2007 Pure Satisfaction Results

Starter Photo - 9 December 2007

What a wonderful day it was. There were lots of new faces. Welcome all! The trails were beautiful and frosted with a layer of ice crystals, the boardwalks were treacherous and the black ice deceiving... Congrats to all who finished todays run.

The post event survey is posted here and will close 13 December. We appreciate your participation.

More photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/clubfatass/tags/puresatisfaction2007/show/

More than ever … Pure Satisfaction 2007

A record 33 runners took to the trail on Sunday. This was the fifth running of Club Fat Ass Pure Satisfaction on the Baden Powell Trail of North Vancouver. Most of us started in Deep Cove as usual but there were 4 hardier souls that lined themselves up to complete 48km for the first time in this event.

The four big distance people were Gilles, Karl, Chad and John. They started 2 hours ahead of the group sharp at 0700h plus the full time from the 5-minute rule. Beginning in Lynn Canyon at the traditional turn around point, they headed across the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge and made it to Deep Cove right at 9:00 am after slipping and sliding their way over the first 12km of their run. All four are experienced and capable long distance runners. Most notable though are Karl and Gilles. Karl is recently back running (and ultra training) after being off several months with a nagging back problem that has magically disappeared. And Gilles finished the Birch Bay marathon on Saturday the day before our run. Along with Gilles, Chad is training for Western States 100 mile race, and, of course, John is always in training for the next big one (and the next big conversation).

As for the rest of us, we gathered in the chilly zero degree December air to get our run briefing and have our picture taken against the backdrop of Mount Seymour. I was adamant that we watch out for one another, especially the newbies, and that we all take great care on the slippery patches. When Karl and the others arrived as I was speaking, they told us of how dangerous the route was for them. So we took their advice seriously and set off to have a whole bunch of fun.

It had ever so lightly snowed and the ground was hard. But all I heard was lots of chatter. It continued snowing the whole time but you could almost count the number of flakes falling there were so few. I was hoping for a bit more snow because it is a very pretty route with 10 or 20 cm of the fresh stuff around.

I followed along near the back and was running with Sibylle and then John for a bit. Once I got to the top of the trail where it turns down to the Seymour Grind, I chatted with Arthur to help keep him on course. As I got ready to turn around, I strongly suggested he stick with John who was close behind because this was Arthur’s first time on the course. For those of us that are familiar with the area, we know how easy it is to go astray. As it turned out, John ended his run when he got to Lynn Canyon after 24km and Arthur decided to call it a day as well. I understand that he took a cab back to Deep Cove.

For the rest of the runners, eventually they all made it back to Deep Cove before 5-1/2 hours was up. The fastest coming in was Patricia with Colin, Mel and Carolyn hot on her heels. When Patricia arrived it certainly seemed as though someone or something had been chasing her! And it seems like 3 hours is the still the time to beat. Hardly anyone has done this run in less than 3 hours. In fact the course record still stands with Casey Charleson from the first year in 2003. His time was about 2:45.

When mostly everyone was back, about a dozen of us went to the Lazy Bay Café at Parkgate and had some yummy treats and coffees. It was warm and we chatted for a nice long time while thinking of the others still on the trail.

I was happy to see a few repeaters to the event. But I was sad to see the Keith didn’t make it out due to technical difficulties with his house keys. And I’m very happy that Pure Satisfaction has been so popular. Oh and thanks very much to Colin for doing the GPS thing so we can see better what we've done.

I hope you’ll all join me again next year.

Craig

Thanks also to TrailRunner magazine for the 2 yearly subscription certificates as draw prizes. 

2006 - Year Four

2005 - Year 3

30 Starters

Pure Satisfaction December 11, 2005 Run Report

Brrrr it was chilly! … and wow it was fantastic! We had sunshine and blue sky and remnants of the last snow fall still in place up on Mt. Seymour. And even better, we had enough people do a custom route to make sure that Pure Satisfaction was a classic Club Fat Ass event.

It was also nice to hear so many people say what a great route the Baden Powell Trail is between Deep Cove and Lynn Canyon. I’ve known that for a long time, along with lots of other people. And we’re all glad to share it with the newer club runners.

Our quickest participants today were Danilo Caron, Chris Benn and Bill Dagg, all coming in at 3:05h. They were still a fair way off the course record set by Casey Charleston a couple years back (2:45h) but 3:05h is a very respectable time for a rough and slippery 24Km course.

At our pre-run chat Sibylle singled me out for being such a big Fat Ass and winning the points series this year. I was very happy to be given a complimentary CFA membership for 2006 along with a gift from our new sponsor, North Shore Athletics. They sent along a nice and comfy NSA sweatshirt that I gladly put on after the run to stay warm. I must mention that Bill Dagg and Cheryl Johnson were pretty big Fat Asses as well in 2005, trailing me for several months in the point standings and being sure to keep me honest. We each came out for 12 events but since I hosted two and picked up garbage for extra points along the way I held the lead. I knew I had to show up for every event possible or slip behind them quite easily. Of course they were both at the event today.

I have to say it was all fun and all worth it as we got to participate in so many great and challenging events this year. Of course, the most notable and memorable has to be The Double in June. In fact, three of The Double runners came out today to participate in Pure Satisfaction (Karl Jensen and Gilles Barbeau and me). Next year you can try your hands (and feet) in the Vancouver 100 since The Double has been put to rest. Same great course but now 4 extra kilometers! I think that’s even better value for your low membership fee, is it not?

After the run today a few of us stopped in at Lazy Bay Café for lunch and prizes. Just about everyone won something, including water bottles and hats from North Shore Athletics, a subscription to Trail Runner magazine, a cool book on trail running, some gels and also a pair of tickets to the upcoming CFA sponsored event in March for Jesper Olsen on his World Run.

Lastly, thanks again to our one-person crew, Ethelyn, for braving the cold at Lynn Canyon (on the far side of that awesomely slippery suspension bridge) so that we could have a moment of rest and a Zoneperfect bar to help get us back to Deep Cove. I hope to see you all next year and also at the next CFA event on New Years Day.

2004 - Year 2

2004 at the turn-around

25 Starter
25 Finishers

Run Report for 11 December 2004

The second installment of the Club Fat Ass Pure Satisfaction run is now complete. There were many firsts on this crisp and calm day, not the least of which was a record turnout of 25 runners and 1 happy dog. And first let me say that this is no ordinary running group. We all chose to get out of our nice warm beds on a chilly December 12th Sunday and brave the rough, hard trails of the Baden Powell for an 8:30 am start. The sky was clear, the temperature low and the car windshields were covered in heavy frost this morning.

We got started in good time right after the run briefing and group photo. My first order of business of course was to remind everyone how important it is that they take care of themselves. I knew there would be lots of ice on the route along with slippery roots and rocks and sure enough there was. And since we had seen way too much rain the few days prior (up until Friday night), there was also lots of water and mud. Sounds like a typical late autumn North Shore running day to me.

We had several firsts today: Bill Dagg came first with a monster performance. I saw Bill on the return trip at the power lines just before Lillooet Road and knew he was having a good day as he was well ahead of the rest of the pack. We also had 19 first timers to the event with both veterans and newbies to the BP Trail. I’m sure that Ellie, Bob, Chris, Desmond, Ann and Gottfried were all chasing one another for the whole run as they finished very close together.

One of our more notable firsts for the run were the three “under 20 year olds�? that showed up for some fresh air and credits to their Kinesiology class at UBC. Nineteen year olds Mike, Mark and Nicola all did an abbreviated route up to the area past Seymour Road and around Old Buck then returned to Deep Cove. The best comment I heard from them was, “I like trail running, it’s not boring!�? You’re absolutely right. Welcome to the club guys and hope to see you out again sometime.

Another first was that we had six returning runners. Bill, Kathy, Keith, Cheryl, Sibylle, and Patricia were not daunted by the dark and dreary weather from last year’s run. In fact, they all improved on their times quite significantly.

Many thanks from each of us go to Ethelyn for hanging in there at the Lynn Canyon Café as our major volunteer. She handed out ZonePerfect bars and Hammer Gels. Her smiling face was a welcome site especially since aid stations are a luxury for Club Fat Ass runs. Of course, we also had Ean and his clan of youngsters running around Lynn Canyon to cheer us on and welcome a few of the short distance runners to their finish.

I know that everyone had a great day and I’m thankful there are no reported injuries nor lost souls. Lots of us even found our way without difficulty to Honey’s after for yummy treats and hot coffee.

Keep up the running and join us on Dec. 11, 2005, for the next heart pounding adventure called Pure Satisfaction.

2003 - Year 1