All Time Record Book

This is a record of top finishes at Mountain Highway Madness listed by medal category and time. Thinking about doing MHM and wondering how you might rank? Done MHM in the past and wonder how your time stacks up against others who came before you? Interested in knowing if you're getting older or getting better? Check out the stats!

Platinum - 4 or more Laps

Lap 1	Lap 2	Lap 3	Lap 4	Time	Name	Date
52 / 38 1:30	54 / 38 1:32	55 / 40 1:35	65 / 45 1:50	6:27	Geoff Palmer	11 Sep 04
					Berglind Hafsteindottir	10 Sep 06

Gold - 3 Laps

Lap 1 (up/down/total)	Lap 2 (up/down/total)	Lap 3 (up/down/total)	Time	Name	Date
42:00 / 31:56 1:13:56	43:48 / 30:59 1:14:47	44:13 / 30:24 1:14:37	3:43:23	Wendy Montgomery	18 May 03

Silver - 2 Laps

Lap 1 (up/down/total)	Lap 2 (up/down/total)	Time	Name	Date
45:00 / 43:00 1:08:00	23:00 / 26:00 1:09:00	2:17:00	Brian Bjornson	20 April 03

Bronze - 1 Lap

Up	Down	Time	Name	Date
38:30	21:50	1:00:20	Brian Bjornson	18 May 03

2007 Fall Mountain Highway Madness

I confess, after attending a neighbor's annual "End of Summer" garden party until the wee hours leading up to the run, I felt ripped off by the less-than-ideal weather and the fact that summer had been declared over. As I drove to the start of the 4th annual Mountain Highway Madness, I was greeted with a spectacular view of Mt. Baker on a backdrop of sunny, cloudless skies. Maybe summer was a bit late this year? What a great day to be outdoors!

Those who have participated in Mountain Highway Madness know that the long hike up Mountain Highway from the legal street parking is an enduring characteristic of the event. Call it a built-in warm-up. As if on cue, the start line conversation started with a group gripe about the imposed warm-up. Desmond Mott's arrival stole our attention, however. Des, who had taken the last hour to warm up with a little run on the Baden Powell Trail, experienced the face plant that all trail runners know will likely happen to them, but hate to think about. It was a bad one, and Des was noticeably shaken up. Thank goodness he was only spitting out blood and not teeth!

New Club Fat Ass members Jackie Muir and Arthur Gee were welcomed by all. Arthur, a 5-hour marathoner, had chosen Mountain Highway Madness as his first trail run. Rick Arikado put me on notice that he came to the start equipped with his ultra-accurate Garmin 60CSX GPS, so the question of how far it actually was from the water fountain to the rock at the entrance to the quarry would be established categorically and beyond scrutiny for all time, to a distance of 5 meters or less. (If you believe the user manual.) Michael Wardas and his dog ** showed up just in time for the starter photo. John McRae announced that fellow Fat Ass Gilles Barbeau had just passed the 75-mile mark in the Wasach Trail 100-mile run... his fourth 100-miler in so many weekends. Gilles, you inspire us all... but goodness, buddy, take next weekend off!

It was great to chat with Laddie, Michael and Neil about their summer adventures as we ran up the mountain. "Rocket" Ryan Conroy was the first person to head back down hill. Ryan had let it be known that he'd been doing track workouts twice a week of late and it showed. Newly minted 100-mile veterans Bill Dagg and Wade Repta were next, with newly-minted Club Fat Ass member Jackie keeping pace with Bill.

Given that Rick said he'd turn around at the 7.5K distance on his GPS, Neil and I kept on running beyond the official turnaround point. After about 5 minutes, we figured Rick was playing a prank on us. Surely, he'd have passed us by now if he was going to 7.5K... Hell, I measured the distance twice: once on my bike and once with a Nike Triax pedometer. No way I'm off by more than a few hundred meters. Silly bugger Rick. He probably was hiding in the bushes somewhere and expected we'd keep running all the way up to the top of Grouse! Nice try, bro. Neil and I called his bluff and returned downhill.

It was great to see so many smiling faces coming up the road as we ran down. Laddie, Neil and I traded high-5's with those we passed by. It was good to see Arthur and John Machray together. John has such a wealth of trail running experience and is such a great story-teller. (Run with him sometimes, if you can keep up with him, and you'll see what I mean!) I felt confident knowing that Arthur's life would change after this run and he'd come over to the "dark side" of trail running for good. It was also great to see that John, who is considerably faster than Arthur, was making the time to make Arthur feel welcome in this new and strange environment of trail running. Kudos to you, Machray, for demonstrating the true spirit of Club Fat Ass.

Unfortunately, time would only allow me one lap today. As I sat in the sun at the finish writing down lap times and chatting, Rick Arikado completed his first lap. How could that be? Rick, it seems, ran 7.5K according to 5 or 6 satellites on his GPS. The traditional turnaround point, what I'd been calling 7.5K, was actually more like 7K, and the total distance closer to 14K than 15K. However, until proven absolutely, I'll maintain that the distance is 7.2K each way, or 14.4K return, which still makes it an "ultra" for those who run 3 laps.

The sun was blazing hot on the terrace of the Mosquito Creek Grill, site of our post-run brunch. Thanks to Kelly and Lucy for the free pint, Trail Runner Magazine and KineSys for the draw prizes. See you in the spring!

Ean Jackson
Host of Mountain Highway Madness

Please post your comments, impressions, corrections to the results and feedback via the comment link below.


Preliminary Results:

First Name	Last Name	Distance	P.	Loop #1	Loop #2	Loop #3	Total
Bill	Dagg	45km	2	0:46/0:31 1:17	0:49/0:30 1:19	0:51/0:33 1:24	4:00
Wade	Repta	45km	1	1:19	1:22	1:48	4:29
Jackie	Muir	45km	1	1:17	1:19	1:53	4:29
Neil	Ambrose	30km	2	1:32	1:37		3:09
Rick	Arikado	30km	1	1:43	1:33		3:16
Cheryl	Johnson	30km	2	1:49	2:10		3:59
Carolyn	King	30km	2	1:49	2:10		3:59
Rob	Ruff	30km	2	50/36 1:26	1:31		2:57
Neil	Ambrose	30km	2	1:32	1:37		3:09
Cynnimon	Rain	30km	2	1:38	1:47		3:27
Ryan	Conroy	15km	2	45:05/29:13 1:14:18			1:14:18
Ean	Jackson	15km	4* **	1:32			1:32
Laddie	Hannam	15km	2*	1:33			1:33
Rhonda	Schuler	15km	3*	1:41			1:41
John	Machray	15km	1	1:16/2:00 3:16			3:16
Arthur	Gee	15km	1	1:16/2:00 3:16			3:16
Michael	Wardas	custom	1	1:23			2:43
Desmond	Mott	custom	2	3:00

2006 - Year 3

The record books were rewritten at this years Fall Mountain Highway Madness.  We have a new Platinum finisher and her name is Berglind Hafdteinsdottir!  Scarcely a week after becoming the first woman to run the Juan de Fuca trail in under 10 hours, Berg opened a can of whoop-ass and became the first woman to ever earn platinum status (four loops of the 15K course.)  Wow!

Berglind's words to me in a voice mail went something like, "...Now I don't have to do Mountain Highway Madness anymore."  Too bad, we'll miss you.  Why not go for the second level of Platinum and be the first person to ever do 5 laps this coming spring, Berg?

Apart from Berglind's madness, Cynnimon Rain went for the gold and also managed to get to the Mosquito Creek pub in time for a free cool one on the sunny patio.  Deller's dogs ChinChin and Sombrio completed their first Mountain Highway Madness and racked up another point each, putting them ahead of many humans in Club participation points.  (Hey you hounds, we have to get a photo of you both in your Club colors!)

As the faster Bronze finishers waited at the bottom of the trail, there was a mad dash for trash pickup points.  The trail and surrounding woods were scoured for bottle caps, gel wrappers and anything else that could count toward bonus points.  Speaking of bonus points, I hereby bequeath my hosting point to Sibylle, who did almost all of the organizing for this event.  Thanks, Sibylle!  (No, you can't have my participation and trash pickup points, though =;-)

A couple of new Club members, Charlene and Lora-Lynn did the unthinkable and got slightly lost after they overshot the turnaround.  Apparently the spray painted "7" on the rock at the turnaround had been erased.  Mea culpa.  According to Club Fat Ass law, if the host provides incorrect directions, (s)he owes the inconvenienced party a beer at the finisher party.  'Missed you at the pub, girls....I corrected the course description, however.

I'd also like to thank Ron Adams for measuring the course with his Nike pedometer.  He measured a couple meters less than 7K to the quarry and several hundred meters more than 7K coming down for a 14.2K round trip.  Given that the up and down is in fact the same distance, I'm good for still calling it a 15K distance.

Thank you for coming out on this fantastic fall day and I look forward to seeing you out at the spring version of the MHM in March!

Ean Jackson
Host of the Mountain Highway Madness

Please add your comments about this run by scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking on "add new comment".  More photos are posted here.

First Name	Last Name	Event	P	Lap 1      up/down/ total	Lap 2      up/down/ total	Lap 3 up/down/ total	Lap 4 up/down/	total
Berglind	Hafsteins dottir	60km	2	?/?/ 1:41	?/?/1:44	?/?/1:50	?/?/2:03	7:18
First Name	Last Name	Event	P	Lap 1      up/down/ total	Lap 2      up/down/ total	Lap 3 up/down/ total	total
Cynnimon	Rain	45km	2	?/?/1:30	?/?/?	?/?/?	5:13
First Name	Last Name	Event	P	Lap 1      up/down/ total	Lap 2      up/down/ total	total
Bill	Dagg	30km	2	0:44/0:30/ 1:14	0:48/0:31/ 1:19	2:33
Laddie	Hannam	30km	2	?/?/1:39	1:11/0:50/ 2:01	3:30
First Name	Last Name	Event	P	Lap 1      up/down	total
Killaine	Sharman	15km	1	0:47:30/ 0:30:30	1:18
Mark	Grist	15km	1	0:44/0:36	1:20
Ron	Adams	15km	1	0:52:45/ 0:31:01	1:23:46
Angus	Mclellan	15km	2*	0:49:30/ 0:35:30	1:25
Ean	Jackson	15km	3**	0:49:30/ 0:35:30	1:25
Doug	MacKay	15km	3*	0:52:20/ 0:32:40	1:25
Amy	Mac Arthur	15km	2	0:53/0:35	1:28
Baldwin	Lee	15km	3*	0:53:41/ 0:34:33	1:28:14
Gilles	Barbeau	15km	2	1:00/0:45	1:45
Cheryl	Johnson	15km	2	1:00/0:45	1:45
John	Machray	15km	1	1:00/0:45	1:45
Craig	Moore	15km	2	1:01/0:43	1:45
Elke	Bauer	15km	1	0:59/0:47	1:46
Doug	Keir	15km	1	0:59/0:47	1:46
Steve	Deller	15km	1	0:59/0:47	1:46
Chin Chin and Sombrio	Deller	15km	1	0:59/0:47	1:46
Sharon	Bryson	15km	1	0:59/0:49	1:48
Rhonda	Schuller	15km	3*	1:13/0:45	1:58
Sibylle	Tinsel	15km	3*	1:13/0:45	1:58
John	Mcgrath	15km	2	?/?	2:00
Vanessa	Fors	15km	1	?/?	2:00
Charlene	Lalonde	15km	1	?/?	2:03 custom
Lora-Lynn	Oxen bury	15km	2	?/?	2:03 custom
Colin	Free land	?	1	?	?
Patricia	Jensen	?	1	?	?
Scott	Ridell	?	1	?	?

Bonus Point for Garbage Pick-Up
** Bonus Point for Event Host

2005 - Year 2

As they quaffed a cool, celebratory lager at the Mosquito Creek Grill, finishers nodded in agreement. “Perfect.” “A 10 out of 10.” “’Couldn’t have been finer.” After running 15, 30 or 45 kilometers earlier in the morning, the main topic of conversation with these veterans was the weather!

Fifteen Club Fat Ass members toed the line this morning for the 3rd annual fall running of Mountain Highway Madness. Included were a wide range of runners from the trail virgin to the elite veteran.

Take Geoff Palmer, for instance. Geoff is the only person to have earned “Platinum” bragging rights for having run the 15K out-and-back course 4 consecutive times. He looked strong and focused as runners loosened up at the start. Geoff’s goal for the day? Teach his parents what it’s like to run a “real” mountain.

Always soft spoken and a true master of the art of sandbagging, Matt Sessions was out for his first MHM. “Going for 5 laps, Matt? I asked after watching him lug 2 midsized gym bags of food, fluids and other gear to the start area. He answered with a knowing smile.

Then there was Dom Repta. A multiple “Gold” finisher (3 loops of 15K), Dom was looking like he’d been out on a bender the evening before. While he was spotted at the Mosquito Creek eating a veggie pizza with a beer in his hand 8 short hours earlier, it was only after he run the 45K Forbidden Forest Run. There would be no personal bests for Dom on the course today, but he was about to join Geoff Palmer and Doug Bodnar as the only people to have completed 2 Club Fat Ass events in one day. “Jackson, got an extra sock?” Dom asked as we gathered for the group photo. “No, but you can have one of these,” and I handed him a sweaty old wool work sock from one of my feet. (God knows what he wanted with it? I confess I was a bit worried about Dom!)

After a long absence from running, Ken MacLeod chose Mountain Highway Madness as a place to stage his comeback. Ken and I used to run intervals on the MHM route when we were training for the Western States and Angeles Crest 100 mile runs over a decade ago. It was Ken who inspired me to host the event… so thank him if you’re one of the many to have tenderized your quads on the course.

“Ready, set, go!” The field was gone as MacLeod arrived at the start line. The trail knows no favorites.

It truly was a fabulous day to be in the mountains in beautiful BC and those who have run MHM several times in the past agreed that we were enjoying the best weather in the history of the event. Hikers, dog walkers and lots of mountain bikers were also out enjoying the trail, so there was plenty of encouragement.

Today was destined to be Session's day: Matt was on fire. By the 7.5K turnaround he was so far ahead he was out of earshot of the second-fastest runner. Oblivious to the shouts of his mates, Matt kept running hard. Past the turnaround at the old quarry. Past Mosquito Creek. Past the Inferno chairlift and right to the top of Grouse Mountain setting two new records: First ever to get lost and longest lap.

Don and Regina Palmer traveled the furthest to the event. They live in Winnipeg, where the biggest hills are old garbage dumps. Their record-holding son Geoff treated them to a lap during their visit to Vancouver. I’m not sure if they went for pancakes or an IV drip afterwards, as they did not show up for the awards. Geoff set another course record: First person to run Mountain Highway Madness with both parents.

As the runners completed multiple laps, the mantra of the armor-plated mountain bikers was, “Holy smokes, how many times are you running this?” Glen Pace was the only one to answer, “Three” this year. He didn’t break a sweat, so mark your calendars for 19 March next year and give him some competition!

Thanks to Trail Runner Magazine for the draw prizes and the Mosquito Creek Grill for the pints. Dommer, where’s my sock?

Ean Jackson
Host of Mountain Highway Madness

3 Laps

Name	City	Lap 1 up/down/total	Lap 2 up/down/total	Lap 3 up/down/total	Time	Points
Glen Pace	North Van.	49:27/ 31:03/ 1:20	50:49/ 33:52/ 1:24	54:19/ 35:19/ 1:31	4:14:52	1

2 Laps

Name	City/Town	Lap 1 up/down/total	Lap 2 up/down/total	Time	Points
Wade Repta	Vancouver	45/32/1:17	?/?/1:22	2:39	2
Doug MacKay	North Vancouver	50:55/33:52/ 1:24:47	56:26/40:26/ 1:36:52	3:01:39	2
Robert Westendorp	Vancouver	48/35/1:23	1:03/52/1:55	3:18	2*
Cheryl Johnson	Pitt Meadows	1:10/53/2:03	1:23/51/2:14	4:15	2

1 Lap 

Name	City/Town	up/down	Total Time	Points
Dom Repta	Vancouver	48/30	1:18	1
Geoffrey Palmer	Coquitlam	52:24/34:27	1:26:51	2
Donald Palmer	Winnipeg	52:24/34:27	1:28:51	2
Regina Palmer	Winnipeg	52:24/34:27	1:28:51	2
Gilles Barbeau	Vancouver	52/40:23/	1:32	1
Ken MacLeod	West Vancouver	1:02/41:04	1:43:04	1
Caroline Lepard	North Vancouver	54:48:50:34	1:45:22	2
Ryan Reilly	North Vancouver	58:48/46:34	1:45:22	2
Matt Sessions	Port Moody	1:11/59	2:10	2
Craig Moore	North Vancouver	1:01/:48:	1:49	3*

* extra point earned for collecting garbage en route

Robert Westendorp and Craig Moore earned extra series points today for picking up trash during the run. Below is a picture of Craig's loot. Whatever you do, don't ask him for a drink from *this* waterbottle the next time you see him on the trail!

2004 - Year 1

11 September 04

They said it would never be done. Geoff Palmer, a recent immigrant from the flatlands of Winterpeg, however, done done it! On Saturday 11 September 04, he became the first person to ever go platinum in the Mountain Highway Madness!

A veteran of the Rocky Raccoon 100-miler, Blackfoot Ultra and the Great Canadian Death Race, it was Palmer's first time at Mountain Highway Madness. "Allison (Knowles) and I had a lot of fun on the first 3 laps. The pizza bread and Eatmore bars kept me fueled for the fourth lap and the mountain bikers who kept asking, "HOW many laps are you doing?" kept me motivated. If I'd had some competition, I might have done five laps."

After the monsoons of Friday evening, it was a wonder anyone got out of bed for the run early Saturday morning. As it turned out, the rain held off at the start and as Laddie Hannan put it, "we ran between droplets" on the return leg of the first lap. The general consensus was that the cool, moist weather was ideal for good times in this, the fifth running of the event.

The only downer of the day was that Colin Freeland's blue, Capilano Eagles vest and Doug MacKay's green windbreaker went AWOL from their resting place near the water fountain. If a good Samaritan picked them up, there's a cool beer as reward. Speaking of cool beers, all participants who attended the post run brunch were treated to a free cool one by the good folks at the Mosquito Creek Bar and Grill. All runners received some hammer gels and Laddie Hannan came away from this free run with a free ($45) entry to the Grouse Grind run for her efforts.

Mark your calendars for the next Mountain Highway Madness on Sunday 20 March!

Ean Jackson
Host of the Mountain Highway Madness

Results

Up	Down	Time	Name
53	32	1:25	Jessica Anderson
53	33	1:26	Berglind Hafsteinsdottir
53	33	1:26	Laddie Hannan
53	35	1:28	Maria Zerjav
53	36	1:29	Melissa Pacé
78	47	2:05	Pat Barry
78	47	2:05	Sibylle Tinsel

Lap 1 (up/down/total)	Lap 2 (up/down/total)	Time	Name
46/27/1:13	47/29/1:16	2:29	Colin Freeland
48:41/31:41/1:19:22	50:36/36:45/1:27:21	2:47	Rob Ruff
53/37/1:30	60/45/1:45	3:15	Ken Hardinge-Rooney
52:30/35:10/1:27:40	64/53:16/1:57:16	3:24:56	Doug MacKay

 

Lap 1 (up/down/total)	Lap 2 (up/down/total)	Lap 3 (up/down/total)	Time	Name
52/38/1:30	54/38/1:32	55/40/1:35	4:37	Allison Knowles

 

Lap 1 (up/down/total)	Lap 2 (up/down/total)	Lap 3 (up/down/total)	Lap 4 (up/down/total)	Time	Name
52/38/1:30	54/38/1:32	55/40/1:35	65/45/1:50	6:27!	Geoff Palmer

Total starters: 13
Total finishers: 13