Notes from Bastion Ross: Women Running Wild, Yetis, Clippers and Pioneers

Dear Bastion

A lot of brave runners out last Saturday, defying the snow and having fun out on the trails. Frontrunners was packed with Bastion and ROC people taking advantage of the free food and big sales. Either the Australians are very sadistic coffee makers or very masochistic coffee drinkers but it was entertaining watching Norm keeping the coffee machine going all morning. Shoes and wired running jackets were flying out the door non stop and I managed to snag a new pair of track pants that I tried out on the track Wednesday. Well, I would have tried them out on the track if Valerie had done a half decent job of shovelling the snow off it. Instead I was forced to run repeats of the stairs at Malaspina from the very bottom to the very top. Just brutal. I just pray that Audrey found a new singlet for Dominique because its time to give an old dear friend a rest. The last image of the day is Hugh Proctor not being able to decide which pair of trail shoes to get so he buys one of each. Now if Frontrunners can find someone who wants a mismatched right and left foot they will have carved out a whole new niche for themselves.

Its a jam packed weekend with the rain bearing down on us. Saturday morning brings the Womens Pace Run Wild 5 K Walk/8-10 K Run rescheduled from November. It starts at 8:00 am at Frontrunners with the doors open at 7:00 am. All those who entered for the first try at it are eligible for draw prizes. All proceeds go to the Haven Society. If you would like to participate and did not enter the November run, then a donation of $25 to the Haven Society gets you in. It will be a purely fun run with no clocks which makes me more than a little envious.

Saturday is also the first race of the Yeti snow shoe race series at Mount Washington. A number of people seem to have backed out which doesn't seem to be in the proper spirit of adventure racing. One aspiring abominable snowman is looking to hook up with any others who are going up for the race. He would like some company and may need a ride back to Nanaimo if his friend goes skiing after. Please contact Michael Folkes at mfolkes@shaw.ca and keep the Nanaimo contingent together.

For those of us who are stuck in town, Saturday gives us the opportunity to get our cars washed and help out a good cause. If your car is like mine its pretty filthy by now with the slush and the mud of the past week. The Nanaimo Clippers are having a car wash at the Chevron Station on Bowen and East Wellington from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm to raise money to purchase a special wheelchair for Nanaimo Park and Rec's Jim Plasteras. He has two 18 year old daughters with Cerebral Palsy and he would like them to experience the rush of doing a marathon by pushing one in the Vancouver Marathon and one in the Victoria Marathon. It would also be an opportunity to accomplish something together with his daughters. Needless to say these wheelchairs are not cheap. One thing I have to say is that Jim is the nice man who informed me we could have the Parks and Recs tents for free next year so I think keeping him happy is in our best interest. After your runs or whatever on Saturday, try and stop by and get your car washed and get all that salt cleaned off.

After a cruel false start the Pioneer 8 K goes ahead in Saanich on Sunday at 11:00 am. In a perfect world the rain will wash away all the snow and stop by Saturday night but who knows what will happen. One thing I forgot to mention is that instead of a Travel Fund that doesn't seem to get spent what we are doing is supplying a race subsidy for the Island Series. What will happen is that I will put all the names of the runners marked down as Bastion, put them into a hat, and to ensure absolute fairness, have someone from Wednesday night track draw a name from the hat. The lucky runner will receive $20 to go towards paying for the cost of the race. I will hunt that person down and give then the money as soon as I can. Good luck to all heading down.

Just one week now to the Mill Bay 10 K. It has a 9:00 am start so set your alarm clocks early for this one. Three weeks to the Cedar 12 K. This is one race you would want to do if only for the food. Porridge, waffles, tarts and more. The weather has been great the last couple of years and the country atmosphere makes it a day well spent. Entry forms for the Island Series are available at Frontrunners and online at the VIRA site at http://vira.bc.ca/default.aspx?PageID=1002 . You can also check out the info and get to online registration from the Bastion website on the Events page.

Volunteers have been coming forward steadily for the Cedar 12 K but we could still use some more. If you can spare some time on February 11 contact me or Bob Cross at robertcross@telus.net .

I have taken all the music files off the 800 x 600 site and given it its own Photo Gallery so if you have an older computer or just hate music then use that site. I will put a mute button on all the two other sites pages when I get the time but have redone the Photo Gallery for both of them.

Thanks,

Ross