Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Team Frontrunners at the Red Bull Divide and Conquer

Team Frontrunners Athlete, Mike Vine, titled his team as Frontrunners for this crazy and tough relay in Colorado.

Here is what he had to say;

I was in durango CO last weekend at a red bull event , the divide and conquer. I did the mtb leg, it was killer altitude! started at 7200' then climbed to 10600' quite abruptly. the rest, ie 2 1/2 hrs was at 10000-11000 ft along a ridgeline although felt like it was a 3 hr climb with a 15 min descent. we finished 7th overall, would've been right in there if our runner hadn't had a meltdown( hard to blame him when they went up to 13000' )

I had our team named "Frontrunners" and there should be some airtime on OLN when it's shown in Septmeber.

Check it out at: http://www.redbulldivideandconquer.com

Splash and Dash Summer Series in Victoria

“SPLASH N’ DASH” SUMMER SERIES

Fun swim/run time trial events throughout the summer
(Relay teams Welcome!)
When:
Tues, July 5th – 500m swim, 5 km run
Kids Race: 200m swim, 800m run

Tues, July 19th – 1000m swim, 3 km run
Kids Race: 300m swim, 1km run

Tues, August 2nd – 800m swim, 5 km run
Kids Race: 300m swim, 800m run

Tues, August 16th – 1000m swim, 3 km run
Kids Race: 400m swim, 1km run

Where: Eagle Beach, Elk Lake (small beach next to National Rowing Centre)

Time: 6pm – registration, marking, warm-up 6:30pm – event starts

Registration: 6pm day of event
Cost: $5 per event, $15 for the series
Please bring your own nutrition, water provided.

For more information contact Krista Hoffert @ nttc@pacificsport.com or 744-5535.

Notes from Dan the trail guy #29

Trail Bits

Well, a bunch of us can now say that we have run the complete GutBuster Half Marathon Course from start to finish; and what a run it was.
As I rolled into the parking lot at Westwood after having just stashed bananas, oranges and water for the group on Nanaimo Lakes Rd I was met by a group of extremely fit runners. Not that the rest of you aren’t really fit, but man oh man this group was really fit. There were Ultra marathoners, full Iron Man Tri-athletes and very, very seasoned marathoners in the group. I knew right away that the 3 or 4 of us regular Saturday morning folks were definitely going to be in for a good run. So off we went 1k, 2k, 3k, 4k, 5k and the next thing you know we are at the view point, all is well and we are still running fairly close together as a pack. After watering and a quick peak at the view we are off again; 6k, down hill to 7k and then onto the hydro lines where we run through waist deep grass for the next 1.5k, followed by a quick crossing of the Chase River and finally we reach the 9k point – Nanaimo Lakes rd – where, with the group still all intact we partake in a leisurely (10 minute) breakfast of fruit, water and Mars Bars. Off we go again, up a new hill that Norm must have specially created just for us. This hill is a beast to say the least. 10k, watching the leaders’ attack this hill ahead of me would be the last time I saw the leaders other than when they stopped at km 13 –the Circle - and waited for us trail sweepers (ass draggers) to catch up. It turned out that they only waited for us, because I knew the route and they didn’t. 14k, 15k…hey there is Norm and Jamie on their bikes, coming by to see what we thought of the hill. I can’t print what I told him. 16k, and we are back on the logging rd near the Big Cedar and again the leaders are waiting for me. 17k – down the Stairs, on to 18k and we are back at Nanaimo Lakes Rd. No stopping for water and snacks this time. The Ultra runners, Tri-athletes and the seasoned marathoners have hit their groove and they are good to go. So, back through the river and up the hydro lines (hot) to km 19 where we turned in to Morrell for the last couple of km back to the lake. The run took just a hair under 3 hours (2:57) and boy did the lake ever look good and feel good after the run. I survived!
The run was fantastic; the route is definitely tough - as it should be - but it changes so often in what it has to offer you to run on or through that you think you have been on 4 or 5 different runs. Will I run it again, of course I will, and hopefully you will think of coming with me.
The top times for the GB Humility Half should come in at around 1:40 – 1:50

I can’t report on the short run other than to tell you that 17 people showed up to run the Short Course and that the route was well liked.


Volunteering for the GutBuster Humility Half Marathon and 8.5k Trail races – July 9th. I will send out an email next week letting everyone know where and when I need you. A staple gun is good to bring if you have one. I also have a need for a sweeper for both the short course and long course. Any thoughts?

GutBuster Registration – Less than two weeks until the GB Road show pulls into Westwood Lake for two big runs. This year there will be a BBQ at the finish line area as well as music. Let’s try and have a good turnout of racers for our own home town event. Registration is available either on line at http://www.gutbustertrailrun.com or via a drop off entry form which is available at Frontrunners and can be dropped at Frontrunners.

Sean Lunny - racing as part of the Supplier Pipeline Team finished in the top 20 of the Bend Oregon - Raid World Cup Adventure Race this past weekend. This is the same group of racers that compete in the Eco Challenge that you see on TV. Good work Sean.
· Speaking of Sean, he has to cancel next MONDAYS AB CLASS.

Steve Osaduik – had a 5th place finish behind 4 Kenyan runners at the Scotiabank Half Marathon in Vancouver this past weekend. Steve’s time was 1:05:49 at a pace of 3:08 per km. To put that into perspective, Steve would run Westwood Lake in 18:48 at that pace. Congratulations to Steve on his great race.

ROC SPONSORED EVENTS;
July 9th is the Westwood Lake Half Marathon GutBuster – ROC provides course marshals and start/finish line volunteers and receives a per racer commission in return.
September 11th is the Nanaimo Daily News Harbour City Half Marathon & 10K Road Race….what more need I say.

6. This weekends run will be led by Brad Richardson and Hazel. Meet at Westwood Lake at 7:00am. After the GutBuster next weekend we will start rotating the run locations…promise!

Early Warning: Strathcona Park Trail Run – July 16th – We drive up to the Nordic Lodge ( most – not all - elevation gain is done by car) where we set out on the trails that lead through Paradise Meadows, up to Helene Mackenzie Lake, Kwai Lake, Battleship Lake and back to the lodge. Further details after The GutBuster is out of the way.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Help Needed for July 8th and 9th.

Nanaimo
Humility Half-Marathon and 8Km Short Course GutBuster
A Runners of Compassion Event
July 9th

As some of you already know, July 9th is the date of the Humility Half Marathon GutBuster and 8km Short Course GutBuster Trail Races which both start and finish at Westwood Lake. Both of these races are part of the GutBuster Trail Running Series and both will again attract a large turnout of trail racers. This year we (myself, Norm Thibault and Stefan Jakobsen) have extended the short course by about 1.5 km and made it a measured 8.5 KM Trail race and we have also extended the long course by just over 10 KM and made it a “measured” Half Marathon Trail Race. Having run both of the new race routes I can tell you first hand that the people are going to love the 2005 courses. The fact we are offering an actual off road, measured half marathon race is creating a buzz in the trail running community throughout BC and Alberta and already we have several out of province entries as well as several from the Interior.

The Nanaimo stop on the series has the tradition and history of attracting the largest turnout of racers. Why is that? It is because we offer the most scenic race courses of the series which are run on some of the best single track trails on Vancouver Island, plus we have the best on course support of all the races. That is where you come in.

In order to keep up the tradition of offering a fantastic race we need volunteers. I need a number of volunteers either on both Friday afternoon (15 people) from 5:00pm – 9:00pm for pre-race flagging and/ or Saturday morning from 8:00 am – approximately 1:00pm for on course marshalling (30 plus volunteers). I also really need 5 people that can be available both Friday and Saturday that Norm and I can count on for being responsible for a set section of trail - A Section Leader. There are a number of you that quickly pop into my mind as being one of these Section Leaders.

Friday afternoon/evening – The 5 small teams of 2-3 people along with their Section Leader will head out and heavily “flag in” their assigned section of approximately 4-5 km of trail. Most of both race courses are un-marshaled so we rely on flagging and temporary signage to direct the racers. Norm and I will give you all quick instructions in how to properly flag in an “off road” course, plus we will both be out on the course helping you with this. We will supply all of the flagging tape and signage that you require. We ask that you bring your own staple gun and staples if you have one. The Friday afternoon/evening is actually quite fun and you can either run or hike it; t is your choice. It is a good opportunity to take a friend out on a hike and show them some of the trails that we run. Bring a snack along.

Saturday Morning – The section leader will head out with their assigned course marshals to their section of the race course and await the runners. After all the racers have gone through, the trail sweeper will run by and inform you that all racers are through and that you can start your way out. At this point you simply remove all of the flagging and signage and head your way back to the finish line area at Westwood Lake. There are separate draw prizes set up just for the volunteers. Saturday volunteers will want to bring water and snacks as you could be out on the course for about 3 - 4 hours. Saturday will also see The Nanaimo Ham Radio Operators out on course with you along with a couple of roving First Aid Attendants. There is a water station being set up on where the Half Marathon Route crosses Harewood Mines Rd if you don’t want to go in the back country due to injuries or for some other reason.

So if you can help, which Runners of Compassion hopes you can, please send me Dan Brady an email at danbrady@shaw.ca letting me know your availability. If you have a cell phone can you please provide me your number as well so I can compile a list of numbers for communication purposes on race day?

Thank you,

Dan Brady

Bastion Bits

Here is the latest news, updates, etc:

1) I am pleased to announce that we now have a Picture Gallery and Chat Board set up on our website www.bastionrunning.ca thanks to our webmaster Rick Harmeson! It's easy to register for the Chat Board as I just did so about 15 minutes ago and posted a note to all members. If you have any digital pictures you would like to share with the club, they can be posted on the Picture Gallery. If you have any questions or difficulties on either of these new features, please contact Rick at rharmeson@gmail.com. Thanks again Rick for setting these up!

2) The Hospital Foundation 5k Fun Run raised over $7500 in cash for our local hospital! Thanks to all the members who either volunteered or participated in this worthwhile event and to the Runners of Compassion for their monetary support!

3) Speaking of ROC, they are in need of volunteers to assist with the Nanaimo GutBuster Trail 1/2 marathon & 8k race on July 9th. Assistance is needed on the Friday and Saturday(day of race). If you can help, contact Dan Brady at danbrady@shaw.ca.

4) Also, check out our website for news on the next "breakfast at the lake" information and other up-to-date news.

Thanks and have a great weekend....Steve.

Notes from Dan the trail guy #28

Trail Bits

Wow, a short run, we only ran (walked a fair amount) for about 45 or 50 minutes while we were out cleaning trails. What a novelty – don’t expect that to often though! A BIG THANKS to all of you that showed up and helped and thanks to all of you that showed up with your pruners, clippers and saws. We managed to get a lot of work done in a very short period of time and the route is now race ready. All we need now is to get out on July 8th & 9th and flag in the race routes. I went back out on Sunday morning and hiked the same route that we ran on Saturday while I was measuring parts of the Half Marathon Trail race route. The loop we did Saturday was 7.5 kilometers in length. It sure feels farther when you are actually running it.

The full course of what we fondly refer to as the “GutBuster Humility Half” has now been completely measured and I am happy to tell you that what Norm and I guessed might be close to being 21k in distance, is actually that distance. Nanaimo can now boast that it has an actual measured Half Marathon distance “off road” race route and a measured “off road” 8.5k race route. On top of that we also have the Athletics Canada Certified Half Marathon and 10k Road Race Routes plus the measured and marked 6 kilometer route at Westwood Lake. No matter if your preference is road or rock, Nanaimo now has a measured route for you to run…..so get out and do it!

GutBuster Humility Half Marathon and 8.5k Trail races – July 9th. I have had an overwhelming response from people offering to help on Friday night. I think that word got out that we try to go for a beer after flagging and not coffee. I am still in need of a dozen or so more people for race day marshalling if you and or friends or family want to spend some time in the woods on Saturday. Choose from either the Start Finish Line – Water Station – or on the race Route, it’s your choice. Let me know if you can make it.
I also have a need for a sweeper for both the short course and long course. Any thoughts?

GutBuster Registration - is available either on line at http://www.gutbustertrailrun.com or via a drop off entry form which is available at Frontrunners and can be dropped at Frontrunners.

Nanaimo Daily News Harbour City Half Marathon and 10K Learn to Run Programs – We need to get some more people signed up for the Learn to Run 10K Clinic. If you know of people that have been trying to make up their mind about it, ask them to sign up. Please pass the word around. There are still a few spots left in the Half Marathon Training Clinic.

ROC Technical shirts – Nice shirts

Tuesday Afternoon runs – there is an “informal and unofficial” Tuesday afternoon trail run which starts at 4:30 in the parking lot at Westwood. The Tuesday run is a one group, one speed affair. Very few if any stops and we run for about an hour or so. This group generally likes to work the hills. It is very informal, sometimes a number of people show up, sometime it is one or two. All depends. Like I said it is unofficial and informal.

ROC SPONSORED EVENTS;
July 9th is the Westwood Lake Half Marathon GutBuster – ROC provides course marshals and start/finish line volunteers and receives a per racer commission in return.
September 11th is the Nanaimo Daily News Harbour City Half Marathon & 10K Road Race….what more need I say.

This Weekends Run
Hhhmmmm – Which to do? There will be two choices this weekend. A short route and a little bit longer route. Both options will start out together at 7:00 AM from the Westwood Lake Parking Lot. Option # 1 - is a pre-race run of the 8.5km GutBuster Short Course plus a loop of the lake. I will arrange a leader for this group. 60 minutes.

Option # 2 – is a pre-race run of the GutBuster Humility Half long course. I will lead this group and I guarantee you we will be running at an easy pace and we will walk a couple of the bigger hill attacks. This run will be about 2.5 - 3 hours in length. YOU MUST bring your own water and a snack. You can’t possibly do this distance without replenishing. We do not need someone bonking out on us from lack of nourishment. There will be several places during the long run that you can opt out and head back to the lake if you find the run too daunting of a task. Please email me back if you think you might want to run the Humility Half with me. We could start out early than 7:00 if interest is there.

Monday, June 13, 2005

Notes from Dan the Trail Guy #27


Trail Bits

By now the extremely large contingent of Runners of Compassion marathoner runners should have all returned from Port Angles. The weekend away was amazing as was the positive energy that was given off by everyone. In total there were 22 runners in the full marathon, 46 runners in half marathon and 4 crew members in the marathon yachting division, plus several injured members and family members that came down to Port Angeles. (I will give you the details of the marathon yachting trip later). The day prior to race day started out with sunshine and very little, if any wind and held promise for nice conditions on race day. Well, that all changed by around 9:00 am that morning as the wind started to blow and continued to blow throughout the day, eventually getting so strong that the last Coho Ferry sailing out of Victoria had to turn around and be assisted back in to the Victoria Harbour. Was it an omen of things to come?

Marathon Boating Trip - As 64 of us were sitting down to dinner in Port Angeles, the 4 members in the marathon yachting division were still out on the water trying to battle their way in to Victoria’s Inner Harbour. The Richardson’s and Frazier’s had left Roche Harbour on Saturday afternoon for what was to be a “three hour cruise” (sound familiar) to Port Angeles. Shortly after entering Haro Straight the wind that we were encountering in Port Angeles hit the Strait with Gale Force winds which created HUGE cresting waves. The voyage across the straight to Port Angeles was quickly abandoned and the decision to make for shelter in Victoria was made. If you thought that the ferry crossing to Port Angeles was rough, well it was apparently nothing compared to what the 37ft Motor Vessel the Richardson’s and Frazier’s encountered. Big Winds, lots of big rolling breakers and lots of white and green water. Kathleen told me on the phone this morning that she can know claim to have stared death in the face and lived to tell about it. The good thing to report is that the boat and crew are all safe and sound in Nanaimo.

Anyways, back to the race. Race day started out a little bit cloudy with a light breeze. This breeze quickly turned into a fairly strong head wind by the start of the race. At least it was sunny. The course that both the full and half follows is an extremely beautiful trail way system that wanders through farming areas and wooded areas before working it’s way down to the ocean where the trail way follows the shore line all the way to the finish. The trail way surface included sections of pavement and chip gravel. Even with the wind and sun, the Nanaimo and the Central Island gang did extremely well. 8 of the marathoners’ ran times that qualified them for the Boston Marathon and numerous people in both the Half & Full collected hardware for finishing in the top three of their age groups. All in all a fantastic weekend was had; lots of laughs, suntans and lots of good times were had by all (except the members in the yachting division). The ROC booth that Charline Sinclair took care of arranging, setting up and manning for the duration of the Race Expo was a big hit with the Port Angeles race crowd as were the new ROC shirts that were on display. Charline ended up selling all of the display shirts.
Special Thanks to: Charline for taking care of the booth; Stefan and John who biked the course and were such positive support along the way; Owen, Lou, Karen & friend, Allan, Lisa R, Dale H, Steve G, Darren (Dee’s partner) and all the rest of you who helped make up such a big cheering section at the finish line. I know from talking to a lot of the finishers that your energy helped them to finish strong. And thank you to my neighbors!



New Balance Half Iron Man – Norm Thibault is in need of volunteers for this years New Balance Half Iron in Victoria this coming Sunday. If you would like to volunteer at the ½ Iron please contact Norm’s right hand gal, Allison at jasonandalison@shaw.ca

Mt. Doug GutBuster – While most of us were in Port Angeles slacking off, a number of our ROC Trail Runners were down in Victoria for what Stefan and John Lowen described as the toughest GB EVER!. The Mt. Doug GutBuster race was a qualifying race for the Canadian Trail Running Team, so the big dogs were in town…..results - Stefan 3rd over all; John 6th over all; Bobby Jensen 3rd female over all; Janine Widsten 6th female over all; Other Nanaimoites racing on Saturday included – Gary Croome, Eric Diebert, Tony Pires, John Bird, Matt Word and Barry Roscoe. Other than J. Bird, M. Word and B. Roscoe, all the Nanaimo trail racers present were ROC members….WAY TO GO EVERYONE>

Frontrunners Clinic - Frontrunners Tuesday Night Clinics. Tomorrow, June 14th will be the last drop-in clinic until September at Frontrunners. As is tradition they will be running the clinic Olympics "Climpics". This is a great time and a bit of a fast twitch workout. 6:30 at Frontrunners. Clinics will start up again early September.

10k and Half Marathon Learn to Run Programs – We need to get some more people signed up for the Learn to Run 10K Clinic. If you know of people that have been trying to make up their mind about it, ask them to sign up. Please pass the word around. There are still a few spots left in the Half Marathon Training Clinic.

Fund Raising Opportunity – July 9th is the Westwood lake GutBuster. We are still in need of a group or an organization to run a BBQ if you know of anyone?

GutBuster Long Course Work Party. – Is going to be held in conjunction with weeks Saturday Morning Trail run. I will need to call on a few volunteers to bring small hand pruners and small hand saws. We will be cleaning up the Humility/Abyss – Cabin Connector Section of the Long Course.

Port Angeles has now Cometh and now gone – I have attached a spread sheet showing the results of the Central Island runners.

ROC Technical shirts – ARE NOW IN STOCK at FRONTRUNNERS.

ROC SPONSORED EVENTS;
July 9th is the Westwood Lake Half Marathon GutBuster – ROC provides course marshals and start/finish line volunteers and receives a per racer commission in return.
September 11th is the Nanaimo Daily News Harbour City Half Marathon & 10K Road Race….what more need I say.

This weekend we return to the Humility Abyss for a combination of Trail Running and Trail Clearing. 7:00am on the side of the road, under the power lines on Harewood Mines Road. This will be a shortened version of the loop as we will be taking the Cabin Connector. Run time will be about 65 – 70 minutes

Gutbuster Route now Posted

A note from Bryan Tasaka

Hey Guys,
The map is now updated and now on the website. Thanks for all your help with the info this week. Dan, could you post something on the PIH website and the Frontrunners’ Blog that it’s now available.

Later, Bryan
MIND OVER MOUNTAIN EVENT CO. LTD.
Organizers of the Mind Over Mountain Adventure Racing Series & the Frontrunners GutBuster Trail Running Series
#3 - 2960 W.2nd Avenue, Vancouver, BC V6K 1K4
p.604.676.3075 c.250.715.8933 f.604.676.3076
bryan@mindovermountain.com
www.mindovermountain.com
www.gutbustertrailrun.com

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Notes from Dan the Trail Guy #26

Trail Bits

What a bunch! We started out with a promise (hope) of only running the new 8Km GutBuster Short course. A nice little 8km trail run, a taper run as far as trail runs go. BUT oh no, the masses wouldn’t allow that. Once we reached the view point up above the lake the comments of “we can’t only run an hour; an hour run isn’t worth getting out of bed for; come on, it’s only an extra 4 km more to do the full GutBuster” were heard. So off we went with three newbie’s in tow to do the full 12km GB. Well wouldn’t you know it, once we started the attack of the second ridge the complaining started? “Man this thing is steep; whose idea was this anyways; I thought you said we were only running the short course”. Well you know what, when you run a trail, you always have to be prepared for the unexpected. It might be a hill bigger than what you expected or it might be a large group of your friends suddenly loosing there minds due to altitude sickness and deciding that the full GutBuster is a nice way to taper one week before a marathon.
All kidding aside, we had a fantastic run. 30 people showed up for a nice easy run of the GB. The new people even said they enjoyed it.

Robin Dutton – GOOD NEWS - Robin is recovering well and is expecting to be discharged on Wednesday. When I spoke with Robin on Monday afternoon he was proud to tell me that he had taken twenty steps during his afternoon therapy. I thought I should buy Robin a copy of the movie Misery as a going home present, I think he needs to know what home nursing can be like. Actually, he will be in extremely good hands at home. He will have the lovely Kari as his own private nurse.

ROC Funds Distribution – last Saturday morning your ROC Board of Directors met and after much deliberation it was agreed that the 7-10 organization would reach the greatest number of the neediest of Nanaimo residents and should receive the major funding of $5,000.00. It was further agreed that we should fund Loaves and Fishes $1,500.00 for a dairy cooler that they need in order to be able to store and distribute protein products such as cheese and milk to those families that they distribute food to. It was further agreed that we should also fund Nanaimo Food Share $1,000.00 right now because summer is approaching and they tend to run low on food during the summer months.

10k and Half Marathon Learn to Run Programs – There is still space available in both of these programs, so please tell your friends and family. The clinic training is being adjusted in order to accommodate training for the Royal Victoria Half and Full Marathon as well as the Nanaimo Daily News Harbour City Half.

Fund Raising Opportunity – July 9th is the Westwood lake GutBuster. We still need a group to run an organization to run a BBQ if anyone know someone.

GutBuster Long Course Work Party. – Sometime next week I will need to call on a few volunteers for an after dinner work party. We will be cleaning up the Humility/Abyss portion of the Long Course. The race route takes the Cabin Connector Trail, not the full loop we usually run, so the route we will be cleaning is only about 6 or 7 km .

Port Angeles Cometh – June 12th – Boy will I be glad when I fed all of you that are coming. Yes, there is now vegetarian Lasagna available, Yes you can sub rice for Mac& Cheese or the pasta, Yes, they will take care of wheat/gluten allergies, etc. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT YOU WILL NEED TO TELL YOUR SERVER THAT YOU WANT TO MAKE SUBSITUTIONS, HAVE ALLERGIES, HOW YOU LIKE YOUR MEAT, ETC. I am only telling them the number of each item we are needing.

ROC Technical shirts – ARE NOW IN STOCK. Why not buy one and wear it in Port Angeles.. Net Proceeds from the sale of the shirts is being split between Frontrunners and ROC. A big Thank You to Stefan and Norm for their continuing support of Runners of Compassion and the work we do.

ROC SPONSORED EVENTS;
July 9th is the Westwood Lake Half Marathon GutBuster – ROC provides course marshals and start/finish line volunteers and receives a per racer commission in return.
September 11th is the Nanaimo Daily News Harbour City Half Marathon & 10K Road Race….what more need I say.

Well this weekend there are approximately 60 people from Nanaimo heading down to Port Angeles for this weekends North Olympic Discovery Trail Half & Full Marathon. That means that there won’t be that many of us left in town to run this weekend and I am not sure which trail leaders are available either. For those of you coming to Port Angeles, see you at dinner on Saturday night or at the start line. For those of you remaining in town, how about you all meet at Westwood Lake at 7:00 am and see who shows up. Next week we should see an increase in the number of trail runners with the return of the road warriors who have been pounding the pavement week after week in preparation for P.A.

Bastion: Breakfast at the Lake

Hello Bastion Members

In keeping with tradition (I don't know how many years it takes to make a tradition so I am making an executive decision) there will be Breakfast at the Lake for the summer months.

Starting this Saturday June 11th 10:00 am there will be coffee, juice, fruit, and sandwiches at Westwood Lake for all you hungry and thirsty runners.

Please check the website for the next date for Breakfast at the Lake.

Also keep checking the website for some exciting new changes that will be coming in the not so distant future, a bulletin board, photo gallery etc. Remember to check the website for up and coming events.

Judy Orosz

Bastion Bits

Here is some updated news for Bastion Club members:

-The club needs a Vancouver Island Runners Association(VIRA) representative to take over for Sherri Wade who is unable to continue due to other commitments. This individual is required to attend 4 meetings a year and represent our club. 1 of the 4 is in Victoria and the rest are in Nanaimo. The next meeting is scheduled in Nanaimo during the month of September. The VIRA rep is required to basically act as a politician, make no decisions on behalf of the club at the meeting and bring back the information for the club to vote on. If you are interested, please contact Sherri at swade@pacificsport.com. I would like to thank Sherri for taking on this role for more years than I can count!

-Our club website now has criteria information on the Bastion Running Club Award and the Bastion Running Club Travel Fund under "Club Award" on our homepage. I am pleased to announce that the first recipient of the Bastion Running Club Award is Kevin Friesen. I will be presenting Kevin with a $300 award Thursday night at the Nanaimo & District Secondary School Award night. Congratulations Kevin!

Thanks....Steve Gagliano