The Nanaimo - Westwood Lake Trail Race was held on June 11. Three STARRs took part in the third race of the Vancouver Island Trail Running Series.
By Marika Nagasaka
Here's what Greg B had to say:
Ok, first, the trail was awesome!
A few rocky road bits under the power lines to run but the rest of it was an up, down, left, right, soft spongy trail.
Not too many long steep climbs or treacherous break neck downhill sections, just enough of everything to challenge you but not break you. In other words, it was a fun course.
A very welcome light rain came down for a few minutes towards the end of the trail, which felt really good. So did plunging into the lake at the end of the race!!
Many of us veered off course a couple of times, the trail marking could have been better. I added at least 1km to the run, doubling back trying to find the right trail.
I missed a loop at the end, unfortunately, I don't know if I ran the full 17km. However, my time, if I were to add 12 additional minutes "penalty" if I were 1.5k under, would still have put me in second place in my age group. There were more than a dozen people in the two groups ahead of me who also got lost!
I reported my trail dilemma to the judges, they said it wasn't important, they knew people got lost and there was talk that some of the markers had been deliberately moved. Volunteers were sent out to redirect the long course traffic, which was very helpful on the last 5k of the event. Especially for me and my buddy Richard, who would be just entering Comox by now if they hadn't turned us around!
My time was 1:45:17-ish 1st place finish in my age group. It would have been nice to know the actual length I ran, but I think I would have taken 2nd based on the other two guys times.
Pauline ran a solid first half of the race but was suffering from a huge lack of sleep (having taken on several extra night shifts in order to get the time off to run this one), she still came in 4th in her age group!.
Marika also did very well, in spite of a persistent leg cramp during the entire run.
As soon as we finished the race, the clouds turned dark and it began to rain heavily, everyone ducking under umbrellas or into their cars.
It was a good day for this run.
Marika's 2 cents:
The weather gods have really been kind to us this series so far, despite the forecast often predicting bleak conditions. It started off as a nice day with some sun and then a bit of light rain somewhere over the half way mark. It was amazing how the last kilometer of trail was so wet compared to when I had gone for my warm up on that section prior to the race and it was totally dry.
It was a nice race with fun terrain although a lot of people went off course by no fault of their own. I am pretty sure I was on course the whole time as I had pink ribbons in sight the whole run (except for the part where they had a few people directing us through where the ribbons had been removed on the hydro road). It was challenging to stay on course especially when you didn't have anyone in sight (and that's assuming they were going the right way!).
I had terrible leg cramps yet again in the last 3-5 km's of the race so that was frustrating/disappointing for me but hopefully I can figure that out in the next race. Everyone around me (who passed me while I was cramping!) was very nice and supportive, chatting with people was a good distraction.
Perogies were the end of race hot food treat and I have to say, the idea of perogies really got me through the leg cramps. I could smell onions frying before the race and that really stuck with me. I can't wait to see what we get next race. As always, will run for snacks!
As I was changing and stretching after the race, the dark clouds rolled in and it looked like a strong down pour was on the way as I hit the road.
We have just been told the Transfer Beach/Ladysmith 19km Saturday July 23rd is cancelled because of ongoing trail work. They are going to try to figure out a race in Port Alberni for that date so that will remain a surprise for now. Sounds like a long drive...
Here are the STARR results. Sorry if I missed anyone!
Long course 17km
Greg Balchin 1:45:01
Marika Nagasaka 1:52:12
Pauline Neilsen 2:11:09