Mosquito Lake Run this Sunday
The first local trail run of the season, the fourth annual Mosquito Lake Run in Pemberton, will take place this Sunday, April 9.
The course, which is mostly singletrack, is approximately 10 km in length from start to finish, although there will be a cutoff for walkers and runners who aren’t looking to complete the full distance.
"What’s really nice about the trail is that we’ve marked it really well, because we thought it would be nice for people to discover some trails they wouldn’t go on unless they knew about them," said organizer Jeannett Helmer. "That’s one reason to have it up there. The other is that it’s one of the first areas to lose snow in the spring, it’s on beautiful south facing slopes, and the views are just incredible, it feels like you’re in the Himalayas or something."
Registration starts at 9:30 a.m. and the run gets underway at 10 a.m. The cost is $15, including post-race refreshments, and the proceeds will go to Pemberton Search and Rescue.
To get to the sign-on and start/finish line, head to Mount Currie and take a left on Reid Road. Follow the road to the end, or the area known as Four Corners.
Triathletes head to Arizona Ironman
Whistler’s Paul and Christine Suter are among the 2,000 participants racing in the inaugural Ironman Arizona on April 9, 2006 outside of Tempe, Arizona. Temperatures should be hot for the event, which includes a 3.86 km swim, a 180.2 km bike, and a full 42.2 km marathon.
This will be Paul’s seventh Ironman and Christine’s fifth.
You can follow their progress online at www.ironmanlive.com starting at 5:45 a.m. Pacific Time (6:45 a.m. Arizona time).
Squamish Thunder leads off S2S Trail Running Series
There are now six events on the Sea 2 Sky Trail Running Series calendar, starting with the Squamish Thunder on Sunday, April 16 and wrapping up with the Lumpy’s Epic Run in Pemberton on Oct. 14.
The Thunder is a 16 km run through Alice Lake Provincial Park on a network of gravel paths, soft dirt singletrack, some "tracks from hell" and a short distance on pavement. There is about 300 metres of vertical climbing, which accounts for the "hell" part.
There are two aid stations along the way, at 5 km and 10 km, to help runners get to the end.
The cost is $25 to enter, not including B.C. Athletics Fees, and you can download an entry form at www.s2srun.com . Online registration is also available.
The start/finish line is at the day use area of Alice Lake Provincial Park, and the run gets underway at 9 a.m.
Local fools jog to Sechelt
A handful of local athletes made the 40-minute ferry trip from West Vancouver to the Sunshine Coast on Sunday to take part in the annual April Fool’s Run from Gibsons to Sechelt – 21.1 km, or half a marathon.
John Blok was 23 rd overall and 17 th among men, as well as first in the men’s 50 to 54 category in 1:29:00.
Grace Blok was fourth in the women’s 50 to 54 race in 1:59.43.
Connie Sobchak of Pemberton was ninth out of 36 racers in the women’s 45 to 49 group in 2:00:11.
Crystal Truscott of Pemberton was 28 th in the 20 to 34 race in 3:40:26.
Complete results are posted at www.foolsrun.com.
World Cup stars rake in cash
This season Croatian skier Janica Kostelic set a new record for total World Cup points, edging out Anja Paerson of Sweden for the overall title, but where her achievement truly stands out is in terms of prize money. For her efforts, Kostelic earned a record total of 561,646 Swiss francs ($504,551 Canadian) over her competitive season.
The all-time record for prize money still belongs to Hermann "The Hermannator" Maier of Austria who earned 660,000 Swiss francs in 1999-2000.
If you’ve ever wondered why so many skiers are will to risk life and limb speeding down courses at over 130 km/h, there’s your answer.
Canmore’s Beckie Scott, who finished third overall in the women’s cross-country standings this season, netted 121,250 Swiss francs ($108,924) for her efforts.
Richard, Ogden top freeskiing championships
The 10 th annual Subaru North American Freeskiing Championships wrapped up this past weekend with a ski and snowboard contest at Kirkwood, California.
The championships are a culmination of several events, including the previous week’s contest at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
As always there was a strong Whistler contingent in the competition.
In the men’s contest, Whistler’s Mathiew Richard put together a pair of solid runs to edge out Guerlain Chicherit and Adrien Coirier of France by just two-tenths of a point.
In the women’s competition, Laura Ogden ended up on top with two strong runs, edging out Jess McMillan of Jackson Hole and Carrie Jo Cernoff of Crested Butte.
Whistler’s Jennifer Ashton was in first place after the first run, but crashed while going for it in her second run. She was bumped back to fifth.
"She just went for it, skied a really burly man’s line," said Holly Walker, who finished 10 th . "She didn’t need to do it to win, but she did it and unfortunately crashed and lost a ski which put her down in the rankings."
For her part Walker said she had a decent first run, but was unable to finish her second run because of a crash.
"I’m disappointed because I made it to the finals and crashed," she said. "I could have done better, because the crash put me last in the finals. Still I’m 10 th overall, and in my first run I did really well so I’m happy."
Kirsty Exner of Red Mountain was the top female qualifier, and finished her day in seventh.
Locals skiers head to Powder 8 championships
With the assistance of Whistler Heli Ski, judges picked two teams – one male and one female – to represent Whistler at the World Powder 8 Championships hosted by Mike Wiegele’s Heli Skiing in Blue River. The Whistler qualifier took place in good conditions on a perfect 35-degree slope with room for about 100 turns.
For the Whistler championships, Guy Hetherington and Wade Sutton took on Mark Schroeder and Ben Prudhomme. Ben and Mark had the lead after the first of two runs, but Guy and Wade pulled ahead with a flawless second run to win the trip to Blue River.
For the women, Kim Furnel and Donie Blunden took on Natalie Morel and Taylor Wood. It was a close contest, but a speed penalty by Natalie and Taylor gave the title and the trip to Blue River to Kim and Donie.
