Notes from Dan the Trail Guy #45

Trail runs now start at 7:30 am

Remember to start out slow for the first 10 minutes.

What a gang was at the lake on Saturday. There must have been close to 50 of you, with lots of new faces in the crowd. The group was split into three before leaving the parking lot and away you all went. Two groups did the Westwood Ridges and one group did the Saddle. I apologize that we didn’t take time to do a quick introduction of everyone for those of you that are new. We will try and do that this Saturday. I would love to have some feed back regarding the runs from those of you that are new to the Saturday Trail Running Group. The next couple of runs will be based out of Westwood Lake, but will all be run on different routes. That is the beauty of having this great resource in our back yard. It offers so much variety.

Congratulations to those of you that ventured down to Shawnigan on a wet and blustery day. John Lowen was third over all. Good Work John.

Again, If you have a new trail that you would like to take us out on please email me and let me know. Any new trail runs should be at least 60-70 minutes or more in length. I will be scheduling runs to Ammonite Falls, Top Bridge - Rathtrevor Park Combo, Holland Creek (Ladysmith) and the Nanoose Hills. If you want to lead one of these runs, please let me know a date that works for you.


Helly Hansen-ROC Toques, ROC Technical Shirts & 2006 ROC Calendars - are all now in stock at Frontrunners.

Party Tickets - An amazing number of tickets have been sold. Don’t delay on getting yours. There are still some available from Frontrunners or Kathleen. If you have tickets and haven’t paid for them yet, watch out the SOCIAL COMMITTEE will be after you. Not a group of girls you want to have chasing you down. Please get your money in as soon as possible.

Thetis Lake Relays – November 11th, Remembrance Day, 1:00pm. Get your team together.

GutBuster Schedule – Happy to announce that ROC Victoria is hosting the opening race of the 2006 Frontrunners GutBuster Trail Racing Series, March 5th. Nanaimo ROC will again be hosting the season closer of the series, the Westwood Lake GutBuster Half Marathon & 8km Short Course – JULY 16th. This is the weekend after the Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival so more of you should be able to race. Here is the web link for the GutBuster Series http://www.gutbustertrailrun.com and the MOMAR Adventure Racing Series http://www.mindovermountain.com

Frontrunners News - TONIGHT - They will be having an Adidas Testing Day at Frontrunners on the Tuesday night clinic.

Runners of Compassion Notice Board – The Board has been updated with photos of the Golf Tourney (not all photos turned out…sorry) and photos of Port Angeles.

This weekends trail run – This coming weekend – November 1, 2005 will be about a 1:20 run (one hour and 20 minutes) of the Morell Nature Sanctuary..….Start time is 7:30am, Meet in the main Westwood Lake Parking lot.! YES you will be running the trails in Morrell this weekend, no surprise detours up to the ridges…promise! Let’s decide if we should move back to 7:00 am start time. Majority rules. Vote at the lake.

Hey, if you are like me and unable to run right now, but need to get out and do something, bring your MTB to the lake and you can join me for a ride. Nothing Technical, a lit bit of the Westwood Lake Trail, the power lines, a bit of Morell.

Arrowsmith Bikes is the store and Robin Dutton (ROC member) is the owner- Arrowsmith Bikes which is new to Nanaimo is open as of TODAY

Early Warnings

· NOV 11 Thetis Lake Relays – ROAD TRIP! - The Thetis Lake Relays ($20.00 for a team) which takes place on Friday November 11th (Remembrance Day) is a 4 X 5km Team Relay all run on single track trails.
· NOV 12 Frontrunners Annual Shop Party – November 12th, DJ, Lots of Friends, Lots of Food, Lots of Fun, Scooter Racing, more details to come each week.
· NOV 20 Nanaimo Track & Field Harbour Front 5Km – November 20th , Location and time to be announced, this is a fundraiser for the Track & Field Club
· NOV 26 Gunner Shaw Cross Country – Saturday November 26th, Thetis Lake Park Victoria, if you consider yourself a trail runner then you must come to this race with us. It is one of the oldest x/c trail races in BC. Draws a great crowd. Amazing course. It can be wet!!!! Put it on your calendar right now, so you don’t double book yourself.
· NOV 27 Women Run Wild – Girls only. Annual fund raiser for Haven House. Details at Frontrunners or via Women’s Pace website.
· DEC 1 Nanaimo Give & Go! – Thursday December 1st is the date of the 3rd Annual Nanaimo Give and Go!
· DEC 10 Stewart Mountain Cross Country – 10 miles on a really classic cross country course.
· DEC 4 Frosty Foot Race - December 4th, 2005, Bowen Park, Nanaimo, 10 am start, registration 9:15, 10km Run, 5km Run or Walk, 1km Tot Trot
· JAN 1st Bastion Running Club’s Run & Dip – New Years Day, Westwood Lake, Time - TBA, one lap or more of the lake, followed by a very quick dip in the lake. Rain or shine, snow or sleet, it doesn’t matter, Darrell and the Bastion crew will be there waiting for you. Great way to start off 2006.