That’s a wrap…

In case you weren’t able to make it, Pride Run & Walk 2018, held yesterday on July 22nd was another major successful year.

Mother nature made up for last year’s rain with clear skies and hot temperatures as 348 proud runners and walkers hit the sea wall pavement brighter than ever.

An army of volunteers helped make the park and course look amazing with an endless sea of smiles and rainbows and with the only glitch of the day being a faulty start line arch which was quickly remediated thanks to the creative minds of Christopher and Stephen.

Awards and Prizes were handed out to the top 3 finishers in 3 gender categories for 2 events (5km and 10km), as well as 14 door prizes were gifted.

Team ‘Which way to Fountainhead’ cleaned up with prizes for being the top fundraising team with $5,130 and the crowd cheered for them to take home prizing for best dressed.

$9,750 were received in direct donations to our two beneficiaries, Out in Schools and LOUD Foundation. This total doesn’t include the profits made from the event, which we’ll know in the next few weeks as final bills/invoices are paid. UPDATE: With profits, we donated a grand total of $16,974!

Race results are available at https://www.startlinetiming.com/en/races/2018/pride and thanks to Kangsoon Park, photos are available here.

The board of VFR would like to thank the organizing committee for their tireless efforts in executing a smooth and fun event. Those include:

  • Rohan Hare – Event
  • Kangsoon Park – Course
  • Mike Hsiao – Volunteer (on behalf of RaceForce)
  • Alan Jay – Water Station and Miscellaneous.

A huge thank you to everyone who participated this year, may it be as a participant, offering a helping hand, raising/donating money… all of it. Your continued support of Pride Run & Walk is immensely appreciated.

More of a candid group shot, trees behind

Snowshoeing Social 2018

Did you hear the one about the Vancouver Frontrunners who went up to Mount Seymour and snowshoed 6km?

More of a candid group shot, trees behind

Admittedly, it wasn’t very funny, but it was a great time for all fourteen hearty souls who made it out. Fresh snow and glimpses of blue sky showcased the best of one of our local mountains. Beer and camaraderie in Lonsdale Quay afterwards capped off a wonderful day. This snowshoeing thing might just become an annual tradition!

The crew posing on snow in front of blue sky
Cheese!

Several snowshoers hiking down between trees over soft snow

VFR Wins in the Whistler50 Relay

This past weekend we had two teams participate in the Whistler50 relay race and the results are pretty awesome. Hot2Trot was our Open Men’s team which placed 13th overall and 2nd in their division with a total time of 6:13.54. This smashes our previous record of 6:42.04 which was set last year.

The VFR recreational team placed 34th overall and 1st in their division with a time of 7:00.35.

While everyone did an outstanding job and both teams are to be congratulated, we’d like to make some special mentions:

  • Kevin Hisko posting the past 7km leg show of 32:46
  • Kangsoon Park who posted amazing time of 58:17 on his 13km leg coming back from injury last year
  • Luke Liang surprising himself with 33:22 on his first ever race
  • Neil Johnson for posting his fastest ever pace (5:01/km) in a race 10km or higher
  • Alex Cheung, our poster boy success story from the Learn to Run program nailing 1:07:09 on his 13km segment.

A huge ‘THANK YOU’ go to team captains, Leifka Vissers and Tom Martin, for coordinating team registration and roster running order; making sure everyone showed up at the correct checkpoints and at the right time.

Don Cooper for hosting a post race pre-dinner function at his beautiful home in Whistler.  Thank you Don!  We really had a great time.

Thank you everyone who participated and volunteered at the Whistler 50 race.  Let’s think about Ragnar Relay July 2015.  🙂

Results can be found here.