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Runners get Comfortably Numb

Mild weather and a slightly soggy trail greeted participants of the 2nd Annual Comfortably Numb Trail Run on Sunday, with 128 of 143 registered racers turning out for the event.
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The course itself covered 24 km of technical singletrack with more than 4,000 feet of vertical gain and a steep downhill, followed by over a kilometer of running on gravel to the finish at Spruce Grove Park. There was one aid station in the middle, which meant runners had to be largely self-reliant.

Graham Sheldon, a 30-year-old long distance athlete and adventure racer from Vancouver, took the win with a time of two hours, three minutes and 53 seconds.

He was followed closely by Brad Cunningham of Victoria in 2:05:29, while third went to Andrew Clarke of Squamish in 2:06:38.

A visiting Australian runner, Lisa Polizzi, was fourth overall and first among women with her time of 2:10:50.

The top Whistler runner was Greg McDonnell, who is training for Ironman in August. Greg had never run the trail before, but still managed to finish sixth in 2:11:46.

"IÕm pretty stoked about my time, I had a great run," said McDonnell. "But I have to say there were some obvious omissions from the Whistler running contingent, like Munro Duncan and Kevin Titus and quite a few others. If they all raced instead of helping with this event, IÕd probably be a little further back in the rankings. As it was I found myself running with people I didnÕt think I had any business running with, and I was keeping pace."

McDonnell started up front, and heading into the singletrack he counted 10 runners ahead of him. He passed a few of those runners in the second half of the race even though at one point he was worried that he might have to pull out.

"I twisted my ankle about halfway through the run and I had to stop for a second. I was really worried that I did something to it. I walked a lot, shook it off, and decided it was okay and I actually had my strongest six or eight kilometers of the run."

McDonnell credits Val BurkeÕs running class for getting him up to speed and teaching him to run efficiently, as well as the advice heÕs gotten from Kevin Titus over a few training runs.

Daniel Havens finished a close seventh in 2:11:45, winning the 40 to 49 age category while cutting about 20 minutes off his time from the previous year.

The running family of John and Grace Blok captured both over 50 titles with times of 2:19:58 and 3:01:10 respectively.

Grace took part in the Test of Metal the previous Saturday, and on Friday before the race she stayed up all night doing the 12 hour Relay for Life in Squamish.

"I wasnÕt really competing. ItÕs so hard to tell when youÕre running what age category youÕre passing or getting passed by so I didnÕt worry about it," she said. "I purposely didnÕt wear a watch for that reason."

Although some runners had a problem with the muddy trail, Grace didnÕt mind the conditions. "It didnÕt really bother me because I run in the wet all the time, but there were definitely people who had a hard time running because they had to watch their footing," she said. "For me, the hardest part was the mossy section (after the bridge). ThereÕs just no rebound to it, it steals all of your energy.

"Once I got through that section things were good, I really enjoyed it."

GraceÕs next even is the Squamish Triathlon on July 10, followed by the Apple Triathlon in Kelowna.

For John Blok there was some question over whether he was going to race at all after he pulled some ligaments in his chest after a crash in the Test of Metal.

After a few tentative runs he decided to go for it Ð "it only hurts when I breathe," he said.

John knew there werenÕt many runners in his age category, and that he had a realistic chance of winning this year. As it was, he took his category by a gap of over half an hour.

John had two falls on the course, which aggravated his injury and set him back a little. "It was tough to get started after that and get running again," he said.

This summer John is planning to race in the Squamish triathlon, followed by the seven-day, 600 km TransRockies Challenge.

"IÕm a little nervous about the Challenge, I donÕt recover that fast and the day to day thing makes it quite a bit harder," he said.

He also plans to do all of the mountain biking events in the fall, including the West Side Wheel Up, the Samurai of Singletrack, and Cheakamus Challenge. Depending on how he feels he might race the 25 km Rubble Creek Run the day after the Cheakamus Challenge.

Results

Women 39 and Under

1. Lisa Polizzi Ð 2:10:50

2. Jennifer Walker Ð 2:29:52

3. Michelle Kaminski Ð 2:34:44

4. Marie-Anne Prevost Ð 2:34:50

5. Wendi Campbell Ð 2:36:12

Men 39 and Under

1. Graham Sheldon Ð 2:03:46

2. Brad Cunningham Ð 2:05:29

3. Andrew Clarke Ð 2:06:38

4. Dwayne Kress Ð 2:11:07

5. Greg McDonnell Ð 2:11:46

Women 40 to 49

1. Alison Parry Ð 2:52:12

2. Jacqui Butterfield Ð 2:54:18

3. Brenda Davison Ð 2:57:40

4. Ingrid Lehman Ð 2:59:23

5. Cathy Ivany Ð 3:00:35

Men 40 to 49

1. Daniel Havens Ð 2:12:04

2. David Burke Ð 2:21:16

3. Jim Winter Ð 2:28:41

4. John Hall Ð 2:28:54

5. Bob Deeks Ð 2:30:42

Women 50-Plus

1. Grace Blok Ð 3:01:10

2. Janet Green Ð 3:13:58

3. Louisa Lorimer Ð 3:35:47

4. Jeanne Coulson Ð 3:59:10

5. Heather Macdonald Ð 4:25:44

Men 50-Plus

1. John Blok Ð 2:19:58

2. Allan Eisel Ð 2:53:42

3. Jim Rusnak Ð 2:56:56

4. Ted Coulson Ð 3:24:33

5. Chris Rauscher Ð 3:26:37

Complete results are available online at www.comfortablynumb.ca.

The Comfortably Numb Trail Run was the first event of the Sea 2 Sky Trail Running Series ( www.s2srun.com ). The next event is the 67 km STORMY (Single Track Off-Road Running Metal-Yeah!) race on Aug. 13. Other events are the Loop the Lakes in Squamish on Sept. 11, with 6 and 15 km courses, and the 25 km Rubble Creek Run in Whistler on Sept. 25.