I brought home my best time ever for a 10km. Nothing about this article has to do with that. Just thought you should know. You should also know the McLean Mill 10K was the Kinder Surprise Egg of the series. Y’all, edge of my seat! In reference to my last post about rituals… there was no room for that. So, what do we do when a race goes nothing as planned?
Step 1: stay warmed up…
Step 2: just run.
It’s been said before, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey. While I can exaggerate the importance of keeping race day similar to training days, sometimes I don’t have control. It’s going to rain though the forecast said 0% chance of precipitation. It’s going to false start right when the preworkout kicks in. You might cross the finish line just to… cross another? With all that eclipse energy to share, I shouldn’t have been surprised that nothing was how I planned. A gentle reminder that we all came to simply… run.
Like every race in the series, you can’t help but get lost in the beauty of the course. There’s no hustle and bustle. I zig-zagged the back road forest which canopied the rainfall. That’s why I run. To be lost in amongst trees. I forgot for that moment the stress of this and that and just ran. Yes, race day should have a pressure to play your best. However, the heart in showing up is the love for the run. With the Vancouver Island Run Series, we escape into pockets of the island’s lushest country life. And the McLean Mill 10K was so. As rolling hills take you through the miles you can’t help but feel like a Mario cart driver in the jungle using all gears. The snowcap mountains in the background display you are in fact running at the most beautiful place in the world. And that final stretch UP humbles efforts of going for the fast finish.
After we cheer Dog Mountain Brewing beer we congratulate each other. Ribbons are handed out while we warm up to the most perfect chilli. A thought I had: I didn’t ask a single person their timing. No one asked mine. You know why? We were all there for the love of running. Our runner’s high didn’t leave space for competition (ok, a little). Rather everyone was smiling and joyously hollering and celebrating. This is the best part of this friendly island cup game. The camaraderie is a balance of chasing goals while catching up with pals. It’s about just running.
Katelyn Ayers has run for Canada at the World Cross Country Championships. Daniel Damian runs for the UVic Vikes. Both ran new personal best times over the 5K on Sunday, for the wins.
Roslyn Smith set a new Canadian record in the W75-79 category at Bazan, going sub-24.
The series was blessed with sunny skies, very light wind and mild temperatures, a perfect cap to the successful 2024 season.
https://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/DSC_2240-scaled.jpg17082560Christopher Kelsallhttps://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-4-300x300.jpgChristopher Kelsall2024-04-14 23:03:132024-04-14 23:03:16Katelyn Ayers and Daniel Damian win Bazan Bay 5K amongst the biggest crowd in nine years
Update: Season Pass Sale CLOSED. At the Bazan Bay 5K and season finale, the Vancouver Island Runners’ Association will make available a limited quantity of 2025 season passes at a one-time-only discount.
The season passes will be available for $150 all-inclusive. No admin fee will be charged and GST will be included (*season passes reduced by GST amount, total charge $150).
Also, available will be a select number of single race entries at $30 including GST and no admin fee will be charged.
Prepared to fill out a paper race registration form (not arduous), and pay by cash, credit card or e-transfer.
These race registrations — season passes and single race entries — are not refundable, transferrable from race to race or from runner to runner. They will not be available for re-sell to other runners.
Swag
Some remaining inventory of (mostly large) series-branded commemorative arm warmers and gloves will be available at a discount. $10 each, no refunds.
Marsquest Eyewear sunglasses will be available for purchase. Regularly priced at $48, plus GST, they will be available at $36 and three for $79.
Royal Victoria Marathon table
See race director Cathy Noel at the Bazan Bay 5K and season finale for discounts on swag from the various races from the Royal Victoria Marathon. Cash or credit card purchase available.
https://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-4-300x300.jpg00Christopher Kelsallhttps://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-4-300x300.jpgChristopher Kelsall2024-04-09 10:46:522024-04-15 13:08:272025 season passes on sale only in-person at Bazan Bay 5K Sunday, April 14
During the 1890s, Oscar Wilde wrote a frivolous comedic play about people putting on a fake persona to avoid social interactions. He titled it, The Importance of Being Earnest. The play is as important to the culture as anything Shakespeare wrote. Three Hollywood movies were titled The Importance of Being Earnest from 1952, 1992 and 2002. Why all the twos? Well, numbers are important, especially bib numbers in running.
The importance of being a bib wearer (this is serious bibness)
During any race, runners (and when we write runners, we mean runners and walkers) need to wear a race bib. In part, the purpose is so to identify the runner in photos or video, to record start and finish times and to record splits in between the start and finish (when in longer races).
For example, if you run a marathon, perhaps the timing company is taking split times at 10K, 21.1K and 32K.
Or a 10K is taking half splits at 5K. Sometimes there is a prim, like at the St. Patrick’s Day 5K in Vancouver. The first person who crosses the one-mile timing mat male or female, who also finishes the race top 10, wins money — a prim! The idea here is to avoid giving someone money who ran the final 3.4K in 20 minutes but ran 4:10 to the one-mile timing mat.
Also, for security, safety, and dispute resolution reasons.
There is a lot of stuff about wearing a bib. So, as you can see, runners do not wear a bib just to show that they are racing.
What about elite bibs?
There is yet another reason that runners need to wear a bib. Let’s say you are super fast. Let’s say that you are super fast and seeded in the top 10 males or top 10 females. Well, identifying who the runners are at the front is important for several reasons:
1. Breaking a record. For example, a provincial, national or world open or age-group or master or junior record. There is a ratification process that follows before a record is certified.
2. Qualifying for provincial, national, or international competition. Governing bodies need to make sure the athlete is the athlete, not an imposter. And just to simply identify them.
3. To help identify who finished ahead in a dead heat.
4. The announcer needs to be able to see the number so as to call out their names to the spectators, volunteers and media who are on site.
Where to wear your bib
Simple: Wear your bib so it is visible from the front. With three or four pins, affix the bib to the front of your shirt over your stomach, or chest.
Do not wear your bib on your back, side, hip, inside a jacket or in any way that it is not visible from the front. Also, if the chip is covered up, the runner will not get a time or could be disqualified.
Some races deem this so important, that they reserve the right to disqualify someone who does not wear the bib properly.
For the Vancouver Island Race Series season pass holders, do not throw your two bibs away. Also, do not wear both bibs at the same time. One bib should last the entire eight races; however, you are given a second one just in case you destroy the first one or something happens to it. For example, you are at a bonfire and marshmallow roast and you were still wearing your bib from the race earlier that day. So, you bend over the fire and were set alight by a rogue flame — don’t do that.
The benefit of having a season pass bib is that you no longer need to line up at each race to pick one up. This saves you time and saves you from arriving as early as you normally would. It saves the race from having to have as many volunteers as they had in the past. This is also good for the environment, with two bibs per person rather than 5 to 8.
If you are worried about being earnest at a race or not, you do not have to socialize. Furrow your brows, look down and angry and grit your teeth. No one will come near you.
Where does a bib come from?
2024 series ambassador Sander Nederveen getting the bib-wearing down exactly right.
Well, the race director or organizing committee member tasked with this job, seeks quotes from bib suppliers. There are many. Once the price, ETA, and quantities are agreed upon, the timing company needs to be informed. Also, marketing comes into play, here. Do we want colours? Sponsor branding for extra visibility? Size, seeded numbers and which type of fibre product? All these things come into play.
The timing company will take your list of runners and their:
Age DOB Gender And name and correlate with bibs.
Will coordinate all the registrants with the series of numbers that you have worked out with the bib company. What if we want personalized bibs? “Susan” or how about a specific number like “420” or a special personal number?
There is shipping. Where to? How much? How fast?
Once all the hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of bibs have arrived and the long lists of runners are included, we need to find a way for each person to get the right bib number associated with the right person. This takes time, then volunteer coordination and events to be publicized to get people to show up (not at the last minute).
So, for the first race of the 2023 and 2024 Vancouver Island Race Series, we had a Friday night social event with beverages, food, draw prizes, and speeches. We had separate volunteer crews for season pass pickup as well as Pioneer 8K pickup.
That was Friday….
Saturday, we had race and season pass pick up at Frontrunners Shelbourne. We had the social at Frontrunners downtown.
So, the numbers, pins, and lists needed to safely go from back east, to the interior of BC, then to the Island and then to Frontrunners downtown. Then the packages needed to get to Frontrunners Shelbourne for the next morning. More volunteers, more sorting and wading through lists.
Then Sunday, all the numbers that are remaining, for Pioneer and season passes go to North Saanich Middle School for final race package pick up. After Pioneer, the remaining season pass bibs go to the next race, to join the next race’s volunteer crew for disbursement. When 541 finishers at Pioneer and then 596 finishers at Cobble Hill all crossed the line as planned — all but a small handful had issues.
Almost all issues were runner-caused.
But all is forgiven. The (Startline) timing company hits the ball out of the park solving the issues related to lost times, incorrect bibs, lost bibs, and incorrect numbers.
So, next time that you pick up a race bib, take care of it (them), do not trade it with a fellow runner, and do not throw it away in case you were not informed that the bib is for the whole season. (sometimes we err and you forgive, thank you).
Have at least three pins, if not four.
And do not panic. We are here to help. But the more results that are correct and without issue, the better off the universe will be.
Happy racing.
To vandalize a famous Wilde quote from the aforementioned play, “I have never met any really wicked person before. I feel rather frightened. I am so afraid he will look just like everyone else not wearing the right race bib.”
https://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-4-300x300.jpg00Christopher Kelsallhttps://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-4-300x300.jpgChristopher Kelsall2024-01-29 16:19:392024-01-29 16:41:23The importance of the bib
We ordered limited numbers, so get them while they last.
https://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-4-300x300.jpg00Christopher Kelsallhttps://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-4-300x300.jpgChristopher Kelsall2023-11-17 21:21:012023-11-17 21:21:04Get your commemorative series-branded arm warmers and polar fleece gloves while you can
The 2024 Vancouver Island Race Series single-race registration is now open. Each race’s early bird fee is $30.00. The price goes up to $35, within 30 days of each respective event.
The series begins Sunday, January 14 with the Pioneer 8K and ends Sunday, April 14 with the Synergy Health Bazan Bay 5K.
There are six other races in Colwood, Sooke, Sydney, Nanaimo, Port Alberni, and the Comox Valley in Courtenay. Race distances include 5K, 8K, 10K, 12K, and the 21.1K half marathon.
https://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-4-300x300.jpg00Christopher Kelsallhttps://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-4-300x300.jpgChristopher Kelsall2023-11-13 15:41:192023-11-13 15:41:21Individual race registration now open for the Vancouver Island Race Series’ 2024 season
Christopher Kelsall gives a basic overview of how the points work in the two teams competitions of the Vancouver Island Race Series.
For a full explanation visit this page: https://www.islandseries.org/series-scoring-and-awards/
https://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-4-300x300.jpg00Christopher Kelsallhttps://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-4-300x300.jpgChristopher Kelsall2023-11-07 23:25:072023-11-07 23:51:10Teams competitions: A high level overview
The Vancouver Island Runners’ Association (VIRA) was seeking a new treasurer during the spring of 2023 to replace Bob Reid. Bob held the position many times, off and on over the 44-year history of the series.
The search came to an end with the election of board members during the VIRA annual general meeting in July 2023. VIRA chose Kathleen Quast of Westcoast Running. The club manages the Westcoast Sooke 10K as part of the Vancouver Island Race Series.
Kathleen comes to the board armed with years of experience working in the non-profit sector in finance and is the co-director of the Westcoast Sooke 10K along with partner Jason Ball.
Kathleen Quast finishing the 2023 Royal Victoria 8K
Bob Reid remains the vice president of VIRA and continues to be involved with the Prairie Inn Harriers 8K, the first event of the Vancouver Island Race Series.
The board would like to thank Bob for his years of service and dedication to the board and his contribution to the role of interim treasurer.
Bob Reid was one of the earliest members to join the Prairie Inn Harriers, a club that started in 1978 and was founded by Bruce Gunner Shaw, Robin Pearson and Alex Marshall. He remains club treasurer, a position he has held for decades.
The race series is a Vancouver Island tradition dating back to the late 1970s.
Founded by John Crouch, president of the Vancouver Island Runners’ Association, the series was patterned after the Lower Mainland Grand Prix Series of five races.
Since its inception, more than 110,000 runners have participated in the series, which has varied between six and 10 races.
Also joining the board is Gary Duncan and Mariah Kelly. Gary is a World Athletics B-certified course measurer and president of the Victoria International Cross Country Association and Prairie Inn Harriers Running Club. Mariah is a partner with The Track Club out of PISE, and is assistant race director of the Royal Victoria Marathon and training manager for the TC10K.
The current board of directors may be viewed here>>
https://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-4-300x300.jpg00Christopher Kelsallhttps://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-4-300x300.jpgChristopher Kelsall2023-11-01 21:44:072023-11-01 21:53:01Vancouver Island Runners’ Association elects treasurer Kathleen Quast, two new board members in Mariah Kelly and Gary Duncan
When registering for the Vancouver Island Race Series season pass you do not have to belong to a team or club, however:
If you do not belong to a club either: join one or if you would rather not, when registering, choose “unattached” as your team. This one extra step is there to remind people who are in a club to indicate so. The team or club competitions are fun and coaches and club admins want to make sure everyone is earning points for their team.
Please remember these are road running races and are open to runners, racewalkers, walkers, and wheelchair athletes only:
No roller blades/inline skates
No strollers
No cycling or other forms of transportation are permitted except for designated official cyclists
No headphones permitted. If you impede a participant, emergency response vehicle or race officials and cannot hear instructions, and are wearing headphones at the time, you are subject to disqualification
https://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/DSC_9874-scaled.jpg17072560Christopher Kelsallhttps://www.islandseries.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-4-300x300.jpgChristopher Kelsall2023-10-06 20:18:342023-10-06 20:31:352024 season pass registration now open