Among other things, he addressed the issue of website account registration confimations and other system emails being caught in your spam filters (too many naughty words like "a**"). Emails from the site (i.e. subscription notifications, new password requests) will now come from CFA_info at cfasports dot com. Please make sure you add this address to your safe senders or contact list.
Post-Event Surveys. Yes, it is a bit of a pain in the you-know-what to answer the post-event surveys. However, the 2-3 minutes it takes goes a long way to help your Event Host know what you *really* feel about their event. They do read your comments and your feedback helps them make their events even better.
We've tried to make the surveys easier and quicker to complete. We'd also like to get results in your hands quickly. From now on, you will receive an email with links to results and survey after each scheduled Club event you participate in. We'll also put a link to the survey at the bottom of the results page. Enjoy... and keep that feedback coming!
CLUB FAT ASS ON THE WEB
    
PAST EVENT RESULTS AND REPORTS
 Spring Mountain Highway Madness. Event Host - Ean Jackson. Results, report, photo and comments here.
Photo: Starters at the Spring Mountain Highway Madness
Flash - Juan De Fuca Trail Run. Event Host - Carlos Castillo. Read Carlos' blog here.
 Burnaby Mountain Run. Event Hosts - Tara Jackson and Katheryne Gardiner. Thanks for everyone for coming out on Sunday! Some were unable to make it due to the time change but all that showed enjoyed a warm and rain-free day. A select few were brave enough to run the course twice...even with that Killer Hill! Gord said that the second time around on that hill was 200% harder than the first! Good Job! Too bad we all didn't have energy like Ty - Hope to see everyone next year! Full result here.
Photo left: Starters at the Burnaby Mountain Run - minus a few that did not "spring forward".
 Flash - Quad Qruncher. Flash Event Host - Karl Jensen. Thanks to everyone who participated in the Quad Qruncher. Hopefully all are now enjoying sore calves and quads. This, of course, was the ojective of the event. It provided excellent training to compliment the strength and endurance building done on the earlier Pure Foolishness runs. The Fools are about as ready as they can be for the Coyote Two Moon 100 Mile race to be held in two weeks. It's too late for training, our only hope now is luck.
Photos: Snacking during the Pure Foolishness 100.
 The first few loops were cold and wet, but by late morning the sun came out. All-in-all the running conditions were good. There were some patches of snow at the top the the 10K loop, but that just made things interesting.
A few people decided to earn a little involuntary bonus distance on the 10K loops, but we won't mention any names. More here.
Flash - Pure Foolishness 100km. Flash Event Host - Karl Jensen. Congratulations to all who finished the Pure Foolishness 100K. The trail gods were smiling on the runners with cool and mostly sunny weather. Quite an improvement on the Pure Foolishness 75K.  They owed it to us.
Photo right: Charlie Crissman during the Pure Foolishness 100km
The Fools were honoured to have the company of Charlie Crissman, race director of the popular Cascade Crest Classic 100 Mile Race in Washington State. Charlie will join the Fools again at the Coyote Two Moon 100 Mile Race in California in March. Having also completed a Pure Foolishness run Charlie is now a certified Fool, subject to the same somewhat suspicious sideways glances as the other Fools. More info and video here!
CONTESTS
 2008 Travelling Colours Contest. Same contest, same rules, new year. Pictures of your 2008 adventures wearing your Club shirt (any colour) can be posted to Flickr following the instructions here. All submissions to date are posted here.
Photo left: Mudrunner adding a rock to his collection on the Yosemite Falls Trail.
2008 Point Series. Same contest, same rules, new year. Up-to-date standings here. Read about how to collect points here.
CAUSES YOUR CLUB SUPPORTS
If you have any causes close to your heart and want to raise awareness and/or funds let us know. A number of CFA Event Hosts use their events as fund raisers. Be sure to consider the special section on the Club website that offers ideas on how to raise money for your favorite cause while hosting a free, CFA event.
Relay for Dafur. A situation that deserves your attention. A free adventure for anyone with the right stuff in beautiful BC.
BC Lung Association. Event Host, Craig Moore, uses his events to raise awareness and funds for the BC Lung Association.
Mary Leliveld Tri BC Fund. Mary was a friend and member of Club Fat Ass. The fund was established in her memory to help deserving athletes get to competitions they otherwise might not be able to race in.
PRPAWS (Powell River Parks and Wilderness Society
The boys who ran the Sunshine Coast Trail 180 in 2003 and 2004 vowed to help raise funds for PRPAWS, a society that aims to protect old growth forest in the Powell River area.
SPONSORS
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CFA does not sell or otherwise distribute our member list.
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