1990 - From a Run to a Race (Part II)

Hi there - back again after a couple of weeks off!

Last time, I talked mostly about the events that led to Shane and I meeting for a run on the North Shore trails in 1989. Of course, 1989 turned out to be the inaugural Knee Knacker with the Original 8. From that time on, our 1989 training runs would also be informal planning sessions for the first open race in 1990.

Formal planning for 1990 started in earnest just after Labour Day in 1989, with both Shane and I still on a high from our excellent first summer of racing trail ultramarathons both locally and south of the border. These more established races gave us a good idea of what we wanted to offer racers in the 1990 Knee Knacker. The Baden-Powell trail itself would provide the challenge that many endurance athletes were seeking. Our objective was to take care of everything else needed for a safe and enjoyable passage on the 30 miles from Horseshoe Bay to Deep Cove.

From Labour Day to just before Christmas, Shane and I took it upon ourselves to educate municipal and provincial parks & recreation staff about ultramarathon trail racing. None of them had heard of this growing niche sport, and we needed to convince them that the runners were not signing up for something that may just kill them!

For the most part, those 3 months consisted of phone calls, letter writing and face-to-face meetings with staff in 5 governing bodies. We were finally successful in getting everyone on-board which was a pre-requisite for getting our race insurance coverage. Next step was to expand our committee. We managed to double the size (from 2 to 4), with 2 more of the Original 8 (Tom Brown and Brendan Kennelly) volunteering to come on board.

So, we now had permits and insurance taken care and 4 of us to put the race together over the first 6 months of 1990. No problems - right? Actually, there were a million details but nothing we could not work out with a lot of help from our friends!!!

First task was our entry form that I showed you in the last article. I won't get into the rest of the nitty-gritty details, but we had lists for everything like sponsors, awards, T-shirts, volunteers, course marking, food, drink, medical help, ...

The main thing we were missing was runners! Remember this was before the days of the Internet and email, so most of our marketing was word-of-mouth through friends, family and various running clinics and running stores in town. With 3 weeks to go before the race, our efforts were rewarded with about 25 runners signed up :-( At that time, we decided that maybe we wrong and that this is not what runners were looking for. But, we were still going to try and have fun with it on July 14 - even if it was going to turn out to be the first and last time we would do this as a public event.

Of course, we all know that things turned out differently after all. Over those last 3 weeks before race day, entries flooded in - another 38, bringing the total up to 63 paid entries of which 57 were starters for 1990! That convinced us to try it for at least 1 more year.

For an account of what took place on race day itself, I'm going to turn over to Shane Collins with a copy of the post-race report he wrote for Ultrarunning magazine:

VANCOUVER, B.C.
JULY 14th, 6:00AM
30 Miles

When eight bodies set out in June of 89 to complete the Baden Powell Trail from Horseshoe Bay to Deep Cove on the North Shore of one of the world’s most beautiful cities (I’m not biased), we were quite taken by both the majestic seascapes and the difficulty of the terrain (16,000 feet of elevation change) and Enzo Federico and I decided to make it a “real” run the following year.

So was born this particular event and by the eve of the race we had 63 committed runners (or is that runners who should be committed) of which 57 made the start line.

Included in the group were some well known names like Martin Greaves who had just completed two hundred milers within the last 3 weeks (don’t you ever rest Martin?). Also attending were Peter Findlay, Brian Nemethy and Blair Maclean, the latter two being very competitive Ironman triathletes who were using this event as a monitor of their condition for the August 25th Ironman Canada North American Championships.

On the ladies side there was favourite Mary Nicell who had just finished second in the Vancouver Marathon, along with Debbie Askew from Kamloops and an unknown Maggie Anderson all the way from New Zealand (Okay! so she was visiting here at the time of our race).

The run started on time and by the seven mile mark a pattern was beginning to emerge as Peter Findlay came to the first aid station with Brian Nemethy in hot pursuit. Mary was leading the women and both Debbie Askew and Maggie Anderson were within striking distance given there was another 23 miles of steep ascents and descents.

This was Enzo’s and my first attempt at race directing and I have to say I can now understand why people generally speak well of trail runners and their attitudes.

They were a happy positive group of individuals all of whom showed their appreciation at every aid station and marshaling venue. This, of course, rubbed off on the volunteers and the end result was a feeling of camaraderie and cooperation I have never witnessed from this vantage point.

There were no surprises at the end really with Peter Findlay coming in an excellent time of 5.15 even, followed just four minutes later by Brian Nemethy and then dark horse Steffen Beckner in 3rd. Top male masters runner Neil Wakelin looked strong all the way and finished in 6th place overall.

Mary took the women's title in 6.43 followed by Debbie Askew and Maggie Anderson and as there were no masters ladies entered (where were you all?) we were able to go six deep with prizes so Anne Collier, Debbie Findlay and Becky Semler all got a little something extra for their fine effort.

Other notable efforts include Murray Carpenter who finished 13th overall in his first trail race and first run beyond 10 miles. Also Duff Waddell, a fine masters runner who would have threatened for the lead had he not got lost so many tines (pay attention next time Duff!!)

A great day weatherwise and in our opinion a pretty good race given it’ s first year. I feel we still have some kinks to work out in order to make it the best trail ultra in Canada, which is our goal, but the feedback from competitors and volunteers alike gives us something to aim for in 91.

See you there!


Shane Collins

Epilogue

Just a few closing comments to add to Shane's report:

• 52 of the 57 starters finished, for an excellent finishing rate of over 90%!
• I've scanned in a few of the pictures from that first year, and you can find them by clicking here
• 1990 was the only year that our T-shirt was only handed out to finishers
• Check out the race results
• We had a very modest post-race "banquet" and awards ceremony right at the beach in Panorama Park
• We continued our tradition of donating race proceeds to charity, which once again was BC Children's Hospital

That's it for another week (or so)!

Enzo

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