Notes from Dan the Trail Guy #52

Trail Bits

Congratulations to Norm & Wendy on their wedding and congratulations to Steve Osiaduk on his 7th place finish at the Canadian Cross Country Championships on the weekend. Norm & Wendy now get to head off on their honeymoon while Steve gets to start training for the World Championships taking place in Japan this coming April. The trail run in Nanoose drew another large crowd with close to 40 people venturing to Nanoose for the run. Reports of a Beaver sighting (?), frozen ponds, long climbs and beautiful views were turned in at coffee afterwards. It sounds like we have some nice additions to our inventory of run locations, if you have a route you want to take the group on let me know. Please remember to send in/hand in/mail in/drop off your membership renewal…Only $10.00

Don’t Forget the Bastion Running Club’s Run & Dip on New Years Day…………Westwood Lake…….11:00 am…..!!!

Plus BONUS ROC Boxing Day (Monday) Trail Run…7:30 am Westwood Lake…Westwood Ridge run….this will give you a good chance to burn off all that junk you ate and drank on Christmas Day

Runners of Compassion issues – I have attached two items in addition to the membership renewal for you to review. One is a letter of apology we received and one is an update in regards to the issue of a wheelchair division being in the 2006 race. I have posted copies at Frontrunners for you to review as well.

Frontrunners Clinic – Dec 6th this is the last clinic of 2005. As is tradition it will be some sort of a "secret" run. Usually a great "adventure". Please bring items for the food bank instead of the usual $2 as everything (food and $$) collected goes to the Christmas food bank in Nanaimo. Après clinic beverages at The Longwood Brewpub. Tuesday Night Clinics re-start on January 10th. There are still a few spots left in the half marathon and full marathon training clinics as well as the clinic for those wanting to give the longer distances a first attempt.

Hamperville – keeping in the tradition of ROC, the crowd is pretty evenly split on giving an answer to a question. Therefore I have spoken with Hamperville and we can have people show up at either time. Thursday Night (Dec 15th 6:00pm – 8:00pm) or Saturday afternoon (Dec 17th 2:00pm – 4:00pm) Please feel welcome to bring kids, family members, friends etc, the more the merrier they say. So take your pick

Beer Mile - The Second Annual Dave Smart Tribute Beer Mile – December 20th Oak Bay Track Come out and share in some laughs at our last event of 2005!!!
When: Tuesday, December 20th
Where: Oak Bay Track
Registration 6:30 pm
Race Start: 7:00 pm
Entry fee: $10 (which will include the Smart beer)
This year they’ve decided to brew their own “Smart Beer” for the event.
You’re entry fee of $10 will cover the cost of the beer and any profits from the sale of the Smart Beer will go directly to the foundation
* there is a van leaving from Frontrunners at 4:00pm if you want to go. Room for 8.

Runners of Compassion Bursary – On behalf of the Directors and Members of Runners of Compassion – Nanaimo Chapter, I am happy to announce that as a result our on going fund raising efforts we have been able to commit to two $1000.00 School District 68 Bursaries. One each will be awarded to a male & female Nanaimo student in financial need who has registered with a post secondary institution. There is a full written criteria available at the School Board offices.

Stewart Mountain Cross Country – is this Saturday at Thetis Lake Park. This is the next step up from the Gunner Shaw. http://pih.bc.ca/StewartMountain.html This baby is 10 miles in length (16km) and features lots and lots of single track, puddles, branches rocks and streams but most of it is very runnable wilderness trail. Give it a try, you won’t be disappointed.

Trail Run Leaders – as our trail runs become more and more popular, the needs to have more people take on leadership responsibilities is becoming very evident. I spoke with Brad and a couple of the other regular group leaders on the weekend and we all felt that if we had a few more people that were comfortable with leading the moderate paced and easy paced groups we could better accommodate the larger groups that are showing up and at the same time offer a more comfortable running environment/pace for everyone……….. If you are interested in talking about being a leader drop me a line. Everyone needs to remember that the original intent of the Saturday Trail run was that it was to be a social-group run. It was not the intent to have the Saturday morning run become the Saturday morning hard workout. Yes, we can push our selves while we are out, but lets not lose sight of why we get together.

This weeks run….7:30 am ……Westwood Lake…an hour and 20 or so.

Early Warnings
Tickets for the March 17th Show of David Gray (Orpheum Theatre) Pre-sales go on sale December 13th if you sign up at David Gray.com….General Sales December 16th

· 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.