The Whistler Off-Road Cycling Association is hosting its annual general meeting tonight, Thursday, Sept. 29 at Legends in Creekside, with doors opening at 7 p.m.
Despite the poor weather and a slow start as a result of a legal matter, WORCA managed to sign up over 1,600 members this year, which would be another new record for the association. In all but one of the last 10 years the club has increased its numbers.
All members are welcome to attend. Each director of the board will make a presentation on their area, including the president, treasurer, and directors of trails, race, membership, planning, public relations, skills development and youth.
After the presentations there will be an open election to fill next year's board of directors.
All are welcome for orienteering events
The Vancouver Orienteering Club is hosting a double-header in Whistler this Sunday, Oct. 2, inviting anyone and everyone to take part.
The first race is on Nesters Hill behind Myrtle Philip Community School, starting at 11 a.m. This will be a short, sprint event roughly 3km in length, taking approximately 15 to 30 minutes to complete.
The second race takes place in Lost Lake Park, starting and finishing at Spruce Grove. This will be a longer race, approximately 8km, and will take 45 to 60 minutes to complete.
There will be a brief race clinic before the first race with instructions for racers at 10 a.m., and different courses for all levels ranging from easy (suitable for kids aged 10 to 15), Expert (some experience) and Elite (experienced). There's also a sport category where you can visit control points in any order on a time limit. This is suitable for beginners, intermediate adults and families.
You can register online at www.orienteeringbc.ca/gvoc/ until end of day Sept. 29, and registration will also be available on race day.
The cost is $10 for adults and $5 for anyone under the age of 20. Families are a maximum of $20. You also need to purchase a membership for insurance reasons, which is $5 for newcomers and $10 for people renewing. Under-20 memberships are $5.
Trail running series get surprise
Organizers of the last 5 Peaks event at Buntzen Lake on Saturday got a surprise the previous day when they discovered that the start/finish area and a section of the main trail beside the lake were under several feet of water. As a result the course and distances changed significantly for the roughly 400 athletes who showed up to compete in the last of five events in the trail running series.
In the Half Marathon category, which wasn't affected too much by the water, Christine Suter was 28th overall. She was also the sixth female and second in the Female 40 to 49 race in 2:22:54.
Margaret Paxton of Squamish was fifth in the same age category in 2:38:31.
In the Enduro category (roughly 10km for most events but usually around 13km at Buntzen Lake), Squamish's Helen Spencer was second in the Female 20 to 29 category in 1:28:09.
In the Sport category, Squamish's Marie Gosling was 18th in Female 30 to 39 in 1:09:02.
Sea to Sky team tops MOMAR
The second of two one-day Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race (MOMAR) events took place last Saturday, Sept. 24 in Cumberland, with a 50km course that includes mountain biking, trail running, kayaking and other challenges along the way.
In the Team of 4 Co-Ed category, the team of Whistler's "Kiwi" Dave Vitikangas and Mike Conway, and Squamish's Cathy Jensen and Meghan Thompson finished the course in a speeding five hours, 49 minutes and 5 seconds - roughly an hour and 40 minutes faster than the next team in their category, with all 27 checkpoints. The team raced under the Merrell/Valhalla Pure Outfitters, which was new to Vitikangas, Conway and Jensen, who raced together in the seven-day Raid the North Extreme without any sponsorship as Kia Kaha. Thompson is a new addition to the team, replacing a member from the Kamloops area.
The team will be back in action this weekend in a 24 to 30 hour race in Bend Oregon.
They weren't the only local team in the mix. The Convicted Leprechauns - Ainslie Caldwell and Darren Boyd competed in the Team of 2 Co-Ed category, placing 11th with a time of 7:56:38.
In the Team of 2 Female group, team Winging It! - Heather Adamson and Kate Inman - were sixth overall in 7:48:27.
Two spots back in eighth were Team Remedy - Whistler's Leah Trudeau and Pemberton's Laura Ogden - in 7:48:29.
In the Short Course category, the co-ed team of Dee Raffo and Samuel Fitzzaland were ninth out of 20 teams with a time of 5:41:05.
