+ All Categories
Transcript
Page 1: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

1Prairie Inn Post - February 2002

Newsletter of the Prairie Inn Harriers Running ClubFebruary 2002

HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

Thanks to everyone who participated for helping tomake the 23rd annual Pioneer 8K such a success.There were 610 finishers, the most since 688 ran in1994, and the fourth highest total ever.

The winners were Jim Finlayson in 25:12 and CarolynMurray in 28:13.

CONTENTSPresident’s Message ........... 2The Skinny ........................... 32001 Harriers Awards .......... 4Year of the Kenyans ............. 5Roche Harbour Trip ............. 6Gunner Shaw X-C ................. 7Racing .................................. 8

1904 Olympic Marathon ..... 10Run or Walk in the Rain ...... 12My First Year ...................... 13Hashing in the Cooks ........ 14Hot Running Tips ............... 15Et Cetera ............................ 19Club Information ............... 20

Page 2: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

2 Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Susan Norrington

I WANT TO THANK THE MEMBERS OF THE PRAIRIE INN HARRIERS FOR YOUR CONFIDENCE INsupporting me as your president. I know there may be the occasional per-son who would say that anyone who is willing to take on the job is welcometo it. But I don’t see it that way. The Harriers are my friends and extendedfamily and I am honoured to be involved with the club.

I have a good example to follow in Brian Turner who was a great presidentand brought so many interesting speakers to our meetings last year. FamousIronwoman Lori Bowden, Coach Ron Bowker, Chiropractor Rob Hasagawaand Nutritionist Carol Tickner are a sampling of the fine speakers Brianconvinced to come a talk to us in 2001. I am pleased that Brian has agreedto be the 2002 Club Runs Director.

I also want to welcome Ann Taylor as Secretary and Bill Scriven as Vice Presi-dent, both new to the executive, who along with Bob Reid as Treasurer, makeup your 2002 executive.

Now that racing season is upon us, I encourage you all to participate asmuch as you can in the New Balance Race Series, whether you run to com-pete or run for fun. For many years, the Harriers have been the big winnersin the series. I think the competition in the running community is veryhealthy, but I also see the runners from all clubs as one large community.

This fall and winter have seen an increase in the turnout for our Saturdaymorning runs at Thetis and some of the new regulars are from other clubs.The Thursday morning group has always welcomed members from otherclubs and those who run unattached. This is gratifying to me because Ithink, in the larger running community, we are often seen as tough eliterunners and racewalkers. We do have a strong core group who train hardand are competitive, but we also have many members who are recreational.So I am suggesting that we continue to welcome members from other clubsto run with us. Get out there and run with people you haven’t run withbefore. It’s fun and challenging.

I want to see the club grow and prosper. Like most sports clubs, we promotea healthy lifestyle through our sport, but we also raise money that, over thepast 16 years, has provided scholarships and bursaries, racing wheelchairs,wheelchair trainers and kilometre markings on the Elk/Beaver trail. Andthis year, as we have done in past years when members have needed specialfinancial support, we have been able to help out our friends Les MacNeilland Marcia Stromsmoe with their horrific travel bills. And that’s what makesthe Harriers unique.

Susan Norrington,Club President

Page 3: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

3Prairie Inn Post - February 2002

THE SKINNY

Welcome New Members

Ann BarnesAl BiggsMel BrodtJon BrownLisa CowndenMichael CronkSusan DennyWilf DreherMalinda EmmsSeamus HowleyAaron HolmgrenMartine Janicki

Mt. Washington Summer Retreat

Plans are in the works for any Harri-ers interested in a getaway to Mt.Washington this summer. The idea isto spend three nights in the DeerLodge, and have two days to partici-pate in a variety of activities. The pos-sibilities range from a eight hourround trip run to the top of Mt. AlbertEdward to a relaxing chair lift ride tothe summit of mile high Mt. Wash-ington. Mountain biking, horsebackriding or hiking the spectacular trailsof Forbidden Plateau are just a few ofthe other activities offered. Deer Lodgehas fully equipped kitchens and of-fers off season specials, hot tub, res-taurant, pub etc. This is in the plan-ning stage so if anyone has ideas orsuggestions call Randy Jones at 474-6546. Next newsletter will have somemore definite information and a sur-vey to see where the interest lays.

Harriers Support For Les & Marcia

AS YOU ARE NO DOUBT AWARE, IN EARLY DECEMBER LES MACNEILL AND MARCIA STROMSMOE

were savagely attacked in Papua New Guinea. Immediately their running friendsin the Harriers and Les’ former coworkers at Victoria General Hospital werequick to organize fundraising events to support them in their time of need.

Bob Reid decorated a running shoe box with pictures of Les and Marcia running inhappier times and it was passed around for contributions at Thursday morning runsas well as at the Boxing Day Handicap 10 Miler. Furthermore the New Years Memo-rial 10k and 2k walk was dedicated to Les and Marcia as a Harriers FoundationProject. The Run through Time on New Years Eve also brought in some cash.

Les’ former coworkers, especially Bev Hyde and Shirley Vickers, worked fever-ishly to plan a fundraising dance for Sat.Jan.19 and a silent auction to held atthe same time. At least two Harriers donated to this auction: Christine Thate acase of wine and Lisa Cantwell a hairdressing appointment. The dance, held atthe Royal Victoria Yacht Club, was a big success. Imagine my surprise when theThursday running group took over the entire dance floor for one lively numberby The Ecclestons, a Celtic group. Whoever said that the geriatrics couldn’t danceany more?

Here are the final figures:

Gunner Shaw CC $1,000Donations from PIH members $1,250Run Through Time $500New Years Day Memorial Run $1,100Pioneer 8K $1,150

Total $5,000

The last information I received was that the dance raised $5000 in ticketsand another $3000 plus from the silent auction and the bar. I sold 30 ticketsto Harriers at $50 a couple and $30 a person.

It is hoped that all monies can be merged and a cheque presented to Les and Marciaat the Hatley 8K, but this is still pending. Bob Reid has announced that both Les andMarica will win the Greg Marchand Award for the courage of coming back after aserious medical setback. Greg is coming to Royal Roads to present it to them.

I was impressed with the speed at which all of this support was forthcomingfrom the running community. Bob Reid, as usual, was instrumental in get-ting this fundraising ‘race’ off on the right foot and the rest of us joined in toshow Les and Marcia how much we care.

Bill Scriven

Philippe JanickiAlana JonesLinda JonesDoug KolotEugene LeducBill McMillanTheresa McMillanAlison MillarErrol NadeauBelinda NixonAdrienne O’HenlyPaul Wood

The will to win is important, but the willto prepare is vital.—Joe Paterno

Page 4: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

4 Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club

PRAIRIE INN HARRIERS 2001 AWARD WINNERS

Gunner Shaw Most Valuable Runners(F) Sandi Begg, (M) Sandy Stewart, Simon Cowell

Robin Pearson Most Improved Runners(F) Niki Upton, (M) Steven Shelford, Bob Janicki

Stewart Fall Juniors of the Year(F) Katrina Blomkvist, (M) Graeme Benn

Alex Marshall Master Runners of the Year(F) Marcia Stromsmoe, (M) Rob Grant, Bill Scriven

Ken Smythe Dedicated Performance AwardSusan Norrington

John Thipthorpe Durability AwardRandy Jones

Susan Reid Most Consistent HarrierPhil Cornforth

Glenn Jaques Race Walker of the YearLori Shade, Lynn Monchamp

Special Effort by a Novice RunnerSusan Martin

Shield of Courage AwardBrian Mader

December 27 Sandy StewartDecember 17 Garfield SaundersDecember 10 Mike EmersonDecember 3 Jim Finlayson and Wendy Davies

November 26 Steve BachopNovember 12 Belinda Nixon

November 5 Maurice Tarrant, Helena Watling,Gwyn Woodson, Marg Melvin,Mike Stone and Susan Norrington

October 29 Rob Reid and Patti WalshOctober 22 Sandy Stewart and Randy JonesOctober 15 Katrina Blomkvist & Jim Finlayson

October 8 Simon Cowell, Matt Fedoruk, JackMiller and Steven Shelford

October 1 Sylvan SmythSeptember 24 Dr. Bob JanickiSeptember 17 Sandi BeggSeptember 10 Dean Baldwin and Karen LawlessSeptember 3 Aaron Holmgren

August 27 Steven ShelfordAugust 20 Dean Baldwin & Alana O’ConnellAugust 13 Hillerie Smith and Mike EllisAugust 13 Dean Baldwin and Lisa Cantwell

August 6 Paul PetersenJuly 30 Sandy StewartJuly 23 Exaggerator (Chris Kelsall)July 16 Walter Cantwell & Katrina

BlomkvistJuly 9 Dr. A., Dr. F.O., Exag., and BBKJuly 2 Steven ShelfordJuly 2 Alex Coffin

June 25 Exaggerator (Chris Kelsall)June 25 Jim FinlaysonJune 17 Chad De PolJune 10 Randy JonesJune 10 Sandy Stewart and Sandy MullenJune 3 Sandi Begg

May 21 Ken BonnerMay 14 Alex Coffin

May 7 Dan HarlowMay 7 Carlos CastilloMay 7 Rob ReidMay 7 Paddy McCluskey

April 30 Jim FinlaysonApril 16 Sandy Mullen, Mika Lavaque-Manty,

Rob ReidApril 9 Sandy StewartApril 9 Phil CornforthApril 2 Logan WakefieldApril 2 Katrina Blomkvist

March 26 Graeme BennMarch 19 Pioneer 8K VolunteersMarch 12 Sandy Stewart

March 5 Matt Fedoruk & Colleen GradyFebruary 26 Christine ThateFebruary 19 Chad DePol & Colleen GradyFebruary 12 Rob Reid, Matt Fedoruk

& Jack MillerFebruary 5 Rob Reid & Katrina BlomkvistJanuary 29 Katrina Blomkvist & Niki UptonJanuary 22 Mike Stone & Sandy StewartJanuary 15 Paddy McCluskey & Sandi Begg

January 8 Paddy McCluskey & Ulla MarquetteJanuary 1 Brian Travelbea

Check out the web site for a descriptionof the ROTW feats of daring-do

2001 RUNNERS OF THE WEEK

Sandi Begg Sandy Stewart Simon Cowell

Page 5: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

5Prairie Inn Post - February 2002

WHERE DID IT ALL START? LATE ONE NIGHT,I received a phone call from TimForrester asking whether I wouldaccept two Kenyans into the TimesColonist 10K and provide them withaccommodation, transportation andmeals leading up to the race. Iagreed. That one little acceptancecall led to 15 Kenyans coming to Vic-toria for three separate events and tome hosting them all at 1251Tattersall. I was sort of their official“Victoria Manager” so to speak.

Twenty Kenyans are based at two train-ing centres in North America, specifi-cally in Hamilton, Ontario andChapel Hill, North Carolina. TimForrester manages the racing plans ofthe Canadian camp while Ben Kurgatmanages the racing plans of theAmerican camp. They stay for threemonths, race every weekend, or every

2001 – THE YEAR OF THE KENYANSby Bob Reid

second weekend, and hit all the highprofile events in North America offer-ing appearance money and prizemoney. And, yes, they usually win themajority of the races! After threemonths, they return to Kenya and an-other batch of twenty come to eachtraining centre.

A week before the TC10K, I took aVancouver Island Select Team to theSun Run. While in Vancouver, Bencalled me and asked whether I couldhandle three more Kenyans in Victo-ria for a week. I said, “Sure, I alreadyhave two from Hamilton, I might aswell take yours from North Carolinaand have a team of five.” JacksonKoech, Gilbert Koech, Benson Ogato,Ben Kapsoiya and Jackeline Torori metme after the Sun Run and I broughtthem to this side of the water to pre-pare for the TC10K. They stayed withme for 9 days and were referred to byBBK, Batgirl and Exaggerator as “Bob’sKenyans”.

I managed their training program,focussing on trail running whereverpossible. I took them to Elk/Beaver,Cedar Hill Golf Course, Thetis Lake,Galloping Goose, UVic, Juan de Fuca,Royal Roads and Dallas Road water-front. They loved every single train-ing site and they loved Victoria. I ar-ranged to have them run with BruceDeacon, Graeme Cocksedge and a lotof other high profile local athletes andtheir training was relentless. Nothingover a 6 minute per mile pace andtwice daily, usually running for anhour in the morning and an hour inthe evening. That’s 120 mpw or 200kpw for you kilometre geeks. Everyweek! They ate up the high mileage.For their weekly speed workout on the

track, they would do 12x400 in 58 sec-onds, just like clockwork.

Eight Kenyans came here for the Vic-toria International Track Classic in-cluding returnees Jackson Koech andBen Kapsoiya. Joining them wereDavid Kiptoo, Sammy Lagat, DanielGachera, George Okworo, BoazKisand and Enok Keter. Don’t thinkI had trouble remembering theirnames at the Spaghetti Factory wherewe hosted them for dinner the nightbefore the track meet? I certainlydid, especially after a Bud or two!Oh well, it all worked out in thewash, they knew me and all of themsmiled with their pearl white teethat the end of the meal. We werejoined by twelve other elite athletesfrom five other countries.

Enok Keter returned and won theSonghees 5K and Phillip Meto accom-panied him to place second in therace. Phillip has run 3 marathons in2:15 and Enok runs low 13’s for 5Kand 1:05 for the half marathon.

Jackson probably had the most suc-cess in his 2 visits to Victoria. He

continued on page 16

Proud Harrier Jackson Koech winning the2001 T-C Garden City 10K

Enoch Keter and Phillip Meto relax afterthe Songhees 5K

Page 6: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

6 Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club

ROCHE HARBOUR TRIPby Bob Rhodes

THIS IS A STRANGE TIME TO BE GETTING OUT

the story of the September 30th Har-riers bike trip to San Juan Island.

As you’ll see in the notes at the endthere are good reasons for late filing.

The story starts out as pleasant re-cap of 13 Harriers going out for aboat trip and a bike ride.

Maybe we should just get that partof the story out of the way before weget into the complex, internationalramifications of the trip. Weirdevents that may bring shame anddisgrace to the 11 of the cyclists andperhaps maybe the club as a whole.

This was a group that wasn’t afraidto ride into a foreign country thathad just 19 days earlier declared waron terrorism

To be on the safe side Nancy Davis flewthe Canadian flag from her rear carrier.

Ken Smythe wore an Australian cy-cling team cap which he swore be-longed to Sean O’Grady, who ledthis year’s Tour de France in the earlygoing.

Gerda said: “That’s not true. He gotthe cap at the Goodwill Store wherehe gets all his clothes”

We met at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel.

where Bob Reid had lined up a forty-five foot boat that took us for a sun-shine cruise to Roche Harbour in justover an hour.

Susan Norrington, in her role as So-cial Director, insisted we enjoy our-selves. We did.

At the dock in Roche Harbour twoUS Immigration officers met us.

This became significant later becausethey split us into two groups to checkour passports and ask a few ques-tions of members of our group whoweren’t born in Canada.

As soon as the formalities were overwe took off for Friday Harbour about15 kilometres away.

Norma was riding strong. Cycling towork every day was starting to payoff. The fact that she also had thequick Curt Harnett cycle helped.

Brian was working fairly hard to keepup with her.

The woman in a couple having thebetter technology for a change.

Brenda and John whipped up thefirst couple of hills easily with Johntelling tales about the old days withthe Wheelers. John said: “Cyclingwas better then. We didn’t havebrakes and it was all fixed sprockets.We ate cloth coats. But, we werehappy god damn it.”

Brenda just kept pumping and said:“That’s nice Dear.”

continued on page 16

Crack Canadian troops invade San Juan Island

“He was the firstest with the mostest.” — Roy Orbison (on Elvis)

Page 7: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

7Prairie Inn Post - February 2002

continued on page 17

I DID REGISTRATION EARLY BEFORE THE RACE

and saw a few of the big names there.Lori Bowden, Simon Whitfield, allnational triathletes. Lori walks up tothe table and says “I’m Lori Bowden”I’m like “I KNOW WHO YOU AREAND I LOVE YOU!” I’ve met her afew times before. Races, club meet-ings, at the pool, but everyone lovesher so I don’t expect her to reallyknow me by name or anything. Igave her her race number in total aweand said “Lori Bowden, not RoxiReid?” because Roxi Reid is the nameshe usually runs under (Roxi=her cat;Reid= her husband’s last name).Usually if she does a local race anddoesn’t come first she gets bad press:“National Ironman Champ gets beatat 5k Fun Run!!” so she runs assomeone else so she doesn’t get shitfor taking it easy for a race. Besides,who says she has to come first all thetime? Anyways, she laughed and ex-plained that she likes that name but

GUNNER SHAW X-COUNTRY . . . blah blah blahby Batgirl

the National Triathlon TrainingCenter entered for her and so theyput her real name.

A kid from work comes up to me andI’m all “What are you doing here?”and he’s like “I’m running!!” and I’mlike, alright..

“you registered?”

“Should be”

“I don’t see you here.”

(enter Simon Whitfield’s trainingpartner and manager of the NTTCteam)

“He’s with the triathletes”

“YOU’RE with the NTTC??”

“yep. I have a life outsideMcDonald’s you know..”

“yeah I know, but a healthy one??”

Bless his heart. Little SeannyMarlowe is a semi pro triathlete. Wellthat’s a shocker. Anyhow, my fingerswere getting so cold I could hardlysift through the race numbers to giveto people, and I thought “I have tostrip down to my shorts and and sin-glet and run through water.. shit” Istarted having second thoughts, justcause I was so unbelievably cold, yetI was still dry and fully dressed, andI was about to get wet and half naked.

I got warmer as I went to the startlinewith everyone else. I stood shoulderto shoulder with Lori Bowden andled her for about 2 k, then she passed

me and I kept with her for another2k. Then she left me miserably in herdust. Still, I led Lori Bowden!!! Thewoman who’s autograph I have onmy wall... ahh.. I thought: “Next timeI’m chasing her it will be at anIronman” She is truly the woman ofmy pipe dreams.

The puddle was even better then Iremembered. About half waythrough (right after losing Lori) weturned this corner and saw CGP, aguy from my club, he called out“heeey Batgirl! How you doing?” Isaid great so far, since I was still dry,and then went round a bend and saw“it”. The Gunner Puddle. Beautifulpuddle. It was about 10-15 meters(yards..whatever) long and it wentabout waist deep and I’ve heard itcan go about chest high if it’s rain-ing. It’s sewage, not water, and cancause infections on open sores. Ba-sically it’s fabulous. And freezingcold. You can try to run through itbut it’s impossible to run the wholeway, you have to just wade eventually.

Then when everyone gets out, it’s socold that if your muscles don’t ceaseor spasm, you start to run again onthe ground only, you can’t feel yourlegs or your feet and then they getburning hot for some reason. Thesensations are amazing. I think eve-ryone gets a second wind after thepuddle because it’s so cold and just..unreal.

The rest of the race went pretty great.Probably because I thought I wasfurther along then I was. I saw somepeople I knew limping along. WalterCantwell was one of those. He had a

Page 8: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

8 Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club

RACING

Get all the race results at: http://pih.bc.ca/results/

Register online for any race in the NB Island Race Series at: http://www.eventsonline.ca/events/nbirs/

23rd Annual Pioneer 8K

AS DAWN BROKE ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 13TH 2002, SYLVAN SMYTH DONNED THE

ceremonial uniform of the Pioneer 8K Race Director — red long johns withtrap door and faux-coonskin cap. Among the myriad of details and logisticsto organize before race day, perhaps the most important was the ritual sacri-fice and prayer to the Rain Gods for dry weather. This seemed to have paidoff as the slate-grey skies of Central Saanich withheld their bounty of mois-ture for the time being.

Sylvan slowly chewed yet another Tums as he went through the check list forthe umpteenth time — Permits, Hall Set-up, Parking, Registration, First-aid,Course Marshals, Start/Finish Line Crew, Prizes and Awards, Hotdog &Doughnut Technicians, E-load Engineers, etc., etc. It was enough to give aguy ulcers and it just might before the day was over.

About 9 am, the parking lot at the Fairgrounds began to fill up with carswhich in turn spilled out runners of every size, shape, age, and ability. Brightlyfeathered in Sugoi, Nike, New Balance and even Value Village, the runnersspread out to pick up race numbers, greet friends and begin their pre-racewarm-up. The army of volunteers had shifted into high gear earlier and theoperation rolled smoothly down well-oiled tracks.

Shortly after 11 am our man, Bob Reid, begins to issue warnings and remindersfrom his trusty bullhorn that the start time is drawing ever nearer. After a fewmore strides and perhaps a quick trip to the loo, it was time to tighten up theshoe laces and assemble on the start line. The crush is full of nervous energyand the final countdown begins: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 — GO!

Race Director Sylvan in the Official Support Vehicle leads the throng downthe hill and along the course, which is barren of traffic now that the race isin progress. It is easy to go out a little too fast on this course, what with thedownhill start and the adrenalin surging through one’s bloodstream. At the1-mile marker there are some concerned looks at watches for split times.Not much farther along, the staff of Brewsky’s pub look out the window inamazement as a steady torrent of runners passes by their windows and theybegin to worry about how thirsty these people will be when the race is over.

The runners loop back past the Fairgrounds on Stelly’s and on towards theturnaround. At this point, the frontrunners are already on their way back tothe finish line and they make it look deceptively easy. There are some re-ports that Jim Finlayson was threatening to pass the Official Support Vehiclein the last couple of K’s.

Niki Upton readies for the “high-five”

Terry Turcotte on the way to a big finish

Page 9: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

9Prairie Inn Post - February 2002

RACING

Racewalk Report

Our award winners for this year areLynn Monchamp and Lori Schade.They are two of our newest memberswho also happen to train together.Since they joined they have com-peted in some shorter events, 4-10K,such as Arbutus and Songhees. Theyalso completed the Great Walk.They’re biggest achievement this yearwas to racewalk Portland Marathonand place highly. Congratulationsto both.

The group has two training sched-ules currently. The advanced com-petitive race walkers train Tuesdays,Thursdays and Sundays with theircoach Linda Campbell. The new andrecreational walkers train Wednes-day nights with myself.

We are pleased to have had a recordnumber of race walkers participatein the Harriers 8K - six women andone man, many obtaining personalbests. Jan Junker and LindaCampbell were first in their respec-tive categories.

We are now training for the Racewalk Series. The first race, Race walkVictoria, will take place Sunday, Feb-ruary 24th on the Galloping GooseTrail. We are hoping to have about25 participants. The second race isin Nanaimo March 24th, and thethird in the series will be in Vancou-ver in May.

Thank you for you continued support.Helen Jaques

Please note: the Mill Bay 10K has nowbeen rescheduled to March 17th as aresult of bad weather conditions

Show me a guy who’s afraid to look bad, and I’ll show you a guy you can beat every time.—Lou Brock

Speaking of the last couple of K’s, it’sa gentle rise uphill for most of it andthen a steep dash for the last 300 mor so. Certainly enough to make aperson wake up and take notice aswell as putting the cardiovascularsystem into overdrive.

Jim Finlayson was the first one homein 25:12 and Carolyn Murray was thefirst woman in 28:13. There were 610finishers in total, the most since 688ran in 1994, and the fourth highesttotal ever. There were also 51 Harri-ers in the race including Jim’s firstplace finish.

After the race there was double-strength E-load to replenish thoselost electrolytes and plain old waterfor the thirst. Inside the hall weretables laden with the usual post-racerefreshments such as juice, cookies,muffins etc. but over in the cornerwas a kitchen full of volunteers fe-verishly slinging out HOTDOGS andnearby was a table covered inDOUGHNUTS. You gotta like a racewhere they give you some food thatmay not come from the healthstorebut satisfies that craving for salty,tasty fats and complex sugars!

Anyways, the 23rd Pioneer 8K was agreat success. That evening Sylvanchewed his final Tums while pack-ing away the ceremonial red long-johns and faux-coonskin cap untilnext year. He put up his feet and letout an enormous sigh of relief. Out-side, the rain softly began to fall.

23rd Annual Pioneer 8K (con’t)

Cedar 12k Feb. 10

Hatley Castle 8k Feb. 24

Comox Valley Half. Mar. 10

Mill Bay 10k Mar. 17

Bazan Bay 5k Mar. 24

Sooke River 10k Apr. 7

Merville 15k Apr. 21

Paper Chase 10k May 5

UVic 5k Fun Run May 12

ISLAND RACE SERIES 2002

Chris Kelsall hams it up as he heads forthe finish chute with Steven Shelford inhot pursuit.

Page 10: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

10 Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club

THE 1904 OLYMPIC MARATHON - ST. LOUISRelated by Randy G. Jones

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE

Olympic games is not to win but totake part. Just as the most importantthing in life is not to triumph but tostruggle. The essential thing is not tohave conquered but to have foughtwell. This is the Olympic creed as DeCoubertin composed it. I’m not surehow many people agree with thattoday, but as someone who is mid-dle of the pack myself, it soundspretty good.

I love the Olympic games. Not justfor the obvious great performancesfrom the elite athletes, but becausethe games embody the spirit of theamateur. Or at least they are sup-posed to. A great example of theembodiment of the amateur is FelixCarvajal. Under funded and underqualified he essentially hitchhikedfrom Cuba and ran the race in whatamounted to dress shoes.

The scene is the 1904 Summer Ol-ympics in St. Louis. These gameswere the third ever held in the mod-ern area. The first was held in 1896at Athens Greece then followed bythe 1900 Paris France games. The StLouis games could hardly be calledan international competition. Sincetraveling overseas from Europe wasextremely expensive at the time, thecompetition consisted mostly ofAmericans and Canadians.

It should be pointed out, however,that the Olympics were not intendedto be a competition among nationsat the time but strictly a competitionamong amateur athletes fromaround the world. It was the respon-sibility of the amateur athlete to findhis way to the games at his own ex-pense.

Carvajal was a postal worker in Ha-vana who was inspired to run theOlympic marathon. Unsupported bygovernment funds, he quite his joband solicited enough donations tosecure his travel to New Orleans.Felix ran around the central squarein Havana then jumped on a soap-box to plead for donations. This alsoserved as training time as it tookmany weeks to raise enough money.Unfortunately, once in New Orleanshe promptly lost all his money in acrooked craps game. He then walkedor hitched the 1000 miles to St.Louis, where, in ragged cloths hefound shelter with the Americanweight lifting team.

The games organizers built a gym-nasium and a 35,000-seat stadium.The entire event lasted from Mon-

day, August 29 to Saturday, Septem-ber 3, 1904. There were no eventsscheduled for Friday, so the entireseries of Olympic games lasted foronly five days.

At this point you probably don’t seemuch wrong with the 1904 games,but unfortunately, when the gameswere actually run they were a disas-ter. To start, if you were consideredto be a minority, you had to com-pete in separate games. These gamescame under the name, “Anthropol-ogy Days” which were held on Au-gust 12 and 13, 1904. These gameswere designed to face “costumedmembers of the uncivilized tribes”against one another. The 1904 Ol-ympics hosted a variety of “savages”,among them Pygmies, Filipinos,Patagonians and various AmericanIndian tribes who competed in suchevents as mud fighting and greasedpole climbing. Interestingly,Chiricahua Apache Chief Geronimowitnessed these proceedings. Olym-pics founder Baron de Coubertinrighteously noted that such a cha-rade would lose it’s appeal whenblack men, red men, and yellow menlearn to run, jump, and throw, andleave the white men behind them.

On marathon day, Felix Carvajal ar-rived in long pants, long sleeve shirtand dress shoes. It was summer inSt Louis and the temperature topped90 degrees. Felix faced a field of 32runners, mostly American andGreek. Two black men, Len Tau andJan Mashiani, were South Africa’sfirst Olympians. They were however,billed as Zulu savages, from the An-thropology Days competition.

Page 11: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

11Prairie Inn Post - February 2002

a disappointment to the observerswho were sure he would have donemuch better had he not been chasedoff course by the large angry canine.

As for Felix, he came in fourth. TheCuban had weathered the conditionswell, and the spectators postulatedthat with proper training he wouldhave easily taken the gold. It wasn’tan altogether tragic ending for a naïvecountry boy who found himself farfrom home and bereft of funds.

Thus ended the 1904 Olympic mara-thon. The race had enthusiastic tribes-men, a plucky Cuban, an angry dogand strychnine abuse. It also wasnoted that two patrolling officials driv-ing a brand new automobile wereforced to swerve to avoid hitting a run-ner. The car went off the road, caus-ing the first recorded traffic fatality. Inthe end, the St Louis Olympic gamesproved to be such a disaster that theOlympic committee was forced tohold interim Olympic games in 1906at Athens, in an attempt to revive theflagging Olympic movement. Thesegames were not numbered, but wereattended by twenty countries and putthe Olympics back on a steady courseto success.

In the hot and humid St Louisweather, the race began. The coursestarted with five laps around the sta-dium track. The runners then left thestadium and embarked on a dusty,unpaved course that took them upand over seven significant hills. A van-guard of doctors, judges and report-ers led the way, riding in a group ofnewly invented automobiles. The re-sult was a constant cloud of dustkicked up into the runner’s faces. Theywere literally forced to eat dust. Thefairly brutal weather conditions, andthe existence of only one water stationat the halfway, lead to a variety of in-juries. American Bill Garcia collapsedat eight miles with a stomachhemorrhage. American Fred Lorz wasin the lead at nine miles and droppedout. Actually what he did was jumpaboard a pace car and continue alongthe route. South African Len Tau waschased a mile off course through acornfield by an angry dog but slippedback into the race at ninth position.

Meanwhile, our favorite Cuban con-tinued easily along, laughing, joking,running backwards and practicinghis broken English on bystanders.He accepted peaches from officialsleaning out of car windows. He de-toured through an apple orchard toswipe himself some lunch. The ap-ples would be Felix’s undoing; hewas soon afflicted with cramps,which slowed his pace.

Further upfield, Lorz’s pace car brokedown so he headed to the stadiumfive miles away. He later claimed thathis cloths were there, so he was go-ing that way anyway. When he en-tered the stadium, in just over three

hours, to a thunderous roar he liftedhis arms in triumph as though hehad just taken the gold. He posedfor photos, got wreathed, andreveled for a moment before the of-ficials came crashing down on him.He was banned from amateur com-petition for life, or at least until 1905,when he was allowed to run (andwin) the Boston marathon.

Well-pampered Thomas Hicks ofCambridge, Massachusetts pluggedalong with the help of his trainers.After Lorz dropped out and took thecar ride, Hicks was in first place.Hick’s trainers trotted along besidehim, giving him sponge baths andsips of water. He told his trainers hewanted to lie down but they wouldnot allow him to do so. When hestarted complaining they gave himbrandy. The brandy ran out and theyhad to get more. By the time hereached the stadium he was, actually,drunk and his trainers had to virtu-ally carry him across the finish line.He walked and took breaks to liedown in the second half of the race,but after the debacle with Lorz, theaudience was all to happy to confera gold metal on a bona fide finishereven if he was drunk and supportedby two other men. Thomas Hickswon the 1904 marathon with a timeof 3:28:53. Four doctors monitoredHicks for the remainder of the daybefore he was allowed (or was able)to leave the stadium. Hicks retiredfrom running after this race.

Len Tau and Jan Mashiana, the Zulusavages, were wearing bibs 35 and 36respectively. Mashiani finishedtwelfth. Tau finished ninth, which was

Thomas Hicks, assisted by his trainers andliberal doses of brandy, hangs in there towin the 1904 Olympic marathon

Page 12: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

12 Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club

To stay drier, do youwalk or run in rain? Ifyou walk, researcherssay, you’re all wet

Once again, it’s that time when weget nearly one-third of our annualrainfall in two months, raising thescientific question: If you have to gooutside and you don’t have an um-brella, will you stay drier walking orrunning?

“I definitely think you get wetterwalking,” said Dan Ledrick, vicepresident of the Seattle MarathonAssociation, which is expected tohave close to 9,000 runners andwalkers in its 32nd annual marathonSunday. “You’re out there longer, soyou’re just going to get exposed tothat much more rain.”

That’s pretty much on the mark, al-though science for more than a half-century found ways to complicatethe matter until two North Carolinaresearchers settled the question witha highly sophisticated experiment:One walked in the rain, the otherran, and then they weighed theirclothes.

The Ledrick theory – run, spend lesstime in the rain, get less wet – wouldbe true enough if rain landed only onthe top of your head and shoulders.

But the problem gets slippery whenyou consider that you end up run-ning into raindrops, wetting the con-siderable surface area of your face,chest and leg fronts. So now youhave to factor in how much surfacearea is exposed for how long – afunction of things such as kinemat-ics, relative velocity, vector compo-nents and flux.

Lest your mind be shutting downaround now, Doug Craigen, a Winni-peg-based physicist, has a calculatoron his Web site that will compute allthis for you: www.dctech.com/phys-ics/features/physics_0600a.html.

Here’s how one scenario works out:

A 6-foot-tall, 44-year-old with male-pattern-baldness and bad knees dis-mounts from a 1977 Volkswagenvan in a downpour. He has about200 yards to cover between the park-ing lot and his office. According toCraigen’s calculator, the followinghappens:

Walking at about one yard per sec-ond, his bald spot and other surfaceswill be hit by 61.5 milliliters of wa-ter — about two ounces —in the three minutes and 20 secondsthe walk takes.

Jogging at a 10-minute-mile pace, hecatches only 40 milliliters of water.He’s actually catching more water persecond but comes out ahead by cut-

ting in half the time he’s in the rain.

It pays to run, Craigen said, but notas much as you would think:

“Between you and your destination,there’s a certain amount of water,and no matter how fast you run,you’re going to run into that water.”

Trevor Wallis and Thomas Peterson,two runners and meteorologists atthe National Climatic Data Centerin Asheville, N.C., took a differentapproach. They measured out a 100-yard track at their office, waited forrain, donned cotton sweatsuits andwalked outside. Actually, Wallis ran;Peterson walked.

They then weighed their sweatsuitsto see who took on more water.Peterson’s weighed 40 percent more.

“To be rigorous, we should havedone it 100 times for the statistics,”Wallis conceded, “but it was moreof a joke than a serious investigation.We never expected the reaction wegot. We are both pretty serious re-searchers.”

The results were published inWeather, a peer-reviewed journal.

DO YOU WALK OR RUN IN THE RAIN?

By Eric Sorensen, Seattle Times science reporter

The minute you start talking about whatyou’re going to do if you lose, you havelost.—George Shultz

Page 13: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

13Prairie Inn Post - February 2002

October, 1992:Mr. Mueller’s grade 4 class. No 9 yearold girls have come out for the X-Country team and Mr. Mueller isMAD (he is the coach). He goesaround the room of his grade 4 classand asks each girl: “What’s your ex-cuse??”. Shelly and Leanne, the twingirl-jocks, say “We have basketball”and I don’t catch the other girls’ ex-cuses, but he gets to me and underthe intense pressure, I cannot tell alie: “I don’t want to get up early forpractices...” “Ridiculous!” he says,but moves on; however, only for themoment.

The next week is spent picking onme. While reading from a bookabout Christopher Columbus fromthe perspective of a child working onhis boat, the line is “He arises atdawn every morning to take his postin the crow’s nest” and Mr. Muelleradds “And at that time Katrina is stillsleeping nicely in her bed..”

It was the last straw. I joined the x-country team.

October, 2001:Every year I had walked the Run forthe Cure with my mother and heroffice ladies. When they got lazy lastyear, my PE teacher, who sometimesran with me after school, said to me“You could run the 5 k.” since wehad done up to 4.5 kilometers inclass. That was considered the “longrun”. So I said “ok” and did the 5 k.

A week later, the Royal Victoria 8 kwas held. Ms. McKerracher told me:“You did 5 k, you can do 8 k!” so Isaid “Ok” and took a day off schoolto go downtown and register for the8 k. I did the 5 k in 26 minutes, andthe 8 k in 41:42. I was incrediblyhappy with myself. Then MsMcKerracher said “You haven’t donea 10 k yet. You did 8, you can do 10.”and I was roped into doing the Gun-ner Shaw 10 k X-country classic. WellI did it... and I nearly died, but again,I was incredibly happy. I do remem-ber that everyone at the race waswearing these red and white rugbyshirts that said “Harriers”.

So now that I had run 3 races, I wasa “racer”. While at the McKinnongym for a field hockey tournament,I found some UVic results for theRV8k. I couldn’t find myself, becausethey had cut the results off at the lastVike, and of course, no Vike was be-hind me and my 41:42 time. I didsee a URL at the bottom of the print-out though. Some funny letters.pih.bc.ca/results. I wrote them downand found a rather popular messageboard.

There was an “Exaggerator” who wasvery funny, but said he was like JonLovitz and Dom Deluise combined.There was a CGP..who was sort ofweird but nice..however I didn’t un-derstand any of these people.. whoare they? I eventually figured out thatthey were all much older then I was,but they were so off their rocker, Iseemed to feel somewhat comfort-able talking with them. They had alldone this Gunner Shaw race too. Infact, it was a big deal to them. I couldrelate!!

I really liked the phrase “Frontrun-ner” because Steve Prefontaine wasalways called that.. I had seen somepeople with that name on theirclothes at the races. How could I bea part of this Frontrunners club, Iasked.. and I was immediatelydeemed young and naive right there,I think.

A few days later I was watchingIronman Hawaii and was very in-spired. When it was over I came onthe computer again and moseyedover to pih.bc.ca once more andfound an ad for a 10 miler race. “Idid 10 k, I can do 16!” I told myselfand signed right up. I went on vaca-tion, returned Christmas Eve, anddid the Boxing Day 10-miler on zerotraining and had a terrible day.

But I did meet Sylvan, and Bob Reid,and Lisa Nodwell, and a really niceolder guy who works for the dad ofsome kids who go to my school...Sylvan thought I was 19 because Ihad written that down on several ofmy entry forms because I couldn’tbe bothered to get a parent signature.

MY FIRST YEAR AS A HARRIERby Batgirl

continued on page 17

Page 14: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

14 Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club

HASHING IN THE COOKSby Brian Turner

WHILE SUSAN NORRINGTON WAS PRESIDING

on my behalf at the November Har-riers meeting, my wife Nelda and Iwere enjoying the beauty, superbsnorkeling and friendly Polynesianson the Cook Islands. Before we left,as is my habit, I bought the LonelyPlanet book on Rarotonga and theCooks, to learn about our upcomingdestination. The Lonely Planetguides include a lot of extra info, andthere it was, the name, address andphone number of the local coordi-nator for the Hash House Harriers,one of the groups of zany runnersfound in many countries around theglobe. One of their teams ran theHaney-Harrison relay in early No-vember, as did a number of Harri-ers. The team names often are comi-

cal, and theirs was ‘Drinkers with aRunning Problem’, which perhapstypifies these characters.

So, I was determined to make con-tact with the Cook group, and hope-fully join one of their renownedoutings. I’d talked to them beforein Quito, Ecuador, and Alice Springs,Australia, but had never been in theright place at the right time to joinone of their runs. But since they getout weekly on the Cooks, and wewere there for two weeks, it lookedlike my time had finally come. Thereis always a small notice in the Mon-day edition of the local paper, stat-ing the meeting point. A differentmember of the club sets out a courseeach week, keeping it secret, so theynever know where they’re going torun once they leave the startingpoint.

By this time, I had become ac-quainted with a number of peopleat the lodge where we were staying,and learned the wife of a couplefrom North Vancouver (we metmany people from BC, including allover Vancouver Island) had run herfirst marathon the month before -guess where. Right, Victoria, anotherof those amazing coincidences weseem to experience when we travel.So of course I invited her along, andshe accepted the adventure to come.

The start of this memorable outingwas next to one of the mid-1850schurches on Rarotonga. The groupconsisted of about two dozen, of allshapes, sizes, sexes and ages. Off wewent, starting as a group, but soonspreading out. The idea seems to be

cooperative in determining theroute, so the fast guys would runahead, and when they found amarked choice point, they’d try thevarious possible routes, and whenthey found the markers for the rightone, you’d hear shouts of ‘On, On’,and off we’d all go. It started inno-cently enough, on some countryroads, but then turned onto a dirtpath. Rarotonga is a typical volcanicisland - the flattest ground is near thecoast, and there are mountains in-land. So, up we started to go, andsoon found ourselves pulling our-selves up on long roots and treebranches, a la Tarzan. But as hap-pens in groups, everyone went for it,even though on our own, probablynone of us would have.

We finally arrived at a great view-point, paused to enjoy the view andcatch our breath, then had to retraceour steps, including the steep cliffsand roots, unable to see over theedge where to place our feet. I waitedbelow to help put the North Vanwoman’s feet into the footholds. Sheturned out to be a pretty competentrunner, and we ran together, ‘enjoy-ing’ the challenges.

Back down at the start, the othercharacteristic of the HHH occurred- the big chest of cold beer, and lotsof good chat while we rehydrated.We had definitely earned our beer!

I went for a couple of other sight-seeing jogs on the Cooks, but theHash run is the one I’ll remember.If you travel overseas, try to look upthese characters for a memorable,friendly outing! I know I will again.

Where can a guy get a cold beer?

Page 15: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

15Prairie Inn Post - February 2002

HOT RUNNING TIPSby Mike Creery

INTERVAL TRAINING

What is interval training and whyis interval training part of yourpreparation for road racing?

Interval training helps to conditionyour body to the stresses that will oc-cur in races. It will help you get fitter,quicker. It also provides the physicalbackground from which you can dra-matically improve your racing poten-tial. It will help you develop a bal-anced, efficient running style.

Interval training has been around along time. A German coach,Woldemar Gerschler, developedmuch of the theory surrounding in-terval training prior to the SecondWorld War. However, it was notpopularized until Emil Zatopek, thefamous Czech multi-Olympic cham-pion, achieved spectacular resultsthrough extensive use of this formof training. It is interesting to notethat he was way ahead of his time inthe sheer volume of training that heundertook. For instance, he wouldcomplete sessions such as 30 times400 metres, sometimes in army boots!

There are variations of interval train-ing that can be useful in preparationfor road races. There are four typesof training that can be inserted intoyour program at any time. The bestway to tackle the training is in thefollowing sequence.

1. Oxygen uptake training (purpose to raise the anaerobic threshold)

Oxygen uptake training will have the effect of increasing the number of redblood cells carrying oxygen, the number of blood capillaries in the musclesand the size of the heart to enable it to pump more blood. The best way toimprove oxygen uptake is to stress the body for approximately 5 to 20 min-utes at a controlled pace with a short recovery of 2 minutes. The total time ofthe combined intervals can be 25 to 40 minutes.

Examples of possible training sessions are:3 or 4 times a mile (2 minutes recovery between each interval),2 or 3 times 10 minutes (2 minutes recovery between each interval),1 or 2 times 20 minutes (2 minutes recovery between intervals).

2. Aerobic power training (purpose to develop 5K/10K race pace effi-ciency)

This training develops the race pace abilities for distances around 10K. Thetraining should be done close to race pace for 5K/10K depending on thechosen event. For these intervals, you should be well warmed up and use thedynamic warm up routine before you start.

Examples of possible training sessions are:3 or 4 times a mile (3 minutes recovery between each interval or wait untilresting heart rate is down to 120 beats per minute),5 times 1000 metres (3 minutes recovery between each interval),1 times 3000 metres.

3. Lactic acid tolerance training (purpose to develop anaerobic lactic powerand capacity)

This training will stimulate the body to produce alkali buffers to counteractthe lactic acid build-up at ‘high’ speeds. This training is designed to deliber-ately put the body into oxygen debt and as a result can be ‘hard’ to get usedto in the initial stages.However, the benefits will be seen in racing situations when you have tochange pace or escape from another runner!

Examples of possible training sessions on a track are:6 times 300 metres (4 minutes recovery between each interval),4 times 400 metres (5 minutes recovery between each interval),2 times 600 (10 minutes recovery between each interval)

continued on page 18

You can become a winner only if you arewilling to walk over the edge.—Damon Runyon

Page 16: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

16 Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club

Ann and Bob rode sweep.

At least that was their excuse for rid-ing so far in the back.

There was an interesting duo in themiddle of the pack.

Kevin who rode most of the way withhis helmet on backwards and GPwho worried about only having Ca-nadian money, 3 Loons and 2 Dou-bloons.

The group made such good timefrom Roche to Friday Harbour 11members opted for a half-hour tourof the town.

Ann and Bob stayed behind to makean urgent trip to a used bookstore.

When the group reassembled it wastime for lunch in a nice restaurantoverlooking the Harbour.

Roche Harbour Tripfrom page 6

won the TC10K and collected $1,000prize money and won the 5,000metre race, was named top athleteof the VITC and picked up another$1,000 for that honour. He ran aP.B. by 26 seconds in the 5K clock-ing 13:26 and what a brilliant belllap he ran! It was definitely the high-light of the track classic. Benson wassecond in the TC10K and Gilbert wasthird. Clean sweep for the Kenyans,1-2-3. Jackeline also pocketed$1,000 for winning the women’srace. Both Jackson and Gilbert haverun a 1:01 half marathon, yes that’s61 minutes for 13.1 miles, and all ofthe men run a 27 or 28 minute 10K.

All of the Kenyans that stayed withme were more than accommodatingwhen joining in with many of ourlocal social events. They attended aTC10K press conference, visited theMinistry of Children and Families,went salmon fishing and crabbing,came to two of the PIH club runs,hosted a mass “Run with the Ken-yans” at Beaver Lake and toured theProvincial Museum. They were morethan willing to sigh autographs,present age class awards followingthe TC10K race and join in as theofficial rabbits in the Kids 1.5K race.All in all, they were wonderful am-bassadors for the running commu-nity and our sport.

They told me it would be an honourto join the Prairie Inn Harriers andwear our club uniforms in the localrace. What a thrill it was to open upthe Times Colonist on Monday

morning and see a full page pictureof Jackson winning the TC10K wear-ing a harriers singlet! They still cor-respond regularly by e-mail and arehappy to receive PIH bulletins andNewsletters electronically. They allspeak excellent English and are verycomputer literate.

On the funny side, their favouritemotivational music was the themefrom Notting Hill and specifically“When You Say Nothing at All” asthey listened to that song ten timesevery day! They also liked RogerMiller’s “Dang Me” and Christmassongs by Elvis. Go figure! Also theywere scared shitless of water. Noneof them can swim.

What did I learn form them? Plenty.Their success comes from a very sim-ple lifestyle and a strict routine in-cluding hard work, regularity and acommon food. Corn meal. Everysingle night! Sometimes they madea stew to go with it but, corn meal,eaten with the hands, was their sta-ple. They loved orange pop andBenson had an occasional beer. Halfof them were vegetarians and halfwere meat-eaters. When I took themto Thrifty’s for their first shoppingtrip, their eyes nearly bugged out oftheir heads with the volume and va-riety of foods available at such a BIGstore!

They are very religious, saying aprayer and grace before every meal.They are completely self-sufficientand did all of their own laundry,cooking and cleaning up. Theyworked as a team and everyoneshared in the chores. Happily.

To conclude, they loved friends andwere very loyal to them. At home,they would run 20 miles just to visita friend. Here, I was their friend.When I dropped them off at the ferryto return to Hamilton and ChapelHill, three of them cried. Theywanted to stay and Ben said it best,“Man I love this Victoria, the peo-ple, the buildings, the hospitality, thetraining sites; it is the nicest place inthe world!” I think they enjoyedtheir stay on our side of the water.And I enjoyed them.

Year of the Kenyansfrom page 5

Page 17: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

17Prairie Inn Post - February 2002

big walking stick, which indicatedthat it was a bad roll, or sprain orbreak or whatever. It’s basically arequirement of the GS to have rolledor broken ankles, poked eyes fromsnapping branches, and foot infec-tions from the puddle, but it’s sadto see one of my own club memberhurt. He cordially moved aside forme and I went trucking along.

Niki Upton, who was running withher dad, passed me. I was totallyhappy for her. She was having a re-ally good race and I was really proudof her. She would end up finishingabout 30 seconds ahead of me, andI hugged her at the finish line. It wasreally awesome. She runs here lotson Saturdays so this is her terrain.

I finished sprinting ahead of PattiWalsh while Sandi was standing on

Gunner Shaw X-Countryfrom page 7

The beer was cold and the food wasgood.

The.local people, who appeared tobe quite conventional and usuallyenjoyed a peaceful lunch afterchurch, kept staring at us with theeasily read questions on their faces:“Who are these people and wheredid they get those outfits?”

After lunch, to finish off the IslandCircle Tour most people took off forthe American Camp about 20 kilo-metres away toward Roche Harbour.

Ann’s rear tire was pretty low so Boboffered to stay behind with her tomake sure the guy at the bike shopput in the right amount of air.

They took off a half-hour later forRoche Harbour, missing the Ameri-can Camp, and being first back.

After an hour’s rest the riders, nowfortified with ice cream and beer, gotback on the Oak Bay Beach Hotel’sboat for a beautiful trip home.

The Canadian Immigration womanwho met us was a bit nervous as shewent over our documents.

We heard second-hand that she’dbeen warned by the American au-thorities that GP and Kevin wereborn on the same day, in the sameyear at the same hospital in Londonto the same mother. However, theydid have different surnames on thepassports they presented.

These interesting coincidencesdidn’t show up on the US side until

the Immigration officers, who inter-viewed us in two separate groups,compared notes.

With the new terrorist legislation inthe United States and the stiffer con-trol of immigrants into Canadathere’s a danger that the investiga-tion into what is being called the SanJuan Twins Affair may put the clubin a bad light.

Given the new atmosphere aroundproblems with illegal immigrants Im-migration Canada and the CSIS couldcome down on GP and Kevin any day.

the shore yelling at us. I got somehot chocolate from Uncle KenSmythe, and went to see how someof my friends did. Sean came second,even though he goofed off and peedin the bushes and covered himselfin mud during the race.

I was pretty cold and I left after col-lecting my ribbon and seeing Bob’spresentation for Randy Jones, whodid some fund raising and put to-gether $500 for the club’s founda-tions.

I wound up beating my last year’stime by about 4 minutes, eventhough I wanted to beat it by more,I’m still happy, and a race like that,which is not easy; there are hills thatare so steep and rocky that you can’teven run up them, you crawl, is justnice to finish.

Another tri buddy of mine, Nissam,said afterwards that two loops of thatwould be so ideal. I agree.. except I’dprobably die. Maybe for marathontraining next year. It was a blastthough, and a total classic race. Thereare none others like it.

My First Year as a Harrierfrom page 13

I brought with me to that race mycheque and entry form for the fullmeal deal for the Island Race series.All 10 races I was in for. I showed uplate and missed the first one, BazanBay, but ran Mill Bay within 3 secondsof my predicted time (51:03.. my PRnow for 10k is 47:53.) and won a 5thplace ribbon. My first award.

Page 18: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

18 Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club

I had the racing bug. I wanted to doevery race, and rake in the ribbons andmedals. I did a few in between racesduring the series as well. The Penin-sula Track Club X-country challenge(1st); the Garden City 10k (12th); theVancouver 1/2 Marathon (6th).

Since the series end I have not stoppedrunning and racing. In total I havedone over 30 in 2001 and been kickedout of 6 bars (Ma Miller’s Pub, FifthSt. Bar and Grill, Felicito’s at UVic, toname a few..), but most importantly,I met people like the Exaggerator, whois always kind enough to run for 60minutes with me in the wee hours ofthe morning, or at 10 at night, andwho let me follow him for a day andbought me an iced coffee.

And Sylvan, who actually inspiredmy interest in designing and pro-gramming languages, and encour-aged me through the series.

And then there's Bob. Who compedI don't know how many tickets andraces for me, who took many of myfinish line pictures (my only onebefore then was a blurry rainy po-laroid from Mill Bay) and who in-troduced me to many a yummy (theman has connections). He is alwaysquick to invite you for a hot tub andoffer you a coke.. even though hewouldn't let me have a Mike's Hardafter Port Alberni!!

I have become no stranger to drink-ing, earned several new mothers, andit feels like I have many more grand-

pas and grandmas now. I look fondlyon Nelda Turner dressing me in theWhite Spot at a post-retirementgroup run breakfast.

My favorite memories are my firstmedal at the Cedar 12k, spending 50minutes running the Garden City10k, and then the rest of the daypartying at the brunch, Bob's house,and then Dr. Yummy taking me overto Mark Cryderman's house with theKenyans; running the Vancouver 1/2marathon and then booting it to theferries to catch the awards in Sooke;finishing the Ironhorse run (actuallydoing it is not a fond memory, butsaying now that I have done it issomething I'm proud of), and get-ting hospitalized at the JDSUniphase triathlon.

It's been a great year. I'm inspiredand encouraged by this group ofpeople, like Marcia Stromsmoe, whoI have yet to catch, and MauriceTarrant, who seems oblivious to thefact that he's *#$%ing awesome.These people show me that I couldbe doing this for a very long time,and I'm excited about that.

I am glad to have found this pasttimeand this group of people to share itwith, and I'm ready to do it all againthis year. And the next year, and theyear after that and so on.

4. Speed training (purpose tooptimize anaerobic alactic powerand capacity)

This training will stimulate the fasttwitch fibres which are needed forsprinting at the end of races. Theseare flat-out sprints followed by lotsof rest. The aim is to move the legsas fast as possible in as relaxed amanner as possible.

Examples of possible training ses-sions on a track are:3 times 40 metres (3 minutes recov-ery) and do 3 sets (5 minutes recov-ery between sets),2 times 60 metres (3 minutes recov-ery) and do 3 sets (5 minutes recov-ery between sets),2 times 100 metres (3 minutes re-covery) and do 3 sets (5 minutes re-covery between sets)

Conclusion

Inserting interval training into yourtraining program can provide the‘missing link’ to help you achieve theracing breakthrough about whichyou have been dreaming…

My First Year as a Harrierfrom page 17

Interval Trainingfrom page 15

I really lack the words to complimentmyself today.—Alberto Tomba

When you’re playing against a stacked deck,compete even harder. Show the world howmuch you’ll fight for the winner’s circle. Ifyou do, someday the cellophane will crackleoff a fresh pack, one that belongs to you,and the cards will be stacked in your favor.—Pat Riley

Page 19: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

19Prairie Inn Post - February 2002

ET CETERA

SEPARATED AT BIRTH?

Nana Mouskouri Sandi Begg

Running for the first time in my newneighborhood, I saw another soli-tary figure running toward me. "Niceday, isn't it?" I called out. We passedbefore he could reply. The next dayI set out again, and saw the samerunner heading toward me. As wequickly passed, he shouted back, "Itsure is!"

Takes All Kinds

A German, an Italian, and a goofyAmerican were trying to get into thestadium at the Sydney Olympics, butthe seats were all sold out. The en-terprising German stripped down tohis shorts and undershirt, picked upa cane fishing pole in a nearby al-ley, and marched right in statingboldly, "Heinrich Schneider, Ger-many, Pole Vault."

Noting the ease of entry, the Italiantook off his outer garments, grabbeda large round stone, then just asboldly strode in the gate, announc-ing, "Pasquale Galento, Italy, ShotPut."

Not to be outdone, the Americanguy took off all but his BVD'S, wentinto a nearby hardward store werehe purchased some barb-wire. As heapproached the gate the Americanspoke out confidently, "ChipHightower, USA, Fencing."

Physical fitness is not only one of the mostimportant keys to a healthy body, it is thebasis of dynamic and creative intellectualactivity. The relationship between thesoundness of the body and the activities ofthe mind is subtle and complex. Much isnot yet understood. But we do know whatthe Greeks knew: that intelligence and skillcan only function at the peak of theircapacity when the body is healthy andstrong; that hardy spirits and tough mindsusually inhabit sound gods.—JFK

Least Used Chatline E-bbreviations

HHOK-IR56MPTBTGHa Ha Only Kidding. I’m Really a56-year-old Man Pretending To Bea Teenage Girl

ITADITH?Is There A Doctor In The House?

ROTFLMAOAGLHRolling On The Floor Laughing MyAss Off At Goggle’s Latest Hijinks

IQTMPOAI’ve Quietly Taken My Pants Off Again

Page 20: HARRIERS PIONEER 8K

20 Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club

Newsletter InformationComments, letters, articles, photos,cartoons, etc. are always welcome.

Sandy StewartTel: 385-8624e-mail: [email protected]

CLUB INFORMATION

For more information on the Harri-ers, feel free to contact any member ofthe executive:

2002 ExecutivePresident

Susan Norrington ........ 384-0171

Vice-PresidentBill Scriven .................. 474-3557

TreasurerBob Reid ...................... 384-1520

SecretaryAnn Taylor .................... 656-6104

2002 DirectorsSocial Director(s)

Lisa Cantwell/Lisa Cownden 478-5192

Phoning/E-mail Committee DirectorSusan Norrington ........ 384-0171

Newsletter EditorSandy Stewart .............. 385-8624

Race Equipment DirectorKen Smythe ................. 478-7369

Race Fixtures and Results DirectorSylvan Smyth .............. 480-7869

V.I.R.A. RepresentativeBill Scriven .................. 474-3557

Membership & History DirectorBob Reid ...................... 384-1520

Race Walking DirectorHelen Jaques ............... 479-7872

Harriers Foundation DirectorMaurice Tarrant ............ 478-4122

Web Site DirectorSylvan Smyth .............. 480-7869

Club Runs DirectorBrian Turner ................. 658-0012

Every Week! Harrier club runs

Tuesdays at 5:30 pm from the down-town YMCA, Thursday mornings at9:00 am at various locations (see thechatline for run reports and the nextweek's Thursday run location) andSaturday mornings at 8:00 am fromthe main parking lot at Thetis LakePark. Harrier club-runs are non-de-nominational! Everyone welcome.We regularly have Pen Plodders outon the Thursday morning runs andTWC'ers out on Thursday and Sat-urday mornings. Feel free to join in.

Club Meetings

The Club meets on the second Tues-day of each month at the Cedar HillRecreation Centre at 7:30 pm. Clubmeetings feature guest speakers, racereports and social functions. Race en-try forms, information sheets and re-sults are usually available. We encour-age all members and interested par-ties to join us. Bull sessions follow inthe licensed Rec Centre Lounge.

• Feb 12 • July - social tba• March 12 • August - social tba• April 9 • Sept 10• May 14 • Oct 8• June 11 • Nov 12

Schedule of Club Runs for 2002

DATE TIME LOCATION MEETING PLACE HOST

17 Feb. 9:30 Goldstream Park Ma Miller’s Pub Susan Norrington

26 May 9:00 Hare & Hounds Thetis Lk parking lot John McKay

23 June 9:00 East Sooke Park Aylard Farm parking lot The Harlows

07 July 9:00 Galloping Goose 3169 Anders Rd. Randy Jones

28 July 9:00 Royal Roads U. YW/YMCA gym Ken SmytheGlen Lake BBQ

11 Aug. 9:00 Mt Doug Park 1251 Tattersall Drive Bob Reid Corn Roast

22 Sept. 9:00 Matheson Lake Cove Point Restaurant Brian Turner

26 Dec. 10:00 Boxing Day Prairie Inn Pub Sylvan Smyth10-Mile Handicap

* All club runs are on non-race Sundays. Everyone is welcome.

Visit the Harriers website at:http://pih.bc.ca

For the latest news call theHOTLINE:

381-IRUN (4786)


Top Related