We’re excited to announce that this year’s Knee Knacker dona­tion to North Shore Search and Rescue is $4,400. This is the largest amount we’ve ever raised and it includes the pur­chase of almost $400 in pho­tographs from our Smug­Mug site. The vol­un­teers at the North Shore Search and Rescue team do an incred­i­ble job help­ing people in dis­tress so we’d like to thank you, the Knee Knacker com­mu­nity, for your gen­eros­ity and par­tic­i­pa­tion in the race which made the dona­tion possible.

It’s been a month since race day and while things are fairly quiet in the Knee Knacker office, the trail run­ning com­mu­nity con­tin­ues to hum along. So through­out the rest of this year, we’ll post inter­est­ing trail-running news that we find for you. And if you have some­thing of inter­est to share, you can email it to us or post it on our Face­book com­mu­nity page.

The Car­dio­vas­cu­lar Phys­i­ol­ogy and Reha­bil­i­ta­tion Lab at UBC (http://educ.ubc.ca/faculty/warburtoncardio/) needs run­ners to par­tic­i­pate in a 75km trail run on August 20 and 21. This will take place at the Pacific Spirit Park and UBC Endow­ment Lands. There is no entry fee for this race but you must be capa­ble of run­ning the entire race.

The race involves five laps on a pre-set 15km course. Run­ners will be tested at the end of lap 3 for cog­ni­tive and car­dio­vas­cu­lar mea­sures, as well as after the race at three sep­a­rate inter­vals (race finish, 60 min­utes post race, 90 min­utes post race). On course water, sports drinks, gra­nola bars and energy gels will be supplied.

Prior to the race, run­ners will be invited to the lab for a free base­line health and fit­ness assess­ment, includ­ing a VO2max test.

This research may have appli­ca­tions for the health and train­ing prac­tices of ultra-marathon run­ners, and is the first study of its kind. If you are inter­ested but cannot make the August 20/21 week­end, the lab would still like to hear from you.

For more details, con­tact the lab at cprlab@gmail.com or call 604.822.6881.