Trail Bits 2006 #14

ROC Trail Bits # 14

Remember to bring your toonie on Saturday. We have collected almost half the
money needed for the First Aid Kit.

Last weekend was very busy in terms of things to do and choose from; there
was the usual Saturday morning run, there was the Whidbey Island Marathon,
the Sooke River 10k, and the Cross Country mountain Bike race on
Humility/Abyss, as well as the talk at Frontrunners. The week started off on
Wednesday night for a number of us that attended the Mind Over Mountain
Adventure Racing presentation that was put on by Frontrunners. Norm Thibault
and Dave Norona gave a great talk and slide show on Adventure Racing. They
have inspired a number of us to start training for the Cumberland Adventure
race in September.

The Saturday morning run of Linley was very well attended despite the nice
warm April showers; I understand a few not so dedicated people stayed in bed
because of the rain..what is with that?? As expected the trails in Linley
were rocky, rooty, muddy and slippery. The trails in the valley probably
offer the widest variety of running surfaces of all the trails we run on. A
great area for training to run the trails. The report from Whidbey Island is
that the scenery was spectacular, but the hills were long and plentiful. 37
people from Nanaimo (12 guys & 25 gals) and almost all ROC members had a
great road trip. Our own Stefan Jakobsen won the Half Marathon with a
personal best of 1:11:37. Full results are available at
www.perfecttimeevents.com
<http://www.perfecttimeevents.com/>

Bob, Suzanne and I were spectators at the Humility/Abyss Cross Country race
on Sunday, which was hosted by Arrowsmith Bikes and is part of the Island
Cup. The race appeared to be well attended with over 60 riders from all over
the Island showing up for the first race ever held on those trails. To give
you an idea of how tough that loop is to ride on a bike, it took most riders
almost as long to rider a loop as it does for us to run it. One thing is for
sure, we end up a heck of a lot cleaner at the end than those riders did.
Man where they dirty.

Sorry, no Sooke River report as of this time.

*     Mt. Tzouhalem GutBuster Race - the second race in the series is
Saturday, April 15th. The race starts and finishes at Providence Farm. I
mistakenly told you that it started at the Ships Point Pub. Old race
route..sorry. I have two free entries to the race to give away. Email me
your name if you want to be included in the draw. I will do the draw on
Monday, so don't delay.

*     Mountain Bike Racing - Robin Dutton and Arrowsmith Cycles are holding
another mountain bike race on the April the 9th.  Registration starts at
10:00 and racing commences at 12:00.  The April 9th race is a downhill race
on the trail named "What's it's name" at Duomont, registration is at 10:00
and start time is 12:00. This will be a good race to come watch, as these
are the crazy folks that catch the big air as they ride themselves off some
pretty high drops.

*     Mountain Bike Riding Clinic -Sean Lunny is once again offering ROC a
Mountain Bike Clinic. Saturday April 29th 8:00 am - 10:00am. This two hour,
$ 20.00 clinic will teach you the basic techniques you should know before
venturing off into the woods. Proper up hill riding, down hill riding, how
to get over those dam logs lying across the trail, what you should take with
you when heading out for a ride, etc. 100% of the proceeds from this clinic
will go back to Runners of Compassion..Thanks Sean     
Email Sean at seanlunny@shaw.ca to reserve a spot.

*     This week's run - in honour of those of you that have been faithfully
running the roads for the past 10-12 weeks we thought we would welcome you
back with a nice scenic run of the Westwood Ridges and a tour of Morell. The
long range forecast is for sunshine on Saturday so the view from the look out
and the ridges should be spectacular. Remember a couple of things; 1. If you
are comfortable with the outside air temperature when you get out of your
car, you are way over dressed for the run. 2.  we now start at 7:00am. The
run starts in the Westwood Lake parking lot. I will not be in town this
Saturday to lead the hiking group.sorry. Ross, would you mind collecting the
toonies again?

Upcoming Stuff
 * indicates trail race
*         Merville 15km - April 9th
*         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-August19th
*         Log Train Trail Half & Full Marathons, Port Alberni - August 20th

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