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Dear Friends and Members of Club Fat Ass,
A belated "Happy New Year!"
I hope you kicked off 2009 on the right foot, got the year off to a running start and are resolved to give Desmond Mott some serious competition for being the most active CFA member in 2009.
Thanks to all who renewed their membership or joined the Club over the holidays. Woo-hoo... your 2009 club t-shirts have been ordered and they are going to be really nice. I am looking forward to getting them in your hands by late February/early March.
Your Club Steering Committee is also about to launch into another year. This group meets about 8 times in 2009 to help manage the Club. Our goals are simple: more events and more members to enjoy them.
Many thanks to Berglind and Amy, your outgoing Membership and Event Host chairwomen. Berg, who also hosts the popular Sunshine in September event, has served on the committee for 2 years. Amy is moving back east in the spring and is committed to whip those Ontario FA's into shape and maybe host an event.
Can you spare a couple of hours/month this year to help improve and grow the Club? Lots of rewards. No heavy lifting or experience necessary. Please contact me!
'Hope to see you at the Foolish Runs, the Squamish Scrambler or the Capilano Canyon Night Run in February.
Sibylle Tinsel
Chief Executive FA
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UPCOMING EVENTS
 Flash - Foolish Gerbil Twenty-Four Hour Trail Run. 17-18 January - Vancouver, BC Canada. Join the Fools for all or part of the fun. More info here.
Photo left: A few Foolish Gerbils running in circles in December
Flash - Pure Foolishness 50K. 25 January - North Vancouver, BC Canada. More here.
Flash - Pure Foolishness 75K. 31 January - North Vancouver, BC Canada. More here.
 Flash - Valentine's Double Fat Ass. 7-8 February - Vancouver, BC Canada. A 50 kilometer run: Your special Valentine's for the true love of your life: Running!! Show that you really mean it and do The Double. A less extreme challenge (1K to 49K) for those slightly less in love. More info here.
Photo left: During the Squamish Scrambler
 Squamish Scrambler. 8 February - Squamish, BC, Canada. This is an out-and-back snowshoe hike/run up to Elfin Lakes Cabin in Squamish (22km). Bring the family as far as Red Heather, a 10km return snowshoe hike, or continue on up towards Little Diamond Head, or out towards Mamquam Lake, depending on conditions and motivation. Savour spectacular views of The Tantalus Range, Howe Sound and Sky Pilot. More info here.
Flash - Pure Foolishness 100K. 14 February - North Vancouver, BC Canada. More here.
 Capilano Canyon Night Run. 21 February - North Vancouver, BC, Canada. A 90-minute run that starts in a suburban neighborhood, traverses the twilight zone, then stimulates your senses with a trail run in the mist and inky blackness of the Capilano Canyon. Choose between a guided group run at a gentle pace for the socially-inclined and first time night runner or a competitive run for those more motivated by the clock and the opportunity to rip their buddy's lungs out. Both runs followed by a potluck party and celebration of Fat Tuesday. Entry limited to first 50 entrants, so please register early!
Photo right: unwelcome participant on the course of the Capilano Canyon Night Run.
 Spring Mountain Highway Madness. 15 March - North Vancouver, BC, Canada. This mind-numbing interval session is officially held twice a year. Runners complete one or more 15 km laps (with approximately 1 km or 3,300' of elevation change per lap) on a wide dirt and gravel access road (no traffic). Check it out here!
Photo left: A bunch of happy runners during a past Run to the Clouds
Run to the Clouds. 28 March - 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.
2009 Club Garment. The order is in and the wheels are now in motion for the production of your limited edition 2009 Club garment. The colours are "blue bell" for the women's shirts and navy for the men's. Since the feedback with regards to cut and fabric from last year was overwhelmingly positive, we kept the pattern and the super-duper no-stink fabric. Warning: Don't follow Baldwin's example of taking the no-stink claim literally: he didn't wash his shirt once during 2008!
CFA Steering Committee. A small group of community minded people are selflessly working behind the scenes to build and manage your Club. We are always looking for help and fresh ideas. If you can spare a couple of hours a month to work with one of our committees, please drop me a line. We are especially looking for an enthusiastic people to guide our Event Hosts, someone with PR experience and someone to represent the voice of Club members.
2009 Membership Registration. Registration and Renewal for Club Fat Ass for 2009 is ongoing! Don't miss out on a whole year of free events.
 Sponsors. A big, fat "Thank you!" to the business members of CFA who supported our Club this past year. Please make sure you consider them when shopping or looking for professional services. Please also remember that, apart from providing draw prizes, most of our Business members also offer Club Members a discount, so be sure to ask at the cash register.
(click on the Kintec coupon for your print version)
CFA ON THE WEB
    
PAST EVENT RESULTS AND REPORTS
 Vancouver New Year's Day Fat Ass 50 Run and Freeze your Fat Ass Swim. Event Host - Ean Jackson. We live in interesting times. What an interesting day it was for our little Club resolution run. We were served-up a smorgasbord of winter conditions: snow, sleet, rain, wind, ice, slush, mud, puddles, all with a little blowdown thrown in for good measure. Given that the snow was deeper than at any time during the run's history, let's call the 2009 run "The Year of the Big Snow."Snowed-in driveways, icy roads and hangovers aside, a near record number of fat asses made it to the start. We had representatives from as far away as Toronto, Prince George and Vernon including an enthusiastic mob  of 18 from snowed-in suburban Coquitlam. Despite the frozen pens and wet sign-in sheets, we managed to start skating down the trails of Stanley Park promptly at 9. (Hey Vernon, where were 'ya?) Read on ...
Photo left: Starters at the 2009 Vancouver New Year's Day Fat Ass 50
Photo left: John, Gilles and Chad fashionable Fools at the VNYDFA50Flash - Vancouver Christmas Fat Ass Run. Event Hosts - Karl Jensen and Gilles Barbeau. It was an exceptional day in Vancouver and not too many fools were up for a 50k run but there was a few and it made for an enjoyable experience. But most definitively a fool you had to be to think you could run 50k in such weather. Conditions as you might expect were difficult and deteriorating by the hour. It sure made a hell of a workout. Results and comments here.
Galbraith Mountain Tour. Event Host - Daniel Probst. What an amazing day to run in the snow with a great group of new and old friends. Even with the weather threatening to turn us all into popsicles seven Fat Ass' braved the cold ( -11c ) to come out and enjoy an incredible run with an equally incredible view on Galbraith. Timing couldn't have been any better as I look out the window now and see cloudy sky's and another 4 inches of snow on the ground and it's still snowing. One of my Good running friends Chuck Snyder came out to lead the faster group and help guide the Gang though the maze of snow covered trails as he has done the last 3 years. Read on here.
Photo left: Claudia fighting the elements at the Galbraith Mountain Tour.
Photo right: Starters at the Pure Satisfaction Run in December.
 Pure Satisfaction. Event Host - Craig Moore. Thanks to everyone that came out on a chilly day for the run. We had a record 64 people sign up and about 34 people showed up for the official start on Sunday morning in Deep Cove. All the others either ran on Saturday or earlier Sunday morning from Lynn Canyon and we had 2 people running up in Vernon. Of course, there were the expected no-shows but for today it was understandable as many of them were Snow-ins. There was a light dusting of snow on the trail but I know there were several areas around the Lower Mainland that got a whole bunch more snow. It was quite chilly at the start but with our 9:04 am beginning time the sky was bright and everyone was ready and anxious to go. We had a few first timers and, as always, a small number that weren't familiar with the good ol' Baden Powell Trail. I asked the newbies to stick with someone experienced and not just bunch up so they could get lost together, if you know what I mean. Full report. photos, video and results here.
CONTESTS
 2008 Travelling Colours Contest. As the year came to a close, there were some interesting battles going on between the top finishers in the 2008 Travelling Colors Competition. Tactics included: secretly collecting points, promoting t-shirt photos on Facebook and Flickr with the message to friends and family being, "Vote for me!" All's fair in love and war!
Congrats to Lucinda who won a refund on her 2009 membership dues for for her photo of the shoe tree along Highway 50. Runner up was Colin's beautiful photo of Tyax Lake and third place is awarded to John, being a very happy Fool. A slideshow of all 2008 contributions is posted here.
Get a head start on this year's contest by taking lots of photos of yourself in your Club garment and sharing them by following the instructions here.
 2008 Point Series: Ta da... the most active Club member of 2008 was Desmond Mott of North Vancouver, Canada with 49 Club points. His strategy? Des participated in 16 CFA events in 2008. He signed-up early, showed up, and collected trash at most of the events he participated in. Des won a certificate for a pair of running shoes from Kintec Footlabs.
Second place was claimed by Bill Dagg of Vancouver. Bill collected 38 points through a healthy mix of hosting an event, referring friends, contributing photos, crewing and cleaning trash from the trails. His prize is a goodie bag from Axis Gear.
Third position is awarded to Jess, who in the final days of 2008, surpassed Baldwin by referring some friends to the Club and by sharing her running photo album. Congrats to everyone in the Club for making this contest a lot of fun. Total Standings are posted here.
 2008 New Year's Resolution Contest: And the winner is...Baldwin! He feels he was able to accomplish 91% of the athletic resolutions he made for 2008. I was tempted to deduct some points for not washing his Club colors all year, but his lead was impressive and Baldwin truly deserved his win. Baldwin also received a certificate for a pair of running shoes from our business member, Kintec Footlabs. Here are all the 2008 resolutions and self-evaluations.
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 favourite cause while hosting a free CFA event.
Run for the Cure. The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure is Canada's largest single day, volunteer-led fundraising event dedicated to raising funds for breast cancer research, education, and awareness programs. If you would like to support one of your fellow members, please click here.
Easter Seals 24 Relay. The Easter Seals 24 Hour Relay is an annual community based fundraising event that challenges groups of people to run or walk Relay-style for 24 hours. Teams of runners and/or walkers made up of Corporate and Recreational groups collect individual pledges or organize team fundraising events to raise funds towards their collective team totals.
In 2008 CFA member, Glenn Pace, set our to run 100 miles during the 24 hour relay and raise funds for less fortunate children. Here the link to his fundraising page. Read here how it panned out.
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 CFA. 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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