Sinister Seven

[brendan]

Robert, Stuart, myself and four other friends of Stuart went down to the Crowsnest Pass last weekend to run in the Sinister Seven Relay.  The whole weekend was really a blast.  I highly recommend this relay to anyone who is looking for an adventure.  There is a wide variety of leg lengths and difficulties so runners of all levels can find something that they can do.

The race started with a 16.5km leg 1 that Steve ran for us.  It started out in Blairmore and passed through the Frank Slide site.  He did a great job.

Buddy ran leg 2 next.  It was a 16 km leg with some wicked climbs that he powered over eventually winding back into Blairmore.

I had leg 3, a 33km loop around and over a mountain just south of the townsite that had my quads burning in the first ten minutes.  I was really happy with my time on this leg.  I was hoping to break 2:40 and came in just under 2:35.  There were some really steep climbs and descents, as well as some streams and potholes.  The backs of my legs were caked in mud after I was finished.  It was really fun.

Robert was next on leg 4.  This is where the race took a really interesting turn.  Robert ran a strong 32km leg and had to contend with some hot temps in the afternoon sun.  When he finished his leg the volunteers told us that we were the first team to reach the end of leg 4.  We knew that there were two teams that were way out ahead of us but it turned out they had gone off course.

So off went Stuart with a surprise lead on leg 5.  Leg 5 would have been challenging with good conditions but it started raining quite hard and the trail soon turned to mud.  After 23km of continual ups and downs we still had a lead.  Stuart almost beat everyone to the next transition area because he came in so much faster than he thought.

Joe was next taking off onto 14km of leg 6 around the base of Crowsnest Mountain.  He took at least one good spill on a downhill and came in minus a good chunk of skin off one of his knees.

Then Lloyd took off on leg 7, 12km that took him over Wedge Mountain and back down into Blairmore and the finish line.  He seemed to be nervous about holding onto our lead but he ran really well.  It was starting to get dark when he got down into town.

We were all yelling so loud when he came across the line in first place.  It was such an exciting race.  I don’t think that any of us expected to win but everyone ran great legs and we held on by just under 20 minutes.  Our final time was 14 hours, 18 minutes, 43 seconds.  Pretty good considering we were expecting to finish in around 16 hours.

The whole race was very well organized and I know that I had a great time.  It was awesome to run with such great guys who all put everything they had into their runs.

The girls had a great run as well.  How about a report ladies?

[Mary Mac]

The men weren't the only ones who had fun at the Sinister Seven. Our Blue Paperclip team came in a respectable 43, in the top half of the teams. We were sixth out of nine all women's teams. At on point we were ahead of the men's team, but that didn't last long.

Karli Renman ran Leg 1 at a pretty good clip over the Frank Slide and through some pretty rough terrain. When she got off the bus from the ride back from the end of the leg she didn't even look like she had broken a sweat. Oh to be young again.

Paddi Grant motored across some pretty tough hills and came in before the Camrose men's team. Needless to say we were gloating pretty good at this time. I figure it was a tough leg because Paddi runs every day and she was hurting for a few days after.

My sister, Joan, from Victoria, took off on Leg 3. This is where the run started to get really hard. The leg was rated as a 5/5 of difficulty. The 33 km leg seemed to have some pretty serious hills. By this time the sun had come out and it was pretty tough slogging up and down the hills. Joan admitted she hadn't done enough hill training and was impacted by a combination of heat, dehydration and the elevation difference between Blairmore and Victoria.

Erin Sharp took off on her 33 km leg in the heat, but that didn't last  long. Most of Erin's run was in the pouring rain. The rain turned the trails into greased trails. It was really hard staying upright while trying to race up and down hills.

By the time I started at 7:30 at night the rain had stopped but the trails were still slippery. My leg was mostly steep uphills, stream crossings and steep down hills. The last third of my leg was in the dark. I only passed one person and he had fallen and lost the lens out of his glasses and couldn't walk very fast.

Annik Levesque started her leg about 11 pm. and it was the most challenging leg at this time. It was only 14 km but it was all down hill in the slippery mud. Annik said it was more like snowboarding through mud. She could only see a few feet in front of her and she took several spills into the bush as she tripped over rocks and roots.

Denise Renman brought us home. There is nothing like starting a run after midnight.

I figure we had a tougher run than the faster runners because we ran three and a half legs in the dark and four legs through the mud. The beer after the race tasted delicious and we are already planning for a return trip next year.

[uncle_evan]

great reports, sounds like fun.  good job.