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Grouse Mountain to Lynn Return, 20 Km
As expected, we had a large turnout today of officially 52 people. Thank you to those that got their waivers fill out and signed for the one’s not entered in the race this year. And thank you to everyone for showing up in reasonable time so we could get on the trail asap and back quickly to celebrate Mother’s Day. Our weather today was perfect: cool, calm, cloudy, with just a bit of drizzle on the way back for us stragglers. The trail was quite dry and not too crowded by any means. One of the goals for the training runs is to have everyone contribute to the excellent reputation of the Knee Knacker event by being courteous and caring while on the trail, whether it be on the Baden Powell or otherwise. We seem to do very well with this as a group and that enhances our ability to provide you with a world-class event. Thanks to all of you for your contributions and support. I took a poll at the beginning today to see who was represented. There were of course a large number of people training for their first Knee Knacker (about a dozen), a fair number here for their 2nd, 3rd, 4th and more time, and even one person competing for the 11th time. I’m thankful there are lots of people that know the trail well because we also had about half a dozen newbies that I’m sure were thankful for the guidance. I was glad to help Adrian and Luisa enjoy their day without too much consideration of the winding route … although Luisa did her best to lead us astray several times! The three of us also put in some time with our most senior participant, Harvey Nelson. Harvey has completed the Knee Knacker a few times and clocks in at 71 years for our 17th annual run. If you knew how many events Harvey completes in a year you’d be even more impressed … he’s a one man running machine. I was thankful to have had the help of another one of our organizing committee members today, Greg White. Greg is our man officially in charge of helping you decide when you need to graciously bow out of the race should you get too far behind on the big day. There is a fair amount of logistics to ensuring everyone’s safety on race day and Greg plays an important role advising and keeping track for us. Speaking of keeping on track, I hope you’ve all noticed my shiny new Montrail trail running shoes by now. Montrail is one of our main sponsors and I am very fond of the Leona Divide high traction shoe that I am using. Please visit their web site or call North Shore Athletics to learn more. Our training run today took at least some of us to Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge and back. I heard and saw that a few of you turned around sooner either from Mountain Highway or at the Rice Lake parking area. This is one nice feature of our “out and back” runs and I encourage you to do whatever distance feels right for you each Sunday. There are no hard and fast rules but there is a need to be out there and challenge yourself a bit more each week. Next week we have another little challenge for you. We’re off toward Mountain Highway once again from our regular Grouse Mountain meeting place, but this time we’re going to make our way to the top of Old Grouse Mountain Highway. This is the gravel road that winds up through Mt. Fromme and eventually to the Skyride at the top of Grouse. You can choose to catch the ride down or do what many of us prefer: run down the BCMC trail. You’ll find the BCMC trail right beside the Grouse Grind and also find it much less busy with people. If you’re going to come down the Skyride be sure to bring some moola ($5 download fee). And, if the weather is iffy next Sunday, think about having an extra shirt or jacket with long sleeves, a hat, gloves, and whatever else you see fit to keep you warm as we climb the heights of Grouse. What may start out as a “not so bad” day can turn a bit ugly toward the top if you’re not prepared on this section that is well over 10 kilometres long. One last thing to mention… please sign up to help us out on our Trail Work Party on Saturday, May 28th. Details can be found on the Knee Knacker web site at Trail Work Party. Treats and coffee will be provided along with a chance to sweat and get dirty (cause I know you don’t do enough of that!). See you again next Sunday at Grouse Mountain, 8:00 am.
Craig Moore
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