One down and nine to go.
At 6:03 p.m. May 2, Aaron McConnell from TransRockies Events Inc. blew the whistle and a group of “Chasers” headed west, from the East Village Plaza in Calgary, along a path by the Bow River. Three minutes earlier a much larger group of “skirts” had headed off in the same direction. This was the Skirt Chaser 5K, the first event in my 8th Quest; TransRockies Quest 888.
There are a total of 10 events from May to October and my quest is to complete all 10, covering over 888 race kilometres.
This first event had stirred up some controversy. There were comments on Twitter and Facebook expressing the opinion that it was sexist and demeaning to women and even the CBC got in on the act. I asked Sue what she thought and she said the negative comments were a load of nonsense, that it was just a bit of fun and people should lighten up. I asked her how I should pace myself for the race and she told me to run as fast as I could but treat it like a fishing trip: Catch and Release.
I arrived at the East Village Plaza start area and met up with Aaron and Jonathan from TransRockies. They said that the media had been buzzing around earlier but had headed off before the start of the race. Aaron mentioned that 160 individuals had signed up and of these, 120 were women. I was in the “Chase group” and ran one of my fastest 5kms in years. Around the finishing area, everyone was laughing and joking and having a great time. I’m sure for a number of runners it was their first 5km. Way to go.
So Quest #8 has begun. The next event is Rundles Revenge in Canmore June 22-23. This involves a 100km mountain bike on the Saturday followed by a 50km trail run on Sunday. The rest of the events are: the Fernie Ultra (June 29/30), Powderface 42 (July 6), Highwood Pass Granfondo (July 13), TransRockies 7 day Mountain Bike (July 27 to Aug. 2), TransRockies 6 day Trail Run (Aug. 13 to 18), Glenbow Ranch half marathon (Aug. 25) and finally the Heli-Run (Sept. 21).
Interested in joining me for one or more of the events? Then check out TransRockies at transrockies.com.
As with all my Quests, I’m raising money for the children’s charity Right To Play. During the TRQ888 we hope to raise $25,000 and with matching donation of $3 to every $1 raise $100,000. When children play the world wins.
