Gord Kurenoff: No keeping up to the Jones while Rambling, climbing around Aldergrove – Vancouver Sun
Some timely Hypo tips from Vancouver’s movie-less Marathon Man, record-breaker Natasha Wodak gets to have her cake and eat it too, a look ahead to ‘rock and NOLA,’ upcoming races and ‘butting’ in for photos and banana bread at the hilly Aldergrove Ramble
More than 120 runners laced up Sunday morning for the annual Aldergrove Ramble 4.8K and 8K trail races, staged by PEN RUN and part of the 2020 Fraser Valley Trail Race Series. The races were held inside Aldergrove Regional Park. Gord Kurenoff / Postmedia News
ALDERGROVE — Just a few blocks from the picturesque 8th Avenue Regional Park they used to film the horror drama Bates Motel, an A&E adaptation of the Alfred Hitchcock classic Psycho.
Two years ago the Hollywood crew tore down the replica motel and movie set, but the equally spooky rolling hills there and around the park stayed intact.
“Ghoulish” organizers of the annual Aldergrove Ramble 8K and 4.8K races have utilized those “undulating challenges” in making sure flat is not where it’s at for the second leg of the popular PEN RUN Fraser Valley Trail Race Series.
On Sunday, the second day of the Lunar New Year and Year of the Rat, there was no keeping up to the Jones as the mountain lion named Brandon tamed the course and 8K field in a winning time of 30:22. Joanna Williams was the top female finisher in 31:06.
More than 120 runners laced up for the Aldergrove Ramble 4.8K and 8K trail races on Sunday. The course was in great shape considering this month’s wild winter weather. (Gord Kurenoff photo)
Caden Lee won the 4.8K in 16:21, while Josephine Soti took the women’s title in 23:31. More than 120 runners laced up for the event, and most of them beat the mid-morning rain showers. Despite being buried in snow last week, the race course was in great shape Sunday — some of the runners not so much!
• FOR MY SUNDAY PHOTOS, click HERE
The course has some Sound of Music-like rolling hills, a few inclines that should be licensed ski hills (not bitter), and a lower and upper bowl if you enjoy variety in gasping for air! In all seriousness, this “track” as the gifted trail runners call it, is awesome.
The third and final race in the series — the Fort-2-Fort 5- & 10-milers — goes Feb. 23 in Fort Langley. We will have full results from Aldergrove when they are made available, plus some fun shots from Katia Stano of iPOLPOPHOTOS, who covered the event for her growing company.
A few other fun notes from Sunday’s Ramble:
Glenn Rideout and Soraya Spier remembered their friends at the finish line on Sunday. But got hungry doing it! (Gord Kurenoff photo)
Friends and fast paces
A few friendly women, warming up in a pickup truck before the 9 a.m. start Sunday, inspected the dark sky and asked this scribe if we’ll beat the rain or get soaked.
I told them if there’s chocolate cookies and beer at the finish line we’ll easily beat the rain, but if there’s “lousy health food” we may need to build an ark!
Turns out there was banana bread at the finish line, but you had to run fast enough to ensure you got some. Or have fast friends!
Soraya Spier and Glenn Rideout, who are training for next month’s First Half Half in Vancouver and who are regular race-day fixtures on the Lower Mainland, are those special fast friends. The friendly trail rabbits blitzed around the course, grabbed some hot chocolate and food, and waited for this scribe to crawl across the finish line.
And moments after I arrived for post-race celebrations they handed me a cup with banana bread in it.
“We got hungry waiting for you,” chirped Rideout. “There were two cups an hour ago!”
Friends, eh?
Having a few laughs while putting on their race bibs, these awesome runners wondered why I had a camera! (Gord Kurenoff photo)
Butting in to take a few shots
Two women putting on their race bibs and bouncing around to stay warm, laughed when I pointed my camera in their direction.
“Are you the official photographer, or do you just want a picture of my dancing butt?” laughed one of them while I turned 50 shades of red.
“No” and “no” were the proper answers to her questions. But judge for yourself!
Blogger Gord Kurenoff, left, and Sandra Jongs Sayer head for the finish line in Sunday’s Aldergrove Ramble 8K. (Glenn Rideout photo)
Shortcut not in the coach’s handbook
Sandra Jongs Sayer, my trusty coach and one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, yelled at me halfway through Sunday’s 8K.
We were told by race director Phil Ellis there would be a “turnoff point” about 3.8K into the race. “You go left if you’re in the 8K, you go right if you’re in the 4.8K. If you change your mind about the 8K, you can head for the finish at the point.”
Well, fighting a nasty flu and zapped energy levels, I promised Coach Smiley yours truly would do the 8K no matter what.
After a couple wicked inclines and stretches of “undulating challenges” and wheezing, I reached the turnoff point and coach stared at me and yelled: “Don’t even think about it Mister!”
So, yeah, put mind-reader down on her impressive resume, too. She’s good!
Walter Downey of Vancouver, who competed in 10 marathons in 2019, wore his Justin Trudeau socks to tackle the Steveston Icebreaker 8K on Jan. 19, finishing 30th overall and first in his age class in a blazing time of 30:30. (Margaret Buttner photo)
Advice for the Hypo ‘Justin’ time
Moments before the start of the Steveston Icebreaker 8K on Jan. 19, I asked Vancouver Marathon Man Walter Downey, who in 2019 ran 10 of those 42.2K suckers around the planet, for some quick advice.
In a weak moment, and before winter dumped snow, ice, rain and cold on the Lower Mainland this month, yours truly signed up for the Humana Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans half marathon, which takes place Sunday, Feb. 9 in The Big Easy.
Is it possible, I asked Downey, to switch longer training runs with lots of shorter ones (minus doughnuts and cookies, of course) and still get around humid N’Awlins before the four-hour time limit expires on me?
Walter Downey shows off his “six stars” bling after a remarkable year of marathon running. (Instagram photo)
“You might want to consider at least one longer run before doing that half,” said Downey, laughing at my “define longer than 8K?” response.
In fairness, I laughed a bit at the colourful Justin Trudeau socks Downey wore to tackle the Icebreaker, which he crushed in a blazing 30:30 — 30th overall in the record 370-runner 8K field. He also won his 55-59 age division, again.
So the “longer” run Downey suggested will happen this Saturday morning, the day before Super Bowl LIV — I’m doing the “shorter” 10-mile distance in the Running Room’s Vancouver Hypothermic Half Marathon event.
The annual Hypo, which includes the half, 10-Miler, finisher’s medal and post-race brunch, starts 9 a.m. at Mahoney and Sons Restaurant (601 Stamps Landing). The new course follows the False Creek Seawall to Stanley Park with a loop of Lost Lagoon, Devonian Harbour Park and then returning on the seawall the same way back to the finish.
For more information and to enter, click HERE.
By the way, Downey also received the prestigious “Six Stars” of the World Marathon Majors medal last year and is one of only 252 Canadians who can proudly say that. Heck, Brittany runs one marathon and gets a movie; Downey does 10 and all he gets is a mention in my little blog. What’s up with that, eh?!!
Natasha Wodak, right, and her coach Lynn Kanuka celebrate the North Vancouver runner’s Canadian women’s half-marathon record with a cake. (Mary Hinze photo)
Houston, we don’t have a problem!
Natasha Wodak got to have her cake and eat it too this week.
Fresh off of setting a new Canadian woman’s record in the competitive Houston Half-Marathon on Jan. 19, the North Vancouver runner and 17-time Team Canada member was congratulated by friends, family and her coach Lynn Kanuka — and then handed a fork!
Wodak, who posted a blazing 1:09:41 in the Texas 21.1K race, became the first Canuck female to run that distance in under 70 minutes. She also broke Rachel Cliff‘s Canadian record by 25 seconds. Cliff also resides in the Lower Mainland.
Wodak has won the Vancouver Sun Run three times, including last year when she clocked a comfortable 32:38 in the 10K race. The only other woman to win the Sun Run three times? Lynn Kanuka.
Dylan Wykes won the First Half Half in Vancouver last Feb. 10, posting a hot time of 1:05:41 on a bitter cold day! This year’s event is sold out. (RUNVAN photo)
FINISH LINES: The Group Draw Entry for the 2020 Vancouver Lululemon SeaWheeze Half, set for Saturday, Aug. 15, is now open. Click HERE for more info. … The 31st annual First Half Half is set for Sunday, Feb. 9 starting 8:30 a.m. at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Vancouver. The awesome race — which I was thrilled to complete in bitter cold temperatures last year — is sold out next month. Dylan Wykes of Ottawa won the 21.1K race in 1:05:41 last year, while Robyn Mildren of Vancouver took the women’s title in 1:17:43. … To read Bradley Cuzen‘s neat blog (Bradley on the Run) from the Steveston Icebreaker, click HERE. … Finally, Bell’s annual Let’s Talk Day is this Wednesday, Jan. 29. I encourage everyone to work their social media platforms to raise funds for mental health initiatives. And remember that it’s OK to ask for help — spread the word!
Gotta run …