Pilot Bay Trail Running Race May 6, 2012

Hopefully we will have a "normal" spring this year where our trails open up in mid-april and therefore can hold a spring trail running race. We tried last year, but spring came sometime around July!

The spring race is confirmed for May 6th. The race will be held at Pilot Bay Provincial Park in Crawford Bay, just across the Kootenay lake ferry.

There will be an approx. 10km and 22km race route. I ran the trails last year and they are amazing with lots of ups and downs and gorgeous views of the lake- you will be entertained! Both courses are ALL singletrack and very runnable. It's a great day to bring along the family too as there are wonderful trails along the lake to go for a small hike or picnic to keep busy.

If anyone is planning to get in shape for the awesome Kaslo Sufferfest in the fall this is the opportunity to get going!

All proceeds for this race will go to the Tipi Camp a non profit society who's mission statement says it all:

"The objective of the Guiding Hands Recreation Society is to educate people about the value of nature and outdoor recreation to teach individual responsibility for conservation, ecological awareness and sustainability"

I will post all the information you'll need by Mid April, but keep the date booked in your running plans as that wont change!....

If anyone has any questions, please fire me off an e-mail at randy@spearhead.ca

Winter Biking, Running and Spring Trail Running Race

You have to work real hard to shake off those Kootenay winter doldrums some of us face every December/January. So instead of giving in (for me that could be a lot of movies and going to bed at 8pm) I've found you just need to embrace it, be creative, there's always something fun waiting just around the corner or your imagination.
Snow biking is one way to have a great night out. The boys at NRG in Nelson (who are the distributor for these bikes made by Surly) graciously let me take their bikes for a spin. I have to say it was a great workout and an amazing amount of fun, especially on a bright moonlit night.
We rode for 3 1/2 hrs on a combination of rail trails, singletrack and logging roads for a fun 25km.
I just started to get back into running after a two month hiatus with some nice easy 1-2 hour runs around town mixing up different terrain to keep it fun and interesting. I do only have six weeks to get ready for a fun run in Nicaragua, if I am so inclined physically to challenge.
I figure a nice fun day out seeing 50km of Nicaraguan back country can't be that bad...that said, I am not a fan of the heat and humidity, especially the combination of them! The last time I experienced this, was only a couple a hundred kilometres to the south in Costa Rica at the 3 day LaRuta bike race- ouch did I suffer :( ....

Bill and I are looking to put on a spring trail race in Pilot Point, on the East Shore, probably the end of April. The trails there are amazing, with beautiful views of Kootenay Lake. Being low down at lake level, these trails usually open early in the season. I'll probably put some more info up in February, so check back then- but I am thinking of a shorter 8-10km route and a 15-20km one for those with a few km on the legs.

When running becomes a hastle- try ski touring

As much as I miss running, there comes a time of the year in the Kootenays, where it is just not meant to be- yet the mountains are still beckoning my call. So with the trails covered over in their deep sleep for the winter, I suppose we should take that as a hint to go enjoy other gifts we're given. Anyways, if you want to work those quads over the winter with minimal strain on the knees and other joints, then a good day of ski touring is the perfect activity.
Of course some Nordic skate skiing thrown into the mix too, provides a great break on my body before another season of trail running starts. That said; the 2012 season is around the corner with lots of fun adventures to be had starting with a 50km trail race in Nicaragua in February up some volcano on a small island on Lake Nicaragua.
http://www.lostworldsracing.com/prologue-race-isla-de-ometepe-nicaragua/
I suppose I better start some long logging road runs again in January?....
Of course I will be going back to the Earl Grey Pass again this summer with some unfinished business as well as the Rockwall trail and maybe even a spring R2R2R run across the Grand Canyon and back, but that might be a little much too early in the season. I also hope I can inspire more local folks to come out and enjoy some of these adventures- you'd be surprised what you can accomplish! If any runs interest you, please let me know.
Hmmmm.....nice for November!

This couloir is looking filled in and yummy!

Kaslo Sufferfest

The 2nd annual Sufferfest went off this past weekend, bringing in some 300 racers to participate in the biking and running events. Janis, the event coordinator, as well as the whole town of kaslo, did an amazing job of putting on this fun filled festival weekend.
Originally the 5okm trail run was to run through the high alpine and finish in Kaslo and this is what got me excited about checking it out as I love the journey so much more than the race. Although the route was changed to two 25km loops around the Kaslo area, it was quite fun keeping Lex and I entertained for many hours.
We started at 6am in the pitch black in downtown kaslo. It was a perfect 12 degrees out- even a little humid. We started the run with a 5km - 2000' steep climb out of Kaslo before leveling off onto some wonderful rolling singletrack which traversed Mt Buchanan. Before we new it we rolled through the first 25km loop in 2:35 feeling really fresh. At km 35 we definitely started to feel like our legs were now heading into virgin territory at this distance so things started to slow down for sure. By km 45, although we liked descending, the steep downhills were tough on the legs at this point. We did keep up a nice steady pace till the finish, but not with the same pep as we did on the first loop. I think next year we will be ready to handle a 50km race with much more smoothness all the way to the finish line! In the end we were both really happy with our time of 5:40 as my goal was for a sub 6hr day. Other than dealing with some leg cramping I felt great at the finish...Lex, the rock star, didn't seam to have any issues at all.
Being only my second year of running, It was great to accomplish my year end goal of a 50km trail running race. That said; I'm not really looking to race much beyond that (famous last words) but I am really excited about finding more exploratory mountain runs in that 50-80km range for fun next year as I know I am surrounded by so many of them here in the Kootenays and Rockies.
Bill finished 3rd in his age group in the men's 10km
Lex and I at the finish of the 50km race

Lex in the 50km -60+ wins again!

Smallwood Results

Thanks to everyone for coming out and having a blast on the Smallwood Trails and helping to raise over $800 for Habondia's Lending Society.

It was a perfect sunny Kootenay fall day. Everyone not only finished, but all the times were fast too!

Hope to see you all at the Sufferfest in a few weeks.....

See below for the results

12km RaceMens:

Shawn Degroot 1:10:33

Peter locke 1:17:00

Graeme Marshall 1:17:20

Kelly Robertson 1:28:04

Stanley Soukeroff 1:29:39

Sem Marsland 1:39:00

Rob Marsland 1:58:54

12km womens

Jill Winters 1:38:29

Kim Irving 1:47:15

Sarah Dobell 1:50:42

Theresa Southam 1:58:34

Shandi Millar 2:01:52

Kari Kroker 2:06:15

Angie McTague 2:06:27

Irene Brinkman 2:18:45

25km Mens

Nelson Rocha 2:39:00

Sacha Kalebas 2:46:01

Lex Baas 3:03:38

Gerry Moore 3:03:53

Greg Smith 3:17:14

Womens

Carolyn Donnelly 3:06:25

Sara Sheehan 3:07:08

Genevieve LaChance 3:12:58

Janis Neufeld 3:19:34

Liz Edwards 3:25:05

Smallwood Mountain Run Challenge

Please click on the August posts in the Blog archive and scroll down to the Race Page for all details on the Run

Seven Summits

After some heavy procrastinating whether I should drive 5 hours out to Kootenay National Park to run the 55km Rockwall Trail, I opted out for something closer to home that I new didn't have snow on the trail from Thursday's stormy weather. So the next best thing was the Seven Summits Trail in Rossland, which is only a 50min drive to the trail head.
It was the first sign of frost this fall as it was 3 degrees, but gloriously sunny out on the trail.
I was actually looking forward to running this solo (sorry Lex- I know you wanted to run this trail, but we will!)...Because there is no water on this 37km mountain run, I didn't even bring my dog who gave me that guilty "death stare" when he saw me leave with my running gear in the morning.

As usual, I needed all of the first hour climb to settle into the run. I don't think it was the elevation bugging me as I haven't had many days over 7000' this year, I think I was just so excited, that I couldn't contain myself from going too fast to start...Well okay- the truth is- just as I was about to leave the trail head the first car with bikers showed up, and they said something like "see you in a bit down the trail" ...I thought that was rather presumptuous of them, so I said "well maybe"... damn- the race was on...
Cresting the first big climb at around 10km I was feeling- well all you trail runners know- high as a kite on endorphins, as my heart settled in, ready for the next summit up a head as seen in the above photo and happy that the bikers were no where yet in site!
The weather couldn't have been any better, maybe warming up to that perfect 18 degrees up above 7000' and not a cloud in site.


Not easy timing those self-timed photos!

I was hoping to just have to run the 30km seven summits trail to the Cascade Hwy access road, but there was no one there to hitch a ride out with, so I was stuck running the 7km Dewdney Trail down to the Paved Hwy- which is a nice 2000' descent for the bikers, but a pounder on the running legs...
The 37km run took 4:38 Hwy to Hwy...Had to walk a little while I was hitching back to the trail head, but it felt great to loosen the legs up on some flat ground...
All in all an amazing run. I think it is a better trail to run than even bike!...