Mary Leliveld's Happy Trails Run - 2007

2 August 2007 - Participants in Mary Leliveld's Happy Trial Run

More photos of this evening are posted here.

It was a run and potluck dinner in memory of our friend Mary Leliveld. The weather could not have been better.  The evening was hot and dry.  Perfect for a 10km friendship run (or walk) on Mary's favorite trails in the Lynn Headwaters and Rice Lake area.  The chatting started well before the run and Chris and Doug, our hosts had to push us to the start line. The pace of the run was thankfully slower than is previous years - I guess we are all getting older...

While the occasion for our get together is a rather sad one - Mary died way to early - we all were happy to reconnect and reminiscence. 

The evening is also a fundraiser for Mary Leliveld's Tri BC Bursary Fund and all single day membership fees in Club Fat Ass are donated by Chris and CFA to the fund.  We raised a total of $324. Thanks to everybody who participated and contributed.

Please remember that anybody can donate to the fund all year round.  Information about the fund is posted here.

If you would like to add your thoughts, please do so via the comment function below.  I also appreciate if you can take a couple of minutes and complete a brief post event survey here.

Happy Trails,

Sibylle

2006 - Year 2

 2006 - Starter Photo

What a great evening it turned out to be.  I sure had a great time and from what I heard from runner feedback everyone had a great time.  The run, in its second year, is put on to celebrate a fellow athlete and trail runner Mary Leliveld, who passed in 2004.  Mary’s energy and passion for life inspired us all. 

The run began at 7pm at Mary and Doug’s (her partner) home on Underwood in Lynn Valley.  This is a participation oriented event and not for those looking for competition, so the run went by at a leisurely pace and we took several breaks on route to enjoy the views and allow everyone to re-group.  I went on a test run of the course with Doug a few days earlier to confirm my bearings for the day of, but of course I required additional assistance with directions day of, and thank to Patricia we were able to stay on course.  We took a run over the suspension bridge and several participants, including Owen Davis made there best efforts to scare tourists and other fellow participants while on the bridge by shaking it violently. 

Luckily everyone made it off the bridge safely and we all returned to Doug’s home for an after run pot luck dinner.  Thanks to everyone for the excellent food, I needed to go for a run today just to burn off the calories consumed.    

 

Thanks to Doug for graciously allowing us to share his home with us.  Thanks to Sibylle and Club Fat Ass for supporting this event and donating all day of race registration fees to Mary’s Triathlon BC Fund. 

Thanks to all the runners/walkers and others who graciously donated to Mary’s fund.  The total amount raised was $478, comprised of $86 single day registration fees and $392 donations.

Thanks most of all to Mary for all the great memories.  I hope to see you all next year and bring a friend.

Photo: He fell off his bike...

Potluck photos courtesy of William Jans

Happy Trails!

Chris Mager

 

Please find below a list of participant (please let me know if we are missing somebody)

2005 - Year 1

We are happy to announce that we raised a total of $1,935 for Mary Leliveld's Tri BC Fund from this event.

A big "Thank You!" to everyone who participated in the run, the party or who otherwise contributed to Mary's bursary fund.

2005 Mary Leliveld's Happy Trails Run Participants

Event Report

I wanted to begin by thanking all of the participants, volunteers and everyone who could not participate in the run but celebrated Mary’s wonderful life with us in spirit today. I was told some of Mary’s friends were running in Ontario, as well, to honor Mary, thanks for your support.

Several of Mary’s friends and her partner, Doug Keir, upon her passing decided to host an event that celebrated Mary’s life and one of her passions, running. The logical choice for the run venue was on some of Mary’s favourite trails in Lynn Canyon Park, North Vancouver. Doug generously offered to host the run out of his home, little did he know the torrential downpour that was going to see all the participants come back to his home soaked to the bone and dripping wet. Sorry about the lack of a pre-start run photo, you can blame that one on me.

The run started in a steady downpour, but all spirits were high with the chance to celebrate Mary’s life on her favourite trails. The run went well, with only a couple of minor mishaps, most notably a participant who shall go unnamed who took an unscheduled pit stop, upon completing their task they looked up only to find the group was lost to them. The concept of the run was to stay together as a group so everyone could celebrate Mary’s life the way Mary would have wanted it, a little running and a whole lot of story telling and catching up with friends.

The post run potluck lunch was a big success; there was everything from chocolate Easter eggs to Chilli, thanks to all who contributed. It was wonderful to celebrate Mary’s life and spirit in her and Doug’s home. Looking at the many pictures of Mary and Doug’s adventures that adorn their home caused each of us to pause and remember our own memories of Mary. Today was a celebration, just the way Mary would have wanted it.

I want to again thank those of you who ran today, or otherwise supported the run emotionally, or financially with your contributions to Mary’s Fund. In all $1935.00 was raised to support the Mary Leliveld Tri BC Fund which helps deserving athletes attend Triathlon events. Thanks to Sibylle Tinsel and Club Fat Ass for all their hard work to put on this successful event, and for donating 100% of their usual event revenues to Mary’s fund. Thanks as well go out to John Litherland and his company, Events Online as well, who donated their usual proceeds from online registration to Mary’s fund. My sincerest gratitude for being allowed to participate in such a wonderful celebration, and most importantly thanks to Mary Leliveld who’s inspiration allowed us to come together in this celebration of her life.

Happy Trails

Chris Mager