As I mentioned in my last report, I headed over to Vancouver last weekend to race in the Gunner Shaw cross-country race in Vancouver. The Lion’s Gate Road Runners host this race every year, and there is an inter-club challenge between my club (the Prairie Inn Harriers) and the LGRRs. Each year the LGRR send a contingent of runners to the Gunner Shaw Race in Victoria, and PIH sends runners to the race in Vancouver.
As the race starts at 11:00am, it’s an early start from Victoria. This year a group of about 20 PIHers met at 6:00am, to catch the 7am ferry to Vancouver. This means waking up much earlier than I would like to, but as it’s a once-a-year event, I can’t complain too much! We headed over in two vans, the ‘Harrier-carrier’ and a rented van that was able to accommodate all of us.
This is the only ‘pure’ cross-country race that I have ever done, and it’s a fun race, as it takes you over various terrain. There are two small hills, some grass, sand, mud, pathways and lots of twists and turns. It is two loops and is 9-10 km in total distance.
We arrived at Jericho Beach, where the race is held, 1.5 hours before the start of the race. This gave ample time for all pre-race preparations, as well as lots of milling about. It was a beautiful sunny, yet cool day. The temperature was close to 5 degrees, but with the sun shining, it felt much warmer. The race usually goes through a shallow puddle that is a couple of hundred meters long, but it was completely frozen over this year. For safety reasons, we would be diverted around the puddle, as the ice sheet produced skating-like conditions, and going over it would produce many falls.
About 30 minutes before the start of the race, I got changed into my race attire (it was warm enough for a t-shirt, and many others even donned singlets), and went for a short warm-up run. Then, it was a quick group photo, and the race began.
The beginning of the race is always a gong-show. It’s very crowded at the start, as everyone jumps to get ahead. I tried to get into a comfortable rhythm, and enjoy the race, as much as I could. The race starts on the grass, and loops around a treed area before it makes its way towards the beach and the first few sand patches. The sand is always a pain to run over, as it sucks you right in – slowing down your movements. There’s a rise over a small hill, and then onto the main sand section, which this year was extended to about 300-400 meters. This might not sound like much, but when you are running on soft sand, it definitely feels long. When I finally emerged from the sand, my legs felt like jello, and it was a struggle to get them moving again. Then it was on to more grass, through a small ravine, and over, up and around, as we ran on grass, over bridges and on various trails.
There are two steep-ish short hills, and on both loops, these hills totally took it out of me. I would reach the top of the hill and just be totally out of breath and wheezing. It really caused me to slow down, which was frustrating. I felt like the hills shouldn’t affect me that much. However, there are also some really nice downhill and flat sections that are on trail, where I was able to get my legs going well, and I enjoyed striding out and feeling strong.
On the first loop of the course, I passed a few people, was passed by a few others and tucked in behind a woman from the LGRRs. I tried to stay on her tail, but the hills hurt me, and she was able to pull away enough to get a sizeable gap on me. After the first loop, I came past the finishing line, and my legs felt heavy- I wondered how the next loop would go.
The second loop was slower than the first loop by about 80 seconds or so. This time, I ran on the lower part of the sand, near the water, and it was much easier, as the sand was more hard-packed, than in the higher section. The terrain was more forgiving this year than last year, as the cold weather had frozen the ground. This made the grassy sections easier to run on, as they weren’t muddy, wet or slippery. There were still a few sections that were a bit dicey – as there were icy patches. There’s a small, yet steep down hill, that almost led me to fall, as I slipped on some ice. But I was able to keep my feet moving fast, and I was able to avoid a slip and fall. Near the end of the loop, there’s also a section that winds through blackberry bushes, and it had some small puddles that had frozen over, and caused some swift footwork to avoid a slip or cold feet. Other than these few sections, it was a faster and easier race than the previous year.
Overall, the second loop went fine, although I felt that I had more in me to push, and was held back by my wheeziness. It felt easier to take deeper breaths during this race, but I was still wheezing a lot, especially after any climbs. My favourite sections were where I could stride out. In these parts, I felt strong and as though I actually had some speed in me. As I neared the finish line after the second loop, many of my fellow PIHers had already finished and were standing near the finish line cheering the rest of us on. It was great to hear so many people cheering for me, and gave me some extra energy to push to the line. My legs allowed me to push a bit more than during the first lap, as I headed towards the trail that led to the finish line. Ahh – my body sighed in relief, as I finished another hard race. My finishing time was 45:40.
Many Prairie Inn Harriers had fantastic races, and our club was on the podium for almost every age group, with our men and women topping the podium in many age groups. Members of PIH also had 5 of the top 6 spots overall. I ended up being 4th in my age group, just out of the ribbons. I was 97th overall, which coincidentally is exactly the same placing that I was last year. However, my time was about 2.5 minutes faster this year. Shane ended up 6th overall, and first in his age category, as all those ahead of him were young guys in their 20s. Here are the final results.
After the race, there was a nice spread of pizza, bagels, soup, mandarin oranges, bananas, and tasty juice. I also enjoyed a lovely warm shower, to wash off all of the dirt from the race. Then, shortly after the awards, we headed off to catch the 3pm ferry back to Victoria, after a satisfying morning in Vancouver.
