Yes, there was chocolate cake! You just had to run the heart pounding Iron Knee or Tender Knee race to get it! Saturday, May 26th, was a fabulous day for racing with warm, breezy weather, enthusiastic volunteers and some very determined trail runners smashing the course.
Tender Knee racers started their day at the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve, anticipating their 13K journey to Panorama Park in Deep Cove. Iron Knee racers started their 25K run at Cleveland Park, at Grouse Mountain. While the Iron Knee racers had a nice little warm-up hill to start (more like a long heart rate spike!), the Tender Knee racers had a much saner start (only in terms of elevation gain!).
Racers navigated the trails across the North Shore mountains experiencing a variety of terrain and some spectacular scenery. Just when they are motoring along Fisherman’s Trail, they hit the turn onto Mystery Creek…the start of the long climb, that turns into the beloved Powerline hill. Also referred to as…oh wait…can’t use that language here! It’s worth it though because there was some reading along the way, plus an aid station at the top with a taste of chocolate cake, followed by a nice downhill stretch to recover from the climb. And then they began to encounter some really fun, rocky, rooty technical trails that kept everyone on their toes. This indicated the approach to Quarry Rock and the long descent down to Panorama Park and the finish line.
There were a lot of smiling, sweaty faces as the participants of the 16th Annual Iron Knee/Tender Knee trail race crossed the finish line. And yes, there was chocolate cake!
Thanks to all the participants and volunteers who helped make this a great event! We hope to see you again next year!
Top three males and females in both events
Iron Knee Males: Brady Dunne (1st), Theo Jankowski (2nd), Alexandre Campbell (3rd)
Iron Knee Females: Laurel Booker (1st), Danielle O’Neill (2nd), Danielle Mountjoy (3rd)
Tender Knee Males: Brandon Gardiner (1st), Charles Perrot-Minot (2nd), Michael Stone (3rd)
Tender Knee Females: Nanna Kruse (1st), Hanna Jensen (2nd), Katie Magel (3rd)