Come out to cheer for the Vancouver 100 runners

I agree with Craig's update that all runners looked fresh as Daisy's. 

Our group of 5 (Bat Barry, Michelle Sherstan, Claudia Bullington, Faith Wells and myself) saw them as they descended the BP to the Grouse Parking lot.  Actually, the faster ones dashed by us in the MacKay Creek area. Mike Wardas had the good fortune of seeing Faith on her butt on the eroded cliff of East MacKay Creek and all of us trying to coax her out in time to let Mike by. Mike, of course, being the good sportsman that he is, was more concerned about the gaggle of women being ok than about having room to run by us.  Thanks, Mike. It was Faith first adventure on the North Shore trails and next time she'll return with crampons and an iceaxe ;-)


I took Faith back to the Grouse Parking lot logging 1:25 min.  The rest continued to Mosquito Creek only to get lost on their way back.  No idea were they went (uphill), but they figured somehting was wrong when the going got steeper and the spiderwebs denser.  They logged about 2:30h.

Off to prepare food for Cleveland Dam this afternoon.

Stage 2 ... all runners made it to Cleveland Dam between about 0820h and 0850h ... Tim, Dan and Bill were there along with Rod all near or at the front but were lead out of the 1/4 way mark by by Glenn, Geoff, Mike, and Rob ... still a close race.  The new guys need to speed up their aid station times to play in this game!  Berglind turned around at Grouse to head back to Deep Cove ... Desmond headed home from CD as planned ... and Baldwin joined in the fun just as the last runner John Machray had left the Dam after food and a change to a nice dry fat ass shirt (blue) from his sweaty one (black) ... with the special request to wife Linda to launder and dry the black one to be ready for the next change (Linda must love you a lot John because she didn't grumble much at all).  Expected time to Horseshoe Bay will be about 4 hours or so depending on conditions through Hollyburn and out to the bluffs ... and then maybe some pizza and back to the Dam for burgers, mmmmmm.  All are looking strong and happy and the sun is poking through the clouds.

The runners were off at about 0434h this morning under dark conidtions with a smattering of rain.  They completed the additional 2.7 km on Panorama Drive and were anxious to get on the trail.  We had all 11 x 100km runners plus 3 custom participants start the day with their faithful crews in tow.  By Lynn Headwaters it was a tight race with Tim and Dan vying for the lead. As far as they are concerned it's game on!  The others were close behind with the more experienced ones taking their time knowing what lies ahead.  And Chris Benn wisely chose to pack it in at Lynn Headwaters because of a nagging groin pain due to overtraining perhaps.  I drove him back to Deep Cove and Chris is heading out to pick up Desmond at Cleveland Dam for their finish to the day.  I've heard from Jackson that Sibylle, Pat and Michele have all begun their trek from Cleveland Dam to meet the others on the way out.  I wonder if they'll go to Lynn or all the way to Deep Cove?  Either way they've got a great day now that the sun is breaking through the clouds.

the weather forecast for Saturday is a mix of sun and cloud at 18C ... but the trail will be very wet and muddy ... and at night it will be very dark.  It sounds like everyone is up for the challenge at this point ... it's all good.

Some friends and I are planning to bring a BBQ, a frisbee and some cold ones out to Cleveland Dam on Saturday afternoon to cheer on the 100K runners.   We will aim to get there at about 3:30 and stay for a few hours until the main pack of runners passes throught.  If you're not familiar with it, the park is just off Capilano Road about a kilometer south of Grouse Mountain. All 100K runners will pass by. This is roughly the 75K mark for them. This was a lot of fun last year.  Hope to see you there!