The stars lined up to see my friend Pat, my 12 year old son and 14 year old second cousin visiting from Germany ready for an assault on Mount Strachan and Hollyburn this past Thursday.

The forecast was for possible thunder showers in the afternoon and the morning dawned hot, humid and ominously dark.  A quick check of my email showed that Pat didn't cancel or question the weather.

 A FRESH mop chop in anticipation of the STORMY 100. Let the games begin, Jackson!   

     I am an Ontario Fat Asser travelling to the West Kootenays, looking for info on trails in the Valhalla Provincial Park, Idaho peak,  or the 7 Summit trail in Rossland. Where I run I'm the largest animal on the trails and don't need to worry about other animals , except on mountain bike. Do I get any bagging rights? ( if I get to the top), What should I carry other than water?(maps, whistle, etc.)  Or are there any other runners that are around from Aug 10 to Aug 24, I be around  Slocan, Trail, Rossland and Nelson.

So I finally got around to writing a report for my first oh so well attended CFA event.  We had a very select crew of 2 "run" the 37 or so kilometers of the HSCT.

Everyone finished at the same time and got a time of just under 9 hours (accuracy has never been one of my fortes).

Yikes... I signed up for a 100-miler.  One of those stupid, last-minute things we all do from time to time.  Three days till show-time.  'Guess it's time to figure out what to pack!

My success rate in the past at long runs like this has been best if I don't spend my last hours before the start fretting about what I forgot.  Too much energy wasted on worry.

Exactly three years after he set the speed record for the West Coast Trail-Juan de Fuca Trail trail run, Gary Robbins set a new speed record for the 75K (or 77K: who's counting?) West Coast Trail, with his 10:08 narrowly shaving 5 minutes off of the 13-year-old record set by Frank Wolf & Kevin Vallely 10:13 on 24 July 1997: twitter.com/gary_robbins. 

That's not usually my attitude, "Go BIG, or go home...". However, it seems appropriate for the 10th 
anniversary of STORMY Ultras.

To make matters more "big", Action Jackson decided to bite off 100 because he claims Paul Cubbon and I "bullied" him in to it. We all know better. Action Jackson is certifiable, and THAT'S why he opted for 100 miles instead of 50.

Finaly it happened, My desire to "run" the Howe Sound Crest Trail has been fullfilled. Jamie Stirling, Jim Swadling and Kevin Harrison joined me on one of the most beautiful trails you could imagine. Almost 10hrs of runing, hiking, rock climbing, snow sliding and butt dragging from Cypress Bowl to Porteau Cove. I Could not have completed this jorney without these three guys. Check out the pics by Kevin, Jim and Gottfried

http://picasaweb.google.ca/gottgross/HSCT2010

For information leading to the location of the elusive Tunnel of Love.

With reference to a Club Fat Ass Flash event that I unsuccessfully attempted to organize a few times over the past few years, I have reason to believe there is a tunnel of some significance near Crown Mountain in the hills above North Vancouver, BC, Canada. 

 You July/August edition of the Club Fat Ass newsletter is available at http://www.clubfatass.com/newsletter/2010/July

Enjoy!