Tired of clapping for hours on end and losing all feelings in your hands or losing your voice from cheering at events, well now you don’t need to with the SAA Cow Bell. With a simple flick of the wrist you can create hours of beautiful cow bell sounds. Perfect for cheering on your spouse or favorite athlete at races or at home. Give them as a gift to your significant other so they can cheer you on. SAA cow bells are available in two colors; Pink with Purple logo and Orange with Blue logo, each for a low price of just $5. Get them at most SAA training sessions (just send president@thesaa.ca a note so I know how many to bring to the sessions). Get them while supplies last!

Well, another great weekend and another busy weekend of races. And, this week, we had everything from trail races to road races to a duathlon to a triathlon.

To start off the weekend (and take quite a bit of it up), Benji Chu and Pat Malaviarachchi took on the grueling Fat Dog 100 which starts near Keremeos and finishes in Manning Park – that’s about 100 miles (or possibly closer to 120). A very tough race where 60% of the starters dropped out.   It started at 4am on Friday morning – imagine running until 6pm on Saturday (YIKES).. This photo was taken at the finish… Pat, you look refreshed.

Saturday, was the 5 Peaks Seymour trail race in which Joel Waithman, Susan Gelinas and Erin Lee all did the Enduro (about 12KM) and Walter Kwan did the Sport distance (just over 6KM) and all had great races in spite of a few slips, spills, mud and bugs in this technical and challenging course. Great job everyone.

Out at UBC for the Point Grey Duathlon/Triathlon, we had Mark Hoath who came in 2nd place in his age category and  Tracey Baisley, Joe Lavoie and Dan McLaren did well in the sprint distance.  Everyone did well in the race and in their categories.

And, down in chilly San Francisco, Tracy Marshall took on the Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park and the hills of San Francisco to also have a great race.

So another busy weekend on the race circuit – congratulations to everyone.

Summer SAA Pancake Breakfast

Our second annual SAA pancake breakfast will take place on Sunday August 22nd after the morning run.

Date:                   Sunday August 22, 2010
Time:                   After the morning run around 9:30am
Location:               Common room at 12333 English Ave
On the Menu:    Pancakes, bacon, baked goods, fruit, tea and coffee

If anyone is interested in helping cook, please let Erin know at secretary@thesaa.ca

Who is NOT running the Delta Half Marathon on Sunday August 8th? If you are not running, come out and volunteer at a water station to cheer on your SAA club mates who are running. This is a great opportunity for us to show our club spirit and club colours at a local event while helping out. We are looking to put together a team to run a water station and need a minimum of 5 club members to make it work. Get a special discounted price on SAA cowbells if you volunteer at the waterstation.

Please e-mail secretary@thesaa.ca with your interest.

For all you folks requesting an earlier start to the Sunday morning run; starting Sunday July 25th the runs will start at 7:30 am. This will continue until August 29th or there abouts.

from Coach Tracey…

Swim/kk/pull/drill x 200 each 800

2 x 500 1:00 rest between. Try to Neg. split by :15 1800

16 x 50 in 4 sets of 4 as:
#1: free on 1:00 (1:10, 1:20)
#2: choice non-free with fins :15 r
#3: free with fins…fast! on :45/:50/:60
#4: pull on :10 r 2600

up to 4 x 100 stroke count each and try to bring down 1 each time
3000

Another great weekend and another weekend with SAA members active in Tri’s, running and the STP (202.5 miles from Seattle to Portland).

On Saturday, a group from the club began the long journey from Seattle to Portland by bike. This 200-mile bicycle ride is the largest multi-day bicycle event in the Northwest, with up to 10,000 participants riding from Seattle to Portland in one or two days. The route takes you through the scenic valleys, forests, and farmlands of western Washington and Oregon. Included in the 10,000 riders the SAA had Stephen Ptucha, Susan Gelinas, Brian Flett on the one day ride and Mike and Michelle LaPorte taking the route on in two days.

I hear it was quite chilly both mornings for the start of the ride, but, the riders were proudly sporting their new Tyvek jackets.

Back in Vancouver, and a very warm 8 am starting time, Julian Forman had a very nice run around the seawall in the Summerfast 10 Km race. Hear the homemade snacks at the end were just as great as always.

On Sunday, in Penticton, we had a great showing for the Olympic distance, Peach Classic Triathlon. The weather was great and Michelle Horstmann came 2nd in her age category (oh, and 9th women to finish) at her first Olympic distance tri in spite of crashing on a downhill turn (both Michelle and her bike are fine). Jackie Davidson also made it to the podium coming in 3rd in her age category. Also in Penticton were Trudy and Doug Harris who both also did quite well.

And, down at Chelan Lake in Washington State on Saturday, Barb Hinds took on the Olympic distance and did quite well.  In fact, she took about 12 minutes off her 2009 time in the same race. This is a beautiful race that takes place in and around Chelan Lake.

And, one more, in Langley on Sunday for the Langley Half Marathon, Ira Sy had another great race finishing well up in the standings and in his age category (sorry, I had missed this on the original post). 

Congratulations to everyone on another great showing.

We’re doing hills this Thursday (July 15th) so don’t head to Terra Nova SB, instead meet at the Sea Island Way SB at 6:30pm

Sent to us from Coach Tracey in Colorado…

Marrying excellent form with speed!

Warm up:
400, 4 x100, 8 x 50…one must be a kick, one a swim the other a drill set…you choose! (all on :10r)

Main:
6 x 100 free with perfect form on :15r
300 free at 80%! :30r [Read more →]

A hot, hot weekend, but, we still had a few SAA members doing races.

On Saturday, Benji Chu took on the 50K Knee Knacker from Horseshoe Bay to Deepcove and cut almost 8 minutes off his 2009 time for the race. It’s one of the 25 toughest races in North America.

On Sunday, Grand Yeh was in Squamish for the Squamish Triathlon (Olympic Distance) and had another great performance having just come off doing the Sprint in the Subaru Vancouver Tri last weekend. (note the photo is from 2009)

Also on Sunday, doing the Persona Desert Half Ironman in Osoyoos was Phil Webb. Phil has been unable to train over the past few months, so it’s great to see that he is back out.  And, he did very well – an amazing comeback.

Another great showing over the weekend for SAA members.  Congratulations to all.