MEC # 2 Birds Hill Park Race

MEC # 2 Birds Hill Park Race
MEC #2 Birds Hill Park 2017 3rd Overall After A Sprint Finish!

Monday, November 11, 2013

The Long, Long Weekend

On June 7th at 6:30 PM I ran the 800 meter race at the Friday Night Mile at the South Surrey Athletic Centre track. I finished 3 of 3 with a personal best of 2:49.49. This was thanks to the Jordans, with John running in front of me and pulling me the whole race, and Debbie running close behind me and pushing. On the last straightaway heading into the finish, Debbie hit another gear and blew past me with about 50 meters to go, and as I attempted to answer her pace she pulled me to my PB.

MAGIC 800
1.John Jordan 2:39.55
2.Debbie Jordan 2:45.02
3.Gordon Flett 2:49.49

The next morning I competed in the Squamish 5 Peaks 6.9K Sport trail race. It was my first time competing in it, and a woman asked myself and my friend Vas before the race what the hills were like. Vas told her that there was an upward climb at the beginning, but it wasn't nearly as long or steep as the Golden Ears race. At 10:15 we started the race, and soon hit a single track mud trail that just kept going up and up for a few hundred meters. Vas said after the race that he realized his error only after we'd gone a ways up the climb, and felt bad because he felt like he'd lied to her. Guess he won't make that mistake again!

The race director had stressed to us all in his prerace instructions about how you should let faster runners by when they were trying to pass, especially since so much of the route was single track. We were over halfway through the race, zigzagging mostly downhill through thick bush, on a rocky and root filled trail. I caught up to 2 guys, and they heard me but just kept going. Very shortly there were quite a few of us lined up running behind them. One of them yelled "Wow, it sounds like a herd of elephants behind us!", and the guy at my shoulder yelled "Yeah?". 

Still oblivious, they kept running in front of us and we couldn't get by them, and finally the fellow behind me asked "Are you guys going to let us pass or not?" They got out of our way and it was like a dam burst, with all of us flying down the trail as fast as we could, with the guy behind me yelling "Go! Go!" The rest of us knew what we were doing and sorted it out as we went, and soon we were all in our proper order.

It wasn't long before we were off the single track, had exited the thick woods, and were running on a wide path, where we could hear the announcer at the finish line.

Running through the trees, soon I rounded the corner and there it was, with people lining the way cheering us in, and over the line I went!

Vas had finished a couple of places ahead of me and was waiting there, and we went and got some cookies (chocolate chip and oatmeal), banana pieces and bagels with peanut butter and Nutella. They also seemed to have free samples of wonderful Vega products on every table, and we ended up stocking up a little bit.

They had the awards, and Vas was 2nd of 22 in his age group and 12th of 158 overall, while Paul Butcher was 1st and 6th overall.




 I finished 1st of 11 in my age group, and 14th overall, with a time of 41:02. 2 friends who just started running again this year after a long hiatus, Randy Klassen and Ron Fraser, were 2nd & 3rd in our age group. It was a pleasure to share the podium with them! 





Willi Ribi turned 60 this year and so moved up an age group, where he did well placing 2nd. 
To see many photos of the race, Robert Shaer has them up on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/5peaksadventures/sets/72157634040944910/

After the awards were over it was time to head back to Vancouver, as I had a race to run in White Rock the next morning.

On June 9th I ran the Sandcastle City Classic 10K. It was put on by my club, the Semiahmoo Sunrunners. It's a point to point race where they bus us from the finish by the beach to the start line near Crescent Park Elementary. I remember it was cool and rained off and on during the race. Afterward it began pouring, but eventually it let up and we got the awards going. I finished 46 of 262 overall, 5 of 15 in my age group, with a time of 43:29, so I missed the age group podium after finishing 3rd the last 2 years. This resulted in me taking pics, ending up as one of the race photographers, and posting my first collection on flickr:


Paul Kimugul won the race, and Jen Moroz was the top female.

My last event of this extended weekend was the Remax Twilight Series Meet # 2, on Monday, June10, beginning at 5:30 PM. I ended up where I'd started, at the South Surrey Athletic Centre track. The Twilight Meets are put on by Ocean Athletics, who do a fantastic job!

I did the long jump for the first time ever in a competition, finishing 5 of 5 with a 3.49 best jump. Needs a lot of work, but it's a start.

I also ran the 3000 meters race later in the evening, finishing 12 of 12 (only old person), with a time of 12:30.79. I was tired after all my activity this weekend, so even though didn't run as fast as I'd hoped to, I was happy knowing I competed and did my best! http://www.oceanathletics.org/results-photos-home/

The meet was almost over after the 3000, so I thanked the organizers and headed home, with my next race coming up very quickly, the Longest Day 5K on Friday, June 14 at 6:45 PM at UBC.

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