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The Barrie RoadRunners

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Two More Ironmen


On Sunday August 26th Tim Hatch and Jamie Nielson completed the Louisville, Kentucky Ironman. Tim's time was 12:17:05 and finished 442nd, Jamie was 725th in a time of 13:06:22. Awesome job by both, we are honoured to run with guys (or girls) who can put themselves through such an ordeal and still say that was fun.

Monday, August 27, 2007

RoadRunner Gear


Looks we have some movement on RoadRunner gear. James Rooney is in contact with Sugoi about ordering Singlets, Tees and Longsleeve Tees. Prices to follow. He will be taking orders at the Running Room on Wednesday at Run Club. The primary colour will be red and the logo as seen above, which will be on the back and also mapleleafs in the shirt design. The picture at right is what the Tee is supposed to look like. Stay tuned for more...

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Barrie Dragon Boat Festival

Saturday August 24th saw a number of the RoadRunners compete as "Running On Water" in the Barrie Dragon Boat Festival. For most of us this was our first time, so we probably surprised a lot when we won both of our heats. The second heat saw us come from behind to win. The third heat was cancelled to due to inclement weather, preventing our team from claiming first in our division. As it was we were .7 seconds out of first place. A good day and a lot of fun had by all. Thanks to Georgian Pontiac for their Sponsorship. Special acknowledgement should go out to Clarence Wang, the organizer of our team, who worked tirelessly to make everything happen. Thanks Clarence.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Orillia Triathlon

This past Sunday was the Orillia Triathlon and we were represented by "A Rose and 2 Thorns" who came 1st. We assume the rose was Lyndsay Smith who swam followed by Shawn Patton on the bike and Kevin O'Neill on the run. Congratulatons to all three.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Iroquois Trail Test 32k

Saturday August 18th was the tough Iroquois Trail Test in Kilbride Ontario. On a beautiful cool morning Kevin O'Neill finished in 2:45 and Keith Lascelles in 2:51 for 8th & 13th places. This is an event which came well recommended (with sly smiles), and lived up to it's billing. Running through a creek (twice) and up and down the Niagara Escarpment a number of times, sometimes over very technical terrain (where walking was a challenge). If you are looking for a great challenge next year then give this one a try.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Are you a Trail Runner

A Quiz... Are You a Trail Runner?

By: Blake Wood, Mary Fuka, Skip Eastman, and Tracey Chmielewski
The following quiz "Are you a trail runner?" first appeared in the RRCA Footnotes, Fall 1995.

1 -Which would you prefer to run:

  • The Boston Marathon in under 3 hours (-1)
  • The Pike's Peak Marathon in under 5 hours (+1)
  • The Hardrock Hundred, and you don't care about the time (+2)
  • A 50k with no T-shirt - it's just a training run (+3)
  • It doesn't have a name, you don't have a number, you hope you'll be back by next week, but you're not particular (+3)

2 -Your condition when you return from your regular run:

  • Sweating (-1)
  • Bleeding (+1)
  • Your blood has thickened from extended exposure to altitude (+2)
  • Blood? Like you have any left? (+3)

3 - Running attire:

  • You don't need bleach to keep your socks and T-shirts white (-1)
  • All your running socks are tobacco brown (+1)
  • Your children empty your socks and pan for gold (+2)

4 - Conditions on the run:

  • You've fallen and scraped your knee on the sidwalk (-1)
  • You've gotten dirt in your mouth or up your nose (+1)
  • You don't fall. If you did, you'd be dead (+2)

5 - Distance:

  • Three miles a day is enough for anybody (-1)
  • You've detoured in a race to top a peak or see what's over the next ridge (+1)
  • You've detoured to see what's over the next mountain range (+2)
  • You've crossed three or more county lines during one run (+3)

6 - Timing your runs:

  • You time your workouts (-1)
  • You record your times (-1)
  • You don't. The extra weight of the calendar is a nuisance (+2)

7 - Running vs. work:

  • You can get in your run at lunch (-1)
  • You have missed a meeting at work because that loop was a little longer than you thought(+1)
  • You have missed more than a day at work because that loop was a little longer than you thought (+2)
  • You use your sick time for those mid-week mountain runs (+3)
  • You use all your vacation time to travel to trail races (+4)

8 - Running through hazards:

  • You stubbed your toe once on a curb (-1)
  • You have had to pull cactus thorns from your shoe or a yucca spine from your shin (+1)
  • You don't bother pulling thorns or spines out unless they've still got a cactus or bush attached (+2)
  • You don't bother to detach the rattlesnake from your body unless it's impeding your progress (+3)

9 - Directions:

  • You have all four of your routes memorized (-1)
  • You carry a topo map (+2)
  • Who needs a map - you're prepared to bivouac (+3)
  • You can live for a week on the contents of your fanny pack (+4)

10 - Run duration:

  • You rarely run more than 30 minutes (-1)
  • You have gotten so lost that someone had to come looking for you (+1)
  • No one really expects you back until next month (+2)

11 - Weather and your favorite run:

  • When it's raining, you run on your treadmill (-1)
  • There are times you can't do your favorite run because of mud or high water (+1)
  • There are times you can't do your favorite run because of falling rocks, wildfire, avalanche
  • danger, or flash flood warnings (+2)
  • There are times you go on your favorite run despite falling rocks, wildfire, avalanche danger, or flash flood warnings (+3)
  • There are times you go on your favorite run because of falling rocks, wildfire, avalanche danger, or flash flood warnings (+4)

12 - Peeing on the run:

  • You look around for a gas station restroom (-1)
  • You can pee anywhere you want on the run (+1)
  • You can pee anywhere you want, and in fact must do so to mark and defend your territory
  • from other trail animals (+2)

Score Yourself:
(<>) Sasquatch speaks of you with awe.

28 Reasons for Running Ultra's

Creative Responses to the question "Why do you run ultras?" or "Why would you want to do that to your body?"
If it gives me happiness and a sense of fulfillment and harms no one, how could I not do it?
You now how some people say, "life is passing way too quickly". Well, during a long ultra you can really slow things down--TIME CRAWLS!
You do a lot more harm to yourself by not exercising than you do by running ultras. Why would you do THAT to yourself?
It's crazy... but other than that, it's kind of fun.
"It curbs my violent tendencies" (especially effective when said while holding a knife, axe or chainsaw)
Any idiot can run a marathon, but it takes a special kind of idiot to run an ultramarathon!
It's no more foolish than chasing a little white ball around a big lawn and trying to hit it into little tiny holes!
I'm running from my fat ass but it's right behind me so I gotta keep running.
If we didn't run like this, how would we know how far we could go?
I do this because it is the only thing I have found (outside of S&M perhaps) that gives me such incredible pleasure and incredible pain that I feel completely connected to my own existence.
Because I'm a bad person and deserve pain, and running a 100 miles is my penance. I know, there is some deep psychological disorder but at least it seems like a healthy outlet for those feelings.
"If you have to ask, you'll never understand".
"I've got dangerously low cholesterol, and the food you eat during an ultra is generally very high in cholesterol. That's why I feel better after a race."
My mother abused me by constantly dropping me on my head.
What? You mean everyone doesn't do this!?
It gives me the chance to practice singing Alice's Restaurant till I get it right.
Don't worry, it only seems kinky the first time.
The drugs, I do it for the drugs.
Because I get to show off my cute butt in those sexy tights.
Hell, I spend $50 to run a marathon and all they have at the aid stops is water.
My wife refuses to tie me down and take a whip to my legs.
The devil made me do it.
To those who know, no explanation is necessary .... To those who do not know, no explanation will suffice.
I do it for the fame and fortune and wild sex from all those ultra groupie women.
How else am I going to reach the finish line, duh?
I just went out to jog a mile and I forgot to stop.
It is just so beautiful- the trails, the sky, the feelings throughout, the joy at finishing.
I haven't found anything else that gives me such a feeling of pride.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon

Tim Hatch & Jamie Neilson travelled to Benton Harbor, Michigan last weekend and competed in the Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Triathlon. Congratualtions to both on a job welldone:

Tim - 5:08:19, 35:22 swim, 2:42:33 on the bike and 1:44:02 run

Jamie - 5:17:25, 41 minute swim, 2:42:48 on the bike and 1:44:19 run

Next up, Kentucky for the Ironman Louisville Aug 26th.

Events this Weekend (Aug 11th - 12th)

This weekend is the Barrie Triathlon with a number of members taking part. Also Nancy Chong will be competing in the Coburg Duathlon on Saturday.

Road Race Rankings

The latest Ontario Road Race Rankings have been released - High lights include:
Krista Bolyea 40th female in Ontario in the 10k, and 34th in the 5k.
Chantal Demers 27th in the 5k, and 12th in half Marathon.
Kevin O'Neill 45th place in the Male Masters 10k
Nancy Chong 7th in the female Masters 10k

The seems to be a few omissions in the database though, Krista should be in the half marathon rankings with her 1:29:20 at the Chilly half and Keith Lascelles in the Masters half rankings for his 1:27:19 in the Chilly. For some reason the Chilly half results are not included.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

RoadRunner Akron Marathon Article

Road Runner Akron Marathon: A race with a personal touchIn this age of voice-mail, automated teller machines and other technologies that have, for better or worse, contributed to our increasingly impersonal society, the 5th annual Road Runner Akron Marathon (Sept. 29) provides a refreshing change: a race that prides itself on the personal touch.

By Mark BehanPosted Saturday, 28 July, 2007

Much has changed in the years between the ancient Greek Phidippides hoofing it from Marathon to Athens and the invention of GU energy gels. But much has stayed the same when it comes to what we look for when entering a road race. Sure, PRs are swell, but so is being treated well. And you certainly will be at the Road Runner Akron Marathon.
No, race director Jim Barnett won't make like the marathoning tooth fairy on race-day eve and place chocolate GU energy gels under each runner's pillow. But Barnett will do just about everything else to ensure an enjoyable experience for each race participant. And that includes greeting every runner as he or she crosses the finish line with a congratulatory handshake and thank-you. That's 5,000-plus finishers and sweaty palms and a lot of "personal touches," but that truly is the Road Runner Akron Marathon's modus operandi.
"Every decision we make (in planning and putting on the event) is based on the question: Is it good for the runners?" Barnett said.
As far as greeting every runner at the finish line, Barnett said the practice started in the race's first year when he shook hands and greeted the first runners to finish the race."Next thing you know, more runners kept coming and I just kept greeting everyone until the last runner finished," Barnett recalled. "I feel blessed with the opportunity to say hello and thank the runners. But this is just one of many things that take place on a personal level."
The "personal touches" include sending e-mail thank-yous to all race entrants, answering every inquiry with a personal, not auto-generated, e-mail reply, and putting runners' names, not just numbers, on their race bibs. Like the sit-com "Cheers," everybody will know your name at the Road Runner Akron Marathon!
"It is just another way to further personalize things," Barnett said of inscribing names on bibs. "Around mile 18, runners can start feeling a little mushy. If someone yelled 'Go (random) number!' the runner may ask, 'Is that me?' Instead, people are calling you by name. And that makes runners feel good."
Runners also feel good when they get "stuff" at road races. Mission accomplished at the Road Runner Akron Marathon, where "registration gets you" a pair of $90-95 Brooks running shoes (yes, free shoes), a long-sleeve tech shirt, a Running Times magazine subscription, a goodie bag, free food and Michelob beer at the "fantastic" post race party and more.
"We ask the question, 'What would we like to have after a marathon?' " Barnett said. "Most people would say a good T-shirt and a great medallion. And we give those plus more. A couple of years ago we decided to reallocate the prize money funds to buy shoes for the runners. It's just another personal touch."
The courseOkay, first off, the Road Runner Akron Marathon course is not pancake-flat, for there are some hills in the late stages of the race. But it is not the second coming of the Mount Washington Road Race. It is, in fact, strikingly scenic, well supported, and marked with a blue line that extends the entire 26.2 miles.
Runners will enjoy panoramic views of the Little Cuyahoga River, cross the All-America Bridge, travel through parks, past museums and the old Firestone building and onto the 4-mile Towpath, a crushed limestone path considered to be one of the most eye-pleasing parts of the course.
"The course itself showcases the best of Akron. The Towpath is a historic trail that follows the Ohio and Erie Canal and is very beautiful," Barnett said. "It's a little over four miles (from about 11 to 15 miles) and it gives the runners a nice break from the hard surface."
After exiting the Towpath, runners will pound the pavement through West Akron, where they will be greeted by some of the largest crowds on the course, then return to downtown Akron, past the 25-mile mark near St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, the alma mater of Cleveland Cavaliers hoops hero LeBron James, and towards the "Olympic-style" finish at Canal Park, home of the Double- A baseball team, the Akron Aeros.
"Runners enter Canal Park in (right) centerfield and, as they run toward the finish line, their images are shown on the new scoreboard," Barnett said. "And as they cross the finish line, the public address announcer calls out their names. Runners feel like they just won in the Olympics."
The race course is fully supported with 20 fluid stations, five GU energy gel stations, entertainment spots, portable restrooms, and clocks and markers at every mile and 5K. And cheering fans. Lots of them.
"Throughout the year we are proactive in the community talking about the race. We tell people that race day is a wonderful opportunity (for them) to be ambassadors of the city of Akron and we ask people to come out and support the race. And they do," Barnett said, noting that local newspapers have estimated race-day crowds of 80,000. "Because of the blue line on the course, we have what we call 'Blue-line families' on the route. The blue line goes by their houses and the families host parties on race day with bands and everything."
For detailed course information and to see an impressive video (accompanied by music) of the entire Road Runner Akron Marathon course, visit: http://akronmarathon.org/course.asp

Not just a marathon

In addition to the 26.2-mile race, a half marathon has been added to the Sept. 29 race menu. A two-person relay (15.5-mile and 10.7-mile legs) and a five-person relay will also be held. Prize money is awarded in the marathon to the top five male and female finishers ($2,000, $1,000, $500, $250, $100) and also to the top three male and female masters ($1,000, $500, $250).
Runners will pick up their race packets, T-shirts, goodie bags and final instructions at the University of Akron Health and Fitness Expo at the John S. Knight Center in Akron on Friday, Sept. 28 (the day before the race), from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The expo is free and open to the public. The expo provides a final registration opportunity for the next day's race. For information on the expo, visit: http://akronmarathon.org/2005-expo.asp
As for fueling up on carbs for the full marathon, half or relay, the Summit Athletic Running Club will host a pre-Road Runner Akron Marathon pasta party on Friday, Sept. 28, at St. Bernard's Social Hall, 44 University Ave., in downtown Akron. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with dinner and program at 7 p.m. For information on the pasta party, visit: http://akronmarathon.org/2005-pastaparty.asp

While in town for the Road Runner Akron Marathon, runners should check out the sights of Akron, for there's plenty to see in "The Rubber Capital of the World.""Akron is a great little city. We are about 18 miles south of Cleveland, Ohio. It's an exciting place," Barnett said, noting the many restaurants and museums that dot the city landscape.
To see what's going on in Akron, visit the City of Akron attractions website at: http://www.ci.akron.oh.us/attract.html

Lodging

Several hotels are conveniently located near the Road Runner Akron Marathon start and finish, and also in proximity to area restaurants and attractions. These hotels are also offering discount rates to runners participating in the Road Runner Akron Marathon. For information on accommodations, visit: http://akronmarathon.org/accommodations.asp

Come run

Now in its fifth year, the Road Runner Akron Marathon is still a relative New Kid on the Marathoning Block. But with over 2,500 volunteers, terrific community support and a race director and support team that understands what it takes to put on an event for runners, the race has staying power.
"When we started the race, our initial goal was to be in the top-25 ranked marathons in the country and have over 5,000 runners," Barnett said. "Last year we had about 5,800 participating and I think we are probably (ranked) in the top 25."
And with its personal-touch philosophy, the race will continue to improve and gain popularity, for runners in the Road Runner Akron Marathon are viewed as not just numbers, but runners with names (on the race bibs) who deserve to be treated well on race day.
"We care about all the runners on a personal level," Barnett said. "That's important to us."
For information on all aspects of the 5th annual Road Runner Akron Marathon, including on-line registration, volunteer opportunities, detailed course description and more, visit the race's website: http://akronmarathon.org

From www.coolrunning.com

Saturday, August 4, 2007

RoadRunners logo

So how do you like the Barrie RoadRunners logo? After much thought we put together a design that was blended from a number of idea's. We are now looking into the purchae of running gear with the logo. Any comments would be appreciated.

 
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