West Van­cou­ver, British Colum­bia – The second Sat­ur­day of July is coming up, and that can only mean one thing for a grow­ing number of enthu­si­as­tic long-distance trail run­ners – time for the Knee Knack­er­ing North Shore Trail Run (the “Knee Knacker”). The race tra­verses the trails of West and North Van­cou­ver, and the twenty-first edi­tion takes place on Sat­ur­day, July 11, 2009.

The race started out as a “fun run” with only 8 par­tic­i­pants in 1989, when the sport of ultra­ma­rathon­ing (races longer than a 26.2 mile marathon) was in its infancy in Canada.  While there are races over dis­tances much longer than the 30 miles cov­ered by the Knee Knacker, not many are tougher in North Amer­ica.  Canada’s largest ultra­ma­rathon race takes par­tic­i­pants from Horse­shoe Bay to Deep Cove along the 30-mile (48.6 km) Baden-Powell trail.  Run­ners go up, over, and around the major North Shore moun­tains – Cypress, Grouse, and Sey­mour – gain­ing over 8,000 feet (2,400 m) in ele­va­tion along the way for a total ele­va­tion change of over 16,000 feet (4,800 m).  With recent weather con­di­tions, run­ners can eagerly expect “mud­dier” than usual con­di­tions on the course.

Over the years, top ultra­ma­rathon­ers from around the world have trav­eled from afar to chal­lenge them­selves in what is referred to as the “knarli­est” footrace in Canada.  How­ever, the great appeal of the race is that it caters to adven­ture seek­ers of all levels and not just the elite com­peti­tors.  Con­firm­ing the grow­ing pop­u­lar­ity of ultra­run­ning, and the rep­u­ta­tion of the race, this year saw over 300 entrants apply to the lot­tery.  Race par­tic­i­pants were selected by the luck of the draw in March, and 200 racers will toe the line on race day.  Almost half of these run­ners will be taking part in the race for the first time with 68% men & 32% women.

This year’s race will mark the 21^st year of the event, and will see a com­pet­i­tive field toe up to the start­ing line.  2008 cham­pi­ons Peter Find­lay & Nicola Gilder­sleeve will be out to defend their titles against a strong con­tin­gent who will be chal­leng­ing for the men’s and women’s titles.  On the men’s side elite ath­letes Gary Rob­bins of North Van­cou­ver, Oliver Utting of Burn­aby, Chad Ulan­sky & Aaron Heidt of the Okana­gan will chal­lenge for tops spots.  In the women’s race, 2008’s winner, Nicola Gilder­sleeve of North Van­cou­ver will be again vying for top spot against 2008 Cana­dian Ultra-Runner of the Year Ellie Green­wood of Van­cou­ver, and Mel Bos of Kelowna, BC.

Four addi­tional ath­letes are expect­ing to cel­e­brate a sig­nif­i­cant mile­stone upon their suc­cess­ful com­ple­tion of Saturday’s race:  Jeff Trigg, Craig Moore, Karl Jensen, and Lori Wong are look­ing to join the exclu­sive 10-time fin­ish­ers club, a feat accom­plished by only 28 ath­letes to date.

The race itself starts at 6:00am Sat­ur­day, July 11^th just above Horse­shoe Bay, Exit #4, off of West­port Road.  Run­ners must arrive at the Panorama Park beach in Deep Cove by the race cut-off time of 4:00pm.  Fol­low­ing is an esti­mated sched­ule of where and when to catch the run­ners in action:

A sched­ule of race activ­i­ties is avail­able at  http://www.kneeknacker.com.  Mem­bers of the media are invited and encour­aged to attend any or all of the activ­i­ties.  A good oppor­tu­nity to meet the run­ners is at reg­is­tra­tion & race brief­ing Friday, July 10^th, from 5:30– 8:00pm at North Shore Ath­let­ics (#101‑1200 Lons­dale Ave, N. Vancouver).

The Knee Knacker is a vol­un­teer run, non-profit race that has donated over $45,000 to com­mu­nity orga­ni­za­tions.  Pro­ceeds from this year’s race will ben­e­fit the North Shore Search & Rescue.  For fur­ther infor­ma­tion contact:

Kelsy Trigg, Race Direc­tor Tel:  604–787-8097 e-mail:  rd@kneeknacker.com