Knee Knacker Blog

Kelsy Trigg - KK gets into your blood

2008-07-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

Kelsy Trigg has been Race Director since 2005, but the race has been part of the Trigg family since 2000 - the entire 21st century!

Kelsy's husband, Jeff, ran in 2000, Jeff & Kelsy both ran in 2001, & Jeff, Brad (Jeff's brother) & Kelsy ran in 2002 :) proof it's contagious... Kelsy volunteered as a marshall in 2000, ran from 2001 -> 2004, Jeff & Kelsy joined the committee in 2003 & then Kelsy was RD from 2005 -> 2008.

Now in Kelsy's own words:

Knee Knacker gets in your blood. I warn new runners that it is truly addictive. Pushing ourselves to our limits & then more. I love the rawness, the genuine human nature that it exposes & the way it tends to bring out the best in all of us. The passion around the race is contagious & the word that comes to my mind when I think about my opportunity to be involved is "honoured". Our volunteers are amazing. And our committee is a truly dedicated crew... a really diverse group that comes together for the love of the race. Knee Knacker wouldn't be what it is today without Enzo's constant influence. His passion & love of the race is evident through the 20 years... he has been a great mentor.

And great athletes in the race too. One of the most humble, talented people I've seen over the years is Peter Findlay. Peter is a legend & also one of the most thoughtful runners. I remember distinctly the year we changed the start & Peter had never been on that stretch of trail & as he came into Cypress aid station (tied for first with Mark Bates at the time), he ran past with a completely relaxed demeanour & smiled, looked me in the eye & said something like "love the new stretch of trail, Kelsy"...

... another fun moment was when Suzanne & Lisa were vying for top women's spot & racing incredibly strong... they looked like they were going to give Peter & Mark a run for their money. They were closing the gap at the 1/2 way point, and I had visions of them surprising Findlay & Bates & making an even more interesting finish! :) what amazing finishes at 3rd & 4th overall!

The morning of the race is one of my favourite times. Driving through the city at 4:30 in the morning with the music cranked. Last year I pulled into the start with a bit of a skid & had to laugh at my race-car antics :) That and being at the finish line to share in each person's moments - the highs & lows... much more intense and special than I had expected.

Jeff & I have been thinking about some of the most rewarding times & we agree that staying until the very last runner comes in & seeing what a huge accomplishment that is. Hoping that people make the cutoff & seeing that determination. Being there to applaud the last 5-10 people who have been out for up to 10 (+) hrs... knowing the effort that it takes. Seeing the blood, sweat & tears & knowing how special a day it is.

Remembering the small moments on the trail, being encouraged & encouraging others. Feeling intense pain one moment & then strong & like we can conquer the world the next. Challenging our perceived limits & finding out what we're all really made of.

The comments that we get from people are absolutely heartwarming... if you want details, there are some at http://www.kneeknacker.com/RaceInfo/2007/CommunityThanks.htm & http://www.kneeknacker.com/RaceInfo/2006/Update13_0715.htm. I think my all-time favourite quote is
“Every runner on the planet should be so lucky as to run the Knee Knacker.” – Kevin Kramps, 2006 Finisher

Some thoughts from Ean Jackson

2008-07-11T14:14:00.000-07:00

Have a look at Ean's recollection of the formative years of the Knee Knacker in his blog post at http://www.clubfatass.com/news/holy-smokes-honey-knee-knacker-20 .

1996-1998 - Ken gets the race to ten (years)!

2008-07-09T23:24:00.000-07:00

The last 3 years of the first decade saw a new Race Director steering the good ship Knee Knacker. I met Ken Greenaway at the YMCA Marathon Clinic in the early 90's, and I managed to talk him int helping out as volunteer at first, and then on the Race Committee. Ken also ran in the race in 1993 and 1994.

Now hear from Ken himself, as he describes those 3 years directing the race as it became more and more popular. And, yes I know we skipped a few years of the race (1993-1995). We'll get back to those years later!

What do I remember of my Race Directing duties of 1996 thru 1998? A lot of impressions, but very little detail!

At one of our race committee meetings post-1995, Enzo made mention of handing off the Race Directing duties. I think the next step was a case of volunteers being asked to step forward, and everyone but me stepping back. <sigh>. I was excited about my new responsibility but nervous at the same time. We had a great group of folks organizing though and things worked out very well.

The runup to race day in 1996 was a blur of training for my first 100 miler (Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run, also celebrating 20 years in 2008), trying to gather volunteers, and fielding a surprisingly large number of calls from runners trying to get in, asking for directions on the course, and telling me about lost runners on training runs! Thankfully, no one got seriously lost, the volunteers cheerfully offered their help prior to and on race day, and we started with a full complement of runners.

Race day itself was a blur as I was working with some sleep deprivation by that time. Thankfully Enzo and others provided thinking on my behalf. Johan Kruus from Rossland BC raced his first and only KneeKnacker and came away with the overall victory in 5:11:30, while Nicola Hastings won the women’s side with a 5:45:41, still a top 10 all-time result.

1997 was another terrific year for the run. Frank Wolf, from North Vancouver won on the men’s side, while Nicky Hastings repeated her victory of 1996 for the women.

During 1997 and 1998 I had made a lot of changes in my life and felt that it would be a great time to pass on the RD duties after the 10^th running of the race in 1998. Paul Quinn, indispensable as an organizer in many past years graciously offered his services, so I knew the race would continue and continue to improve.

Our 10^th anniversary champion was Derek Reed in a time of 4:55:44. Derek was truly a worthy champion; he had set the record for fastest ascent of the Grouse Grind in the year prior, in 27:18! Tracy Lavin of Vancouver won on the women’s side, in a time of 5:59:25

What do I remember, and what made the most lasting impression on me? I loved the race, still do actually, even though I haven’t run it for the last 10 years. I made some incredible friends, and met some exceptional people. The Kneeknacker was my introduction to both trail running and to ultra running, which has become integral to my life since then. For that I owe Enzo and the Kneeknacker family a huge amount of gratitude.

The race itself can’t go without dedicated volunteers and organizers. I worked with the likes of Greg Dines, Wendy Woodfield, Amanda Barlow, Jim Helten, Maureen Fitzgerald, Paul Quinn, Paul Truelove, Greg Horner, Rod Hatfull, and of course Enzo and Francine.

Part of the legacy I am most proud of is the fact that many of the people who came onboard with me when I was around are still there volunteering to make your day that much more enjoyable – Doug Turnbull, Maureen Macpherson and team up on Black Mountain, Rick and Barry of R&B Brewing to name just a few. Thank them, and all of the other great helpers when you see them along the way.

Ken Greenaway
RD 1996-1998

1992 - Enzo gets to race again

2008-07-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

1992 was to provide me with my first opportunity to participate in the Knee Knacker since our inaugural group run in 1989. Co-founder Shane Collins took over the organizing reins and left me free to see how all our efforts the past couple of years had manifested themselves on race day.

Before I go on, I just want to point out some of the entrants that were drawn to our race in 1990 and 1991. Have a look at some of the names in the 1990 results and 1991 results. For many of these, the Knee Knacker was an introduction to the sport of ultrarunning. With very few events to choose from in the local area, these "pioneers" took it upon themselves to start their own events over the next few years. They included:

Ron Adams (Haney-Harrison 100Km)
Maurice "The Eagle" Beaulieu (The Eagle 100 Miler, Keremeos Kruncher)
Greg Jacobsen & Chris Ralph (White River 50 Miler)
Frank Fleetham (Cle Elum 50Km)
Gail Bazeley & George Forshaw (Diez Vista 50Km)

You'll probably also notice other names that have distinguished themselves not only as athletes, but also as builders of the sport - Neil Wakelin, Ean Jackson, Ron Nicholl, ...

Now on to the 1992 race. Once again, I'll rely mostly on a post-race report I produced for Ultrarunning magazine.

Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run - July 11, 1992

The fourth edition of the Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run was once again the source for some dramatic moments as the race drew to a conclusion in the mountains which grace the north shore of the city of Vancouver. In past years, most of the drama had been provided by the athletes themselves, as they battled one another and the clock to achieve their own personal victories. While these elements were still present within the race itself, they were somewhat overshadowed by events which transpired during the closing hours of the event, in the immediate vicinity of the Baden-Powell trail.

With the race cut-off time of 10 hours less than 2 hours away, I was basking in the warm sunshine on the beach in Deep Cove, next to the finish area of the race, sipping refreshments and swapping lies with fellow competitors. With Shane Collins taking over race director duties this year, I had the good fortune to partake in this year's event with no responsibilities. All I had to do on race day was run 30 miles, gaining 8,000 feet in the process, and descending another 8,300 feet! As I'm sure all race directors out there already know, this really is a piece of cake compared to the worries and headaches an R.D. experiences in the days leading up to, and including, race day itself.

The months of preparation and planning put in by Shane and his race committee were quite evident throughout the weekend's activities, and especially during the race itself. Of course, no race director could ever be expected to plan for the possibility of an armed gunman with hostages appearing near the trail during the race. This extremely unlikely event turned into a bizarre reality with about an hour-and-a-half to go in the race. The phone call Shane received from the police was rather vague, but the concern showed on his face, as about a dozen runners were still on the trail. He immediately called a pow-wow with the race committee members present and myself. While there was a sense of urgency in getting more information and ensuring the safety of our runners, Shane remained calm in getting us all organized to deal with the situation. The minutes on the clock seemed like hours as we waited for the remaining runners to come down the trail. You could feel a collective sigh of relief as each one arrived in Deep Cove unscathed. Finally, with 13 minutes to spare, the last runner made his way to the beach escorted by the posse of runners put together to head back up the trail and try to help everyone get out safely.

While these events were going on, the race was not a priority in anyone's mind, but since this is a running publication, let's look at what happened in the race itself. Being a middle-of-the-pack participant in the race, I did not get a first-hand look at the front-runners in either the of the men's or women's divisions. After crossing the finish line, however, I donned my investigative journalist's hat to sniff out the facts, and this is my story.

Of the 99 runners toeing the line at the start in Horseshoe Bay, all but 7 made it to the finish in Deep Cove within the 10 hour cut-off. This represented the highest number of finishers, and the highest finishing percentage, in race history. The percentage of runners getting into the race, however, reached an all-time low, as Shane had to turn away at least as many runners once the race limit of 100 was reached at the end of April. His advice for next year is to enter early, as Canada's largest ultramarathon will likely fill up even sooner.

With the defending champions returning in all divisions, and excellent conditions on the trail, everyone was expecting some great competition on race day, and we weren't disappointed. Course records were lowered in all but the open mens division, and overall times were lower than in previous years, with 40% of the runners finishing in under 7 hours.

To nobody's surprise, the first person to reach the finish line was Peter Findlay for the third consecutive year. While his time was slightly off his course record from last year, he still squeaked in under 5 hours, and now owns the 3 fastest times ever on the course. His strategy was quite different from last year, as he was content to have others set the pace for the first half, before blowing everyone away in the last 15 miles. His winning margin turned out to be over 23 minutes by the end. Once again, his victory was achieved a mere 2 weeks after competing in the Western States 100. Unfortunately, he was not as successful at WS this year, with a DNF at 80 miles after last year's third place finish. However, there were 3 other runners who had fairly successful results at WS this year, followed up with excellent results at Knee Knackering 2 weeks later. It makes us think that Western States appears to be a great training run for our event, and we'd like to thank Norm Klein for continuing to schedule his excellent event 2 weeks before the Knee Knackering race.

Over on the women's side, Debbie Findlay (related to Peter, only because she married him) came back with a strong performance after a DNF last year. She was surprised to find herself in the lead early on, as defending champion and course record holder, Mary Nicell, called it a day at the 7.5 mile aid station. With a strong race right to the finish, Debbie claimed third place overall this year, 10 minutes behind co-champions Nola Patterson and Marcia Winger, who crossed the finish line together in 6:32:45. Nola and Marcia are both long-time members of the very strong Chilliwack "Y" Running Club, and ran the entire race together to establish new course records in both the open and masters divisions. They are both relative newcomers to the ultra scene, and we can expect to see a lot more of them at the top of the results in years to come. Defending masters champion Gail Bazeley finished second this year, but managed to knock off over 2 hours from her time of last year.

The final course record was set in the mens masters division, as Neil Wakelin prevailed for the third consecutive year. His winning time of 5:37:58 was a minute faster than last year. Neil finished sixth overall, but obviously had his sights set much higher, as he was in the lead for most of the first half of the race. He hung in pretty tough at the end, though, as he may have heard the footsteps of second-place finisher Brian Patterson (yes, he's Nola's husband - one of 5 husband/wife teams to complete the race this year).

There were many other highlights this year. On a personal note, I got a great deal of satisfaction out of being able to compete in an event which Shane and I created just three short years ago. I was able to experience just what the runners had been raving about the last couple of years - a tough, challenging run with some of the best aid stations and volunteers you could hope for. Shane managed to talk Murray Carpenter and Blair Maclean into serving on the race committee this year. Both were consistently high finishers in previous years, but sacrificed their entry this year to help out with the race, and their efforts were greatly appreciated by all. Murray managed to set a new standard for marking the trail. He even made it a family affair by getting his kids, Ryan, Matthew, and even 5-year-old Brady, involved in putting up and taking down ribbons as well as clearing fallen logs.

There were a couple of new features introduced this year. First were the handsome finishers buckles awarded to all finishers under 10 hours. Secondly, there were 2 new awards to recognize outstanding contributions and efforts made by both a volunteer and a competitor. Chris Scholermann has co-ordinated and cooked up a tremendous pasta feed for each of the last 3 years, and won the volunteer award. Chris has also distinguished himself on the Knee Knackering battlefield, however, as he was a finisher in the race 2 years ago.

The competitors award also went to another Chris - Chris (short for Christina) Ralph from the state of Washington. Chris has provided inspiration for many a runner as she has made her way into the running scene in the Pacific Northwest over the last few years. Last year she came up to do our race, and was quite apprehensive as it was her first really tough trail ultra. It was a rough day for her, but she gamely made it to the half-way checkpoint. This year she came back, and I don't think anything or anybody was going to stop her from seeing the second-half of the trail, and especially the finish line in Deep Cove. Congratulations, Chris, and thanks for being a part of our event. Shane and I hope that you and all the other runners and volunteers will join us once again on July 10, 1993 for the Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run.

1991 - The Race Starts Growing

2008-05-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I've got a lot of catching up to - it's been over a month since I finished up on 1990!

To help myself out, I'm going to cheat a bit. I dug out a post-race report I produced for Ultrarunning magazine. I've added a few more of my observations after the report from 1991.

Vancouver, B.C.
July 13th, 6:00AM
30 Miles

The Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run takes runners the entire 30 miles of the Baden-Powell Centennial Trail from Horseshoe Bay to Deep Cove, up and over the mountains that grace the North Shore of the city of Vancouver. The trail was established in 1971 by the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, to mark the centennial of the province of British Columbia. In 1989, Shane Collins and myself invited 6 of our friends to join us for the inaugural edition of the K.K.N.S.T.R. We were in awe of the magnificent ocean, mountain, and city views along the trail, and both humbled and inspired by the challenge of the trail, with its 16,300 feet of elevation change (8,000 up and 8,300 down).

We covered the trail in its entirety twice that summer. Most of our non-ultrarunning friends thought we were NUTS, and thus was born the acronym for our new informal running group, the Northshore Ultra Trailrunning Society. The next year was spent planning and organizing an open race on the trail in 1990, and hoping we'd be able to talk a few people into actually paying $50 to enter. We managed to attract 57 runners to the starting line, with most signing up the two weeks prior to race day. The majority of entrants were new to the sport of ultramarathoning, but that didn't stop 53 of them from collecting the very distinctive finsher's shirt.

Which brings us to this year's edition of the K.K.N.S.T.R. We were overwhelmed by the response, as the reputation of the race spread quickly by word-of-mouth. The race limit of 100 runners was reached two weeks prior to race day, which now makes it possibly the largest ultramarathon race ever held in Canada! A whole weekend's worth of activities was planned, with the addition of a post-race Awards dinner and dance, as well as the already established pre-race carbo dinner and trail briefing. Another new feature was the attractive, multi-coloured plaque awaiting each and every runner reaching the finish in under ten hours.

As race day approached, much of the talk was centred on what would happen to the course records set last year, as defending champions Peter Findlay and Mary Nicell were both returning, as well as masters men's winner Neil Wakelin. Everyone was trying to come up with reasons why they wouldn't be touched. First was the weather, and the condition of the first ten miles of trail. The winter was pretty severe, and combined with the cool, wet spring and first few days of summer, three to four feet of snow remained above 3000 feet less than three weeks prior to race day. If the snow wouldn't stop Peter, surely he couldn't be fully recovered a mere two weeks after his brilliant third-place finish at Western States (17:02 - fastest time ever by a Canadian, or anyone outside the state of California).

The snow was removed as a factor thanks to a couple of weeks of warmer, sunnier weather. This continued until a couple of days before the race, when the infamous rains of the Pacific Northwest returned. The runners were sent off at 6:00 a.m. during a brief dry spell, but the precipitation quickly returned, thus ensuring the runners would be greeted by muddy trails strewn with wet boulders. Footing would also prove precarious on the many narrow, slick, wooden bridges. Surely this would slow down Peter, Mary, and the many other challengers.

The first major checkpoint at 7.5 miles is in the parking lot of the Cypress Bowl downhill ski area, at which point the toughest climb of the course has been conquered - the 3,500 foot ascent to the top of Black Mountain between miles 1 and 5. Last year, the lead pack (including Peter Findlay) reached this point in about 1:28. This year, half-a-dozen runners arrived within a couple of minutes of each other in just under 1:30. To their dismay, they learned that Peter had arrived in an amazing 1:21. So much for the theory that he hadn't recovered from Western States.

The only hope for the chase pack, which included last year's second place finisher Brian Nemethy and former Victoria Marathon champion Ron Wichmann (2:27 PR), was for Peter to fall apart in the latter stages of the race. This didn't seem likely at half-way, as he arrived at the Cleveland Dam checkpoint (15 miles) in 2:21, 20 minutes ahead of last year's split, and 12 minutes clear of his chasers. All told, another 4 runners were ahead of the record-setting pace of last year at half-way, but, on this day only Peter would be able to maintain this through the second half. The torrid early pace meant that very few would be able to manage negative splits, as was quite common last year.
The finish line was set up just minutes before Peter arrived in a new course record of 4:45:11, knocking an astounding 30 minutes off his time of last year. After catching his breath, he did reveal he felt a bit "bagged" after the 24th mile, the start of a tough 1,300-foot climb out of the Seymour River valley over the next 2 miles. This must have accounted for the fact his second half was all of 4 minutes slower than his first. Meanwhile, a real battle was developing for second place between Brian and Ron, with Ron finally pulling away at the same point where Peter slowed, and reaching the finish in 5:19:38 to place second in his first ultramarathon race.

Over on the women's side, the number of entrants had doubled this year to 12. Last year's runner-up, Deborah Askew, was back to challenge defending champion Mary Nicell. Following the script laid out in the men's race, Mary took off to an early lead and forced everyone else to try and catch her. She arrived at the half-way point in 3:10, 10 minutes ahead of her record-setting pace of the previous year. Veteran Ironman triathlete Eeva Lantela was next to arrive in 3:25, surprised to find she was in second place in her first ultra, followed closely by Deborah in 3:27.

Over the second 15 miles, Mary just kept extending her lead, arriving in Deep Cove in 6:39:00, almost 5 minutes faster than her previous course record. So much for the rumours about various injuries Mary was recovering from in the weeks leading up to the race. The battle for second place was quite different from the men's race, as Deborah and Eeva decided to cross the finish line in identical times of 7:04:59, after running much of the second half of the race together.

The masters mens division proved to be very competitive this year, accounting for six of the top thirteen overall places. Neil Wakelin repeated as champion in a time of 5:38:59, knocking over 16 minutes off his course-record time from 1990. He surprised everyone with his planned five minute break at the half-way point, after opening up a ten minute lead over Ken Hirst. The break allowed him to take in the nourishment he felt he would need in the latter stages of the race to avoid "bonking" as he did last year. It obviously worked like a charm, as he finished over 13 minutes ahead of Ken, who was also under last year's record time.

This year also saw finishers in two new divisions for the first time. Gail Bazeley won the women's masters division in 9:24:05 in her first ultra, while veteran Joe Marchand won the men's 50+ division. Joe recovered from an early route-finding error to finish in 6:44:57, just two weeks after he also buckled at Western States. We may have to create a whole new division just for our youngest entrant next year. Fifteen-year old Ian Hetherington ran strong and steady the whole way to finish in a time of 7:09:15. I think we'll see a lot more of him in years to come. Look out Peter!

So where do we go from here? Shane Collins will take over at the helm again for next year, under our agreement to alternate the race directorship. Despite pressures to the contrary, we have made a pledge to this year's participants not to let the numbers grow for the next couple of years. This will allow us to stabilize, rather than growing too quickly, and focus on improving the quality of the event first. We feel this is what our runners want, and is very much in line with the philosophy that bigger is not always better, "better is better", as expressed by the editors of Ultrarunning in the June 1991 issue.

Come join us on Saturday July 11, 1992, and I'm sure you won't be disappointed. But, don't hesitate, as we can only accommodate 100.

Epilogue

Just a few closing comments to add to my 1991 report:

89 of the 103 starters finished, for a finishing rate of just over 86%!
Check out the race results
We continued our tradition of donating race proceeds to charity, which once again was BC Children's Hospital

That's it till next time!

Enzo

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

2008-04-08T21:52:00.000-07:00

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

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

2008-03-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

We were all on quite the high after our inaugural run in 1989 - was it the 30-mile run or the pints we were consuming at the pub :-) Regardless, there was much talk about taking this from a group run with 8 of us that day to an actual race in 1990. The main question we asked ourselves was - will anybody actually pay money to run 30 miles on these trails?

Before answering that question, some background on the race co-founders - Shane Collins and myself.

In 1988, just 1 year before our inaugural run, neither Shane nor I were living on the North Shore and we had not crossed paths yet in life. In fact, neither of us had done much trail running in the North Shore mountains. Yet, we were both looking for athletic challenges/adventures beyond what we had experienced to this point as individuals.

Shane's athletic background was as a competitive swimmer in his youth. Later in life, he moved on to triathlon and was involved in the early days of Ironman competitions in the 70's and 80's and also completed many road marathons. Myself, on the other hand, came mostly from a road running background in my early adult years - starting with 10K fun runs and then progressing to marathons.

By mid-1988, we were both looking for something different to occupy our non-working time in our lives. We both also decided a change was in order for our home base, so that we would be closer to where we really wanted to spend our free time. For Shane, that meant a move from the "Centre of the Universe" (Toronto) to West Vancouver, while for me it was a more modest shuffle from the streets of East Vancouver (Commercial Drive) to North Vancouver (just a block-and-a-half from Cleveland Dam). Over the next few months, a series of events would lead to the 2 of us meeting for a run on the Baden-Powell trail in the spring of 1989, which is what eventually gave birth to the Knee Knackering Shore Trail Run.

In 1988, I finally achieved one of my big road-running goals - running in the Boston Marathon! My qualifying race was done in October 1987 at the Victoria Marathon. In those days, the qualifying time for men under 40 was 3:00. I ran my first and only sub-3 hour marathon in a time of 2:59:55!! Although thrilled at having finally qualified to run Boston, I was not so excited to put myself through the rigorous and intense training to perform my best at the marathon distance. I wanted to have a bit more fun in the process, so I turned to the trails.

After running Boston in April 1988, I spent the ensuing summer and fall exploring the trails of Vancouver's North Shore, as well as up and down the Sea-to-Sky Highway in the trails near Squamish and Whistler. Eventually I knew I wanted to challenge myself with a race on trails such as these. There weren't any of these types of races in British Columbia at the time, so I turned my sites to California to look for a race. After all, they were the only ones that were wackier than us on the wacky West Coast :-)

I had always heard, read and seen on TV the grand-daddy of them all - the Western States Endurance Run. It starts high up in the Sierras at Squaw Valley and 100 miles later arrives in Auburn, California, following the Western States trail and gaining 15,540 feet while descending 22,970 feet. No problems, it's a downhill run :-)

Well, better sense prevailed and I decided a couple of 50-mile races might be in order before stepping up to Western States. So I perused my copies of Ultrarunning magazine, which I had just started subscribing to earlier in the year. I picked a low-key 50-miler just outside San Francisco in November, 1988 as my first ultra, by the name of Skyline To The Sea. It was cold, wet and muddy, and I had found my calling!

My next ultra was much closer to home in Tsawassen in March, 1989, which was the good news. The not-so-good news was that it was 50 miles of roads!?! But, my buddy Tom Brown (another one of the Original 8) was also running this race, and he introduced me to Louis Briere (who also ended up being in the Original 8). Finally, Louis was the one who told me he met a crazy Englishman by the name of Shane Collins just the week before. He said Shane was planning on running the entire length of the 30-mile Baden-Powell Trail in the summer, and he was looking for company.

I did not need much talking into, and a couple of weeks later the 4 of us (Shane, Louis, Tom and me) met for our first run on the North Shore trails. Over the next couple of months, this became a twice-weekly ritual as we familiarized ourselves with the Baden-Powell and many other intersecting trails. It turned out that both Shane and I were preparing for longer trail races towards the end of the summer of '89 - myself for the Elkhorn Mountain 100 Km Endurance Run, while Shane was aiming for the Leadville Trail 100-miler. Our training on the North Shore Trails proved to be excellent preparation for these 2 events, and I had the privilege of pacing Shane for the last 40 miles of his 100 miles in Leadville, Colorado. It was a great close to our summer, with the highlight of course being the inaugural Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run.

Of course, none of had ever organized a race from scratch before. But we were young and naive, and figured we could do anything especially after we had conquered 30 miles on the Baden-Powell Trail. Little did we know what was in store for us in the coming 12 months as we prepared to transform our little group run into a full-blown race in 1990, but more on that next week in Part II. For now, I'll just leave you to have a look at our first-ever entry form for the July 14, 1990 race.

Till next time...Enzo

1989 - The first one!

2008-03-10T22:35:00.000-07:00

June 24, 1989

The Presidente Rivera, a 749 foot Uruguayan tanker, ran aground in the Delaware River...

St. Louis Cardinals Vince Coleman steals record 39th and 40th consecutive bases

Meanwhile, at 6:00 am just above the Upper Levels Highway in West Vancouver, 8 young (and not-so-young) and adventurous lads embark on a 30-mile journey across the North shore Mountains. They would call this event the first-ever (and maybe last-ever) Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run. In coming years, they would come to be known as the "Original 8". Their names are:

Louis Briere
David Brown
Tom Brown
Gavin Cameron
Shane Collins
Enzo Federico
Rob Hartvikson
Brendan Kennelly

What follows is the abbreviated story of that fateful day that started the tradition that is celebrated for the 20th consecutive year in 2008.

As any self-respecting runner (or other long-distance athlete) knows, the day must begin a couple of hours earlier with a hearty breakfast. Half of the Original 8 were staying at my North Vancouver townhouse - just a block and a-half from Cleveland Dam (site of the future halfway aid station and drop-bag location for the race).

After a hearty breakfast (and ensuing bodily functions to dispose of any excess waste), we were off in my VW van to Panorama Park in Deep Cove to meet the other half of our group for a shuttle to our starting point just above Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver. We were all quite anxious in that seemingly never-ending drive so early on a beautiful Saturday morning, with 6 of the Original 8 questioning why they ever let me and Shane talk them into this! For Shane and I it seemed like a good idea as we were both training for much longer races later in the summer - 100 Km. and 100 miles, respectively. More on that in a future post, as this is about June 24, 1989.

We started at the western end of the Baden-Powell trail in the Eagleridge parking lot just off the Upper Levels Highway. This would be the same start used for the next 16 years, until the Sea-to-Sky Highway construction project blasted that whole area out of existence in 2006. For those familiar with the race, you might ask about the out-and-back on the highway on-ramp. Well, it was not a part of the inaugural event. We did not think it would be necessary to spread out the 8 of us as we headed into the trail, and besides we all agreed ahead of time that this would be a group run - one for all and all for one :-)

Did I also forget to mention that I was the only one that actually was familiar with the entire 30 miles we were going to run that day? No extra marking with ribbons on this day, and also no triangular markers on the trees. I learned it mostly the hard way by trial and error (and error and ...). I was fortunate enough to get one of the last copies of my North Shore trail "bible" - Exploring Vancouver's North Shore Mountains, by Roger & Ethel Freeman. It's been out of print for over 20 years now, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it listed here at amazon.com. If you do buy one of the used copies, make sure it contains the separate maps that go inside a special jacket with a pocket. Bear in mind that the trails have changed a bit since then.

Back to "the day", and our start at the familiar trailhead signpost. Ignore the 45 km on the signpost, as the Freemans wheeled the trail twice and assured us it was 29.76 miles (47.87 km.). We would up it to 30 miles by adding a jaunt to the beach in Deep Cove, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Our initial climb on the way to the south summit of Black Mountain was a grunt - what else can I say! But we did eventually reach the spectacular viewpoint at Eagle Bluff. As you can see from the picture, the 8 of us are are still together - count 7 runners plus the photographer (me). You'll also notice we were eating and drinking early on, like any good ultrarunner. From here, it was still a bit of a climb to the Black summit and some dispsy-doodles before our mile-long descent into Cypress Bowl. Quite a different scene there than what we have today at the quarter point in the race, with our first major aid station manned by the Pacific Road Runners. On this day, it would be family and friends meeting us at Cypress, Cleveland Dam, Lynn Canyon and Mt. Seymour Parkway.

Over the next section to the Hollyburn ski area, we did encounter a couple of miles of snow. We made a mental note that perhaps we should have done this a couple of weeks later - say, the second Saturday in July? However, we quickly descended from Hollyburn down what we now call the "Chute" and over Brothers Creek. And before long we were back into "civilization" and views of West Vancouver and the city beyond.

Now we were close to another significant milestone - the halfway point at Cleveland Dam. But, no fuss or fanfare there in 1989. Instead I made the 8 of us jog a couple of hundred yards off-course to my townhouse for our 15-mile aid station. By now, I think you're getting the idea that this was actually a day-long eating event interrupted by bouts of running :-)

Of course getting back on the road/trail for the last 15 miles proved to be quite a chore, especially the 1+ miles on the road heading back up to the re-entry point to the trail at the bottom of Grouse Mountain. We were all quite relieved to get back into the cool shade of the forest, except for maybe Louis. But, I must say that he did get it back about a half-hour after that point and we all went through many ups and downs that day - emotionally, physically, ...

The rest of the journey ended up being the start of our celebration as we all seemed to get stronger, especially in the last quarter. Our route followed the "classic" course over the Lynn Valley Suspension Bridge, but not before fueling up at the old concession stand just before the bridge. That was not our last feeding opportunity, as our original volunteer (Ed Edmondson) met us at Mt. Seymour Parkway. The fluids he supplied were much appreciated as the temperature was into the upper 20's C by that time of the day.

We were now ready for the final 2.5 "downhill" miles to Deep Cove, with a bit of swearing and cussing from those who had never seen this section of trail before. No sounds of music and announcing from the Finish Line as made our way across and down the side of the mountain and finally reaching the small sign marking the eastern end of the Baden-Powell trail. But, our journey was not over until we reached the beach!

A few traditions started immediately:

a post-run dip in the cool waters of Indian Arm
carbo re-loading at Honey's Doughnuts
first post-race banquet at Squarerigger Pub in West Vancouver
handing out of the original finisher T-shirt
collecting donations from the runners for our first charity - BC Children's Hospital

By the time the day and night ended for us, we had been up for almost 24 hours straight. The results of the run are posted here, but the real story was with us on the trails and is one that is still near and dear to our hearts.

If you've gotten this far, I hope I've been able to relate to your some sense of our day of adventure back in 1989. If so, please come back here over the next 4 months leading up to this year's race on July 12, 2008, as I add an account of each of our first 19 years. I also welcome your comments on my story (by clicking the comments link right after my post), and to add stories/pictures/videos of your own as they relate to each of my posts.

See you on the trails...Enzo