May 2010 Newsletter

UPCOMING EVENTS

Bagger Challenge. 1 April - 10 October - North Shore Mountains, BC Canada.  See how many North Shore peaks you can run up and bag in a summer.  Start racking up points now by bagging the snowless Howe Sound Island peaks.   Find out more here.  We are also looking for GPS data of last years bagging extravaganza to share with all Baggers this year.

Photo left: On the Howe Sound Crest Trail near Brunswick Lake. 

Photo right: Lynn Loop Trail

North Shore Enduro. 8 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.

Flash - Ultra Fuel Cook Off. 13 May - East Vancouver, BC Canada.  Get that skinny ass some padding.  Details here.

Tour de Howe Sound.  14-16 May, Howe Sound, BC, Canada. A sailing, trail running/hiking weekend adventure.  Featuring a sailboat "race" around the outside of Bowen, Anvil, Gambier and Keats Islands, Fell Running: 4 peaks on 4 islands, approximately 46 km of trails, 8,300m vertical climb and plenty of freshly-brewed ultra-fuel.  Room for one more boats that can sleep 4+!  Find out how to enter your boat and crew here.

Chuckanut Calf Cramper. 22 May - Bellingham, WA USA. Something special for our members in Washington.  Join new Event Host, Genissa, for a 20 mile run on well maintained dirt and gravel trails.  Option to turn around earlier and run fewer miles. Enjoy the beauty of the Chuckanut mountains while toning those calves! Details and registration here. 

Photo right: Chuckanut Mountains

Photo left: Pushing up Burnaby Mountain

Flash - 5 Peaks Burnaby Mountain Warm Up. 22 May - Burnaby, BC Canada. A fun and free group orientation run on the Sport (6.3K) and Enduro (9.8K) courses of the 5Peaks Simon Fraser University Race.  There will be faster and slower pace groups on each course, so there's something for everyone.  This event is for trail runners who are registered or thinking of signing up for the popular 5Peaks race on Burnaby Mountain in June.  Get to know the trail you will race on so you can kick some butt on race day!  Of course, you are welcome to run with us even if you are not registered for the 5Peaks race.  Details and free registration here. If you are able to lead a group,please contact me.

Flash - Chilly Willy 2 "Into the heat" 100 miler. 29 May - Vernon, BC. Tough but pretty. Figure 8 loops in beautiful Kalamalka Provincial Park. Fatass style with one major aid station for your drop bags. Details here.

Vancouver 100. 5-6 June - North Vancouver, BC, Canada. The toughest 100 km in Canada... maybe the world! Due to the challenging nature of this event, participation for the full 100 km is by invitation only, but everyone can still participate by running part of the course with the 100 km participants, coming out to the aid station/picnic area at Cleveland Dam or crewing for a runner. More info and applications here.

Photo right:  Event Host Craig Moore powering down the Baden Powell Trail during a past Vancouver 100 adventure.

Photo left:  Angus Mclellan, film maker of the XS-NRG documentary about the Sunshine Coast Trail and the attempt of 4 city boys to run it's entire length non-stop taking a rest at one of the many beautiful bridges on the Sunshine Coast Trail.

Flash - Escape to Egmont. 6 June - Egmont, BC, Canada. A part-road/mainly-trail out and back run from the Earl's Cove Ferry Terminal, past Klein Lake to Ruby Lake. An excuse to check out the northern-end-of-the-lower-Sunshine-Coast (have I confused you yet? Anticipated distances are approx. 15k and 25k (but custom distances easily accommodated).  More here.

 

NEWS

New Member Chair.  Please join me in welcoming your new Membership Chair, Jackie Montgomery.  Jackie joined Club Fat Ass late last summer and promptly jumped in to rescue the Sunshine in September run. She enthusiastically is planning an array of new member initiatives and a flash event every month of the summer on the Sunshine Coast. Please don't hesitate to contact Jackie with thoughts and suggestions about your membership in Club Fat Ass.

Member Directory.  Thanks to Jackie's idea and Ran's coding magic, I am very excited to introduce our first online member directory. A few things you should know about the member directory:

• Privacy.  We assume that you do not want to share your basic contact information outside of the Club.
• Members only.  For privacy reasons, we felt that this was best.  Only current Club members can access the directory.  
• Logged in.  Please make sure you enter your website user name and password before consulting the member directory. 
• What information is shared?  The member directory shows your Username, First Name, Last Name, City, Province/State and Country. 
• Accuracy.  The information about you in the directory comes from the information you provided when you set up your web account. 
• Updates to Your Member Profile.  Say you  spelled your name wrong when you joined the Club or you have moved.  Whatever the reason, it's easy to change what shows in the member directory!  First, go to your user  profile.  Click on the "Edit" tab, then "Personal Info".  Finally, select the information you'd like to change. 
• Note: To save you time (autofill), the information in your profile is also used when you register for Club events.  Beneath each field you will find an explanation as to who can see the information.  (e.g. the information in the "city" field is visible to logged in members, postal code and phone number is only visible to admin users and is used when you register for events to autofill your registration form)

Member Initiatives.  We've had a record numbers of new members over the past month.  Please be sure to say, "Howdy!" and do what you can to make our new members feel welcome if you see a new face at the next Club event.  To keep the drive alive and add even more value to your membership, we are planning a number of initiatives. Keep your eyes peeled for the new member Welcome Wagon, Member Ambassadors, Bring a Friend program, Member of the Month feature and Student Memberships.  If you're outgoing and would like to contribute, please let me know.

2010 Membership Registration. Registration and Renewal for Club Fat Ass for 2010 is ongoing!   Don't miss out on a whole summer and fall of free events.

CFA ON THE WEB




PAST EVENT RESULTS AND REPORTS

Fluffy Bunny. Event Host - Jess Dagg.  The sun started to shine just after we finished! But..... the rain held off at the beginning, so we all enjoyed cruising around the Buntzen Lake area. A new member, John Pickles, came out for his first CFA event, and I must have done alright, as he says he'll be back :-) Doug and Bill tackled the new "long" course I developed, and my estimate was thankfully correct at 27km. A good challenge they said, especially since this was Doug's longest trail run ever. He shortened it a bit, but still...Congrats Doug! He also won a Trail Runner subscription at the post-event coffee locale so that should keep him going. Thanks Trail Runner mag and other sponsors for prizes. Photo and results are posted here.

XS-NRG - the movie.  Six years ago, a handful of club members set out to run a 180-kilometer wilderness trail.  Their attempt became the subject of this documentary film that was shown to a select, sold-out audience this month.  While it was very cool to see so many familiar faces in the film, critics agreed that it was a great story about a famous trail, about friendship and about teamwork.  It was also quite funny!  The filmmakers plan to take it on the festival circuit.  Check here for the next viewing opportunity. 

 

Marathon Shuffle. Event Host - Eagle Walz.  The Marathon Shuffle on the Sunshine Coast is quickly proving to be one of the more popular Club Fat Ass events.  Over 75 starters explored the beautiful Sunshine Coast Trail, the trail work and new shelters by Eagle and his friends.  We hope that the attention will help to stop the clear cut logging of the old growth forest.  Mark this event on your calendar for next year. Results and photos here. 

5Peaks Bunzten Lake Warm Up. Event Host - 5Peaks (Eric Lorenz) and Club Fat Ass (Sibylle Tinsel) It was a perfect day for a run in a rain forest.  The sky was overcast when our car pool arrived at the parking lot near Alouette Lake in Golden Ears Provincial Park.  Soon excited chatter bonded the runners trying to figure out which group to sign-up for. We had 9 run leaders for about 30 runners, not a bad ratio.  
There were two different distances, 8.8km Sports- and 14km Enduro to choose from.  We set out together on the Valley Trail, following Eric, who had devilish fun guiding via his GPS.  The rest of us leaders navigated from our memory of the course from years past and maps.  Photos and participants list here.

Burnaby Mountain Run. Event Host - Tara Haddad. We had a good crowd out, with a number of newbie members testing the waters and Event Host, Tara, testing her baby jogger with one of her twin boys along for the ride.  The weather was beautiful.  If memory serves right, this was the first and only Burnaby Mountain Run, when the rains were not torrential and we even got to enjoy the touted view ;-)  Des had registered, but wasn't toeing the startline - a bunch of point hounds were jubilant, only to discover, that Des had put in an early start and collected points alright.  Almost everybody scooped litter of the trail to do their good deed of the day and of course keep up with Des and Reagan in the Point Series.  More here.

Foolishly Yours 50km. Event Host - Karl Jensen.  Results here.

CONTESTS

Refer A Friend Contest. Same contest, same rules, new year. Up-to-date standings here. Check out how to participate in the Refer a Friend Contest.
 

2010 Travelling Colours Contest.  Same contest, same rules, new year. Pictures of your 2010 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:  What did the nurses say, John?

2010 Point Series. Same contest, same rules, new year. With Reagan, Des, Jess, Sibylle and Ean almost head to head, it promises to be a heated battle.  There's still time for you to win bragging rights and a pair of new runners, though!  Read about how to collect points. Up-to-date standings 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.

North Shore Rescue. NSR is a volunteer Mountain Search and Rescue Team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The team consists of approximately 40 volunteers skilled in search and rescue operations in mountain, canyon and urban settings.  A few of our members are also NSR members. We'd like to continue our record of not using their services and rather help with their promotion of back country safety.  NSR depending on your donations... consider a few bucks donated as a life insurance policy for yourself or a loved one!

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.

CFA member, Glenn Pace, again ran the 24 hour relay (this time he completed 110 Miles) to raise funds for less fortunate children. Here the link to his fundraising page. Read about his 2008 adventure here. 

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.  You can help, too, by participating in the Marathon Shuffle.


SPONSORS

CFA does not sell or otherwise distribute our member list.