Trail Bits #15 2006

ROC Trail Bits # 14

Lots of stuff to report on…….sorry!

Remember to bring your toonie on Saturday. Thank you for all your donations so far.

A thank you goes out to those of you that showed up to move the bikes on Saturday. Believe it or not there were 5 truckloads of bikes to move.

At the Monday night ROC Board of Directors meeting funding applications were approved for the following; $ 900.00 for the Nanaimo Rec & Reading program. This is a summer reading program which helps children whose reading levels are below their age level. The money we have provided will be used for providing lunch for those children that are attending the program. The kids go for three weeks to all day sessions. There are two sessions this coming summer. According to the program Director the results of this program have been amazing.
$ 500.00 towards the Woodlands High School Spring Fling. The staff at Woodlands High School offers an eight week walk/run program to the students at the school, which culminates with a 6km run around Westwood Lake. Our funding helps to pay for the cost of transporting the kids to and from the lake as well as providing some funding for water and refreshments. This program, which we are funding for the third year has been very successful in getting the kids interested in running.
$ 300.00 in funding to help a family pay for their two sons Baseball registration as well as providing footwear and gloves. Financial circumstances of the family would have meant the two boys could not have played.
$ 500.00 in core funding to the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital 5km Run. This 5km run is organized by the Nanaimo banking community and is staged with the help of both Bastion Running Club and ROC. All proceeds from the race go to the NRGH.
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Over 60 people showed up for this past Saturdays for the run of the Westwood Ridges (original GutBuster Course). My understanding was that things went pretty smooth once the main body quickly broke up into 4 or 5 smaller groups. Did we get any pictures?? Apparently the real congestion took place at Starbucks when close to 50 sweaty runners all showed up at the same time all wanting some fancy concoction. Maybe now Starbucks will realize how much business we bring to them and maybe, just maybe they will re-consider being a sponsor of the Half Marathon.
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The Nanaimo, Island Cup Downhill mountain bike race, put on by Arrowsmith Bikes and the Nanaimo Mountain Bike Club, was not only the first in the island series but also in the province and they had a surprising high turn out. One Hundred twenty six riders (Island, Mainland, and Washington State) came out to challenge the short fun course of “Close Encounters” and “What’s its Name”, with a majority of the riders being under the age of 20. This was great to see so much enthusiasm in the younger riders because they are the future of the sport. The racers were escorted up the hill in crew cab trucks provided by National Rental car and the shuttles started at 9:00 as the riders had to have at least one pre-ride under their belts. The race started at 12:00 and had the racers leave at one minute intervals, which gave everyone plenty of time to have a smooth run down. The winning time was 1:46:66, a tie down to the hundreds of a second between Dan Espeseth and Dean Tennant. The next stop for the DH Series is in Victoria and the XC series will be in Parksville on May 6/7 an event put on by Arrowsmith Mountain Cycle and the Arrowsmith Mountain Bike Club. The Nanaimo DH would not have been possible if not for the hard work and contributions from the Nanaimo Mountain Bike Club, The McGarrigle Family, Arrowsmith Bikes, National Rental Car and Race Face components….great effort by all.
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While all the bikers were out ripping up the trails on Sunday, Steve Osiaduk was in Campbell River tearing up the streets of Merville at their 15km Island Race Series event. In winning the event, Steve set a new course record with a time of 46:25 (3:06 per km pace). Steve will be heading over to London to compete in the prestigious Flora London Marathon on April 23rd.
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OPEN HOUSE – John Lowen and Bobbie-Jean Jensen are hosting an open house this Saturday for Karen Fry who is leaving Nanaimo to start a new job in Surrey.
Saturday, April 15, Any time after 7:00pm
BYOB
Bring an Appetizer or Sweet
3476 Falcon Dr. 729-3870
Everyone welcome!
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Mt. Tzouhalem GutBuster Race - the second race in the series is Saturday, April 15th. The race starts and finishes at Providence Farm. The winners of the draw for the complimentary entries into the Duncan GutBuster race are . There will be car pooling on Saturday from the Southgate Tim Horton’s at 8:15 am. Driving directions are as follows; Highway # 1 to Duncan, turn left on Trunk Rd, follow this road past the 7-11; the road turns into Mt. Tzouhalem Rd. Follow this road until you see the sign for Providence Farm; turn up the driveway. Have a great race.
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Adrenaline Weekend –If you pick up the April issue of Outside Magazine you will read inside that one of their suggested “Adrenaline weekends” starts out with Mountain Biking the trails on Hornby Island, followed by some rock climbing in the Horne Lake Caves area, dinner at Delicados in Nanaimo followed up the next day with some chutes and ladders riding (great single track with a bunch of man made drops and bridges) on the Duomont Trails. Pretty cool to have our region written up in such a major American Magazine.
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Upcoming events at Frontrunners –

April 18th. Adidas Fit Night - Come to Tuesday night clinic and test drive a pair of Adidas shoes. Arrive a little early to get sized up with a pair to try out for the clinic night. Clinic leaves shop at 6:30 so try to arrive by 6:15.

May 1st Brooks Women's Night 7- 9pm. Make it a girl’s night out! Your evening will include wine and nibblies, professional bra fittings and a motivational talk with Bobbie Jensen (voted soccer player of the decade, Brooks sponsored runner, world mountain running team, dedicated teacher and mother of twins). Doors open at 6:45, presentations start at 7pm. Space is limited. Please RSVP no later than Friday April 28th by calling Frontrunners at 729-8200.


This week’s run –This weeks run will be a run of the Saddle - The run starts in the Westwood Lake parking lot at 7:00am. I will be taking out a hiking group on Saturday if anyone is interested. Bring you Toonies please.
Upcoming Stuff
* indicates trail race
· GutBuster # 2Mt. Tzouhalem – April 15th
· Boston Marathon – April 17th
· Sooke Spring Triathlon – April 23rd
· Vancouver Sun Run – April 23rd
· Times Colonist 10K – April 30th
· Vancouver Marathon – May 7th
· Oceanside 10k – May 7th
· Island Relay – May 27th
· Knee Knacker 25km Trail Race, North Vancouver – May 28th
· Oak Bay Half Marathon – May 28th
· GutBuster # 3 Mt. Douglas, Victoria – June 3rd
· Panoramic Classic Triathlon, Saanich – June 4th
· Edge to Edge Half & Full Marathon, Tofino – June 11th
· New Balance Half Iron, Victoria – June 18th
· Kusim Klimb, Sayward – June 17th
· Scotia Bank Half Marathon, Vancouver – June 25th
· Comfortably Numb 25km Trail Race – June 25th
· GutBuster # 4 – Westwood Lake Half Marathon & 8km – July 16th
· Full (50Km) & Half (25km) Monty Trail Races, Victoria – August 19th
· Log Train Trail Half & Full Marathons, Port Alberni – August 20th