Good morning, Westshore. I muddled my way through a half-marathon earlier this year, and mercifully the course was 90% flat. I am stunned by the confidence it takes to even think about running one of the Finlayson Arm Races this weekend. Route options are 28, 50, 100, and 128 kilometres.
Distance is one thing, but these athletes will take on Mount Finlayson—a vertically challenging hike on its own—plus five peaks afterwards. The 100km runners will do the loop twice, and for some who really love it, there’s an option called The Double which tacks on another 28km route the next day.
Reporter, The Westshore
SPORTS
The Finlayson Arm ultramarathon takes more than muscle. It takes mental grit.
Tanya Seal-Jones crossing the finish line at a Vancouver Island Trail Running Series race. (📸 Matt Cecill, contributed)
Tanya Seal-Jones has never run more than 50 kilometres at a time, but she’s preparing to run twice that this weekend. She’ll set out at 5pm on Friday with 85 other people who have signed up for a 100-km trail run that summits six peaks, twice.
If you’ve ever hiked Mount Finlayson, you’ll know how steep the elevation gain is—if you haven’t, imagine climbing a skyscraper at a slight angle. Quickly. At night. That’s the first peak, and there are five more after it on this race course. But to hit 100km, the ultra-long-distance runners will do the whole thing twice.
They’ll run through the night, in streams, over roots and loose rocks, with headlamps, sucking on electrolyte goo to keep their bodies fuelled. As for their minds, that’s where the real marathon takes place.
“If you’re standing on the start line and know you’re going to finish, that’s not really a challenge, I always say,” said the race director Myke LaBelle.
This race is on the hard end of the ultramarathon trail run spectrum, he admits. The terrain is technical and the elevations are steep. Plus, runners are in the dark for about half of the race. Elite runners will take 16 to 18 hours, and all runners have a maximum of 24 hours to complete the 100km.
Seal-Jones did the 50-km race last year and seems to have found it addictive. She’s in a running club called Badass Chicks Run Trails, where she finds encouragement and camaraderie, but each pounding step in the forest is up to her feet and her mind.
Her mental strategy to push through when her body wants to quit is gratitude. “I remind myself of how lucky I am to be physically and mentally healthy enough to accomplish this,” she told The Westshore. That mindset will help keep negative thoughts at bay when she’s five hours in, and there’s more than halfway yet to go.
That, and food. “It took me a couple of years to realize that if I haven't had enough calorie intake, then I started to get into that negative headspace. So I just eat some snacks, and then I usually feel better.”
While the 86 100-km runners are still huffing through the trail on Saturday, another 204 people will start the 50-km race. It’s the same course, but these runners only do one lap. Then on Sunday, 324 people will run a 28-km route—plus 33 of the Friday runners who, for fun, will also run the “short” race.
PARKS
Langford to turn brown field into regulation-size baseball park
Three players from national champion Langford Lightning U17A team. (📸 Zoë Ducklow)
The city has been eyeing a piece of CRD-owned land for decades that it says will be perfect for a baseball field.
For 30 years, Mayor Stew Young says, Langford residents have been asking for a major league-sized baseball field that teenage teams can play on once they outgrow the smaller local fields, instead of having to leave the Westshore for practice and games. Langford’s fields now are too small for teenage players, who easily knock balls out of the park on the regular.
The 13-acre property at 2955 Sooke Lake Rd. has space to fit three baseball diamonds each with a 122-metre infield, which is large enough for the strongest hitters, plus a splash park and playground. At least that’s the proposal the city has put forward; the councillors present said they want public input on this and other parks at this Saturday’s parks and recreation open house at Eagle Ridge Community Centre.
The CRD’s Regional Water Supply Commission had been using the land as a gravel source and for construction fill, but it has been unused for five years. Langford paid $5 million for the land, and estimates a $7.8-million budget to build out the park. The parks department has already applied for a $6-million federal grant towards construction. The CRD will use the funds from the sale to build a new watershed field office, according to commission chair and Langford Coun. Lillian Szpak.
Among the invited guests at Wednesday’s press conference were three players from the Langford Lightning U17A girls fastball team that just won national gold. The three players spoke to the impact baseball has had on their lives, and expressed excitement at the full-sized field on their home turf.
Around the 'Shore
🚨 Police are asking for help to find man suspected of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in View Royal Park in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The suspect is described as a Caucasian male in his early 20s, approximately 6’ with a slim beard, possible dirty blonde hair. He was carrying a blue Gatorade bottle, wearing a blue zip up hoody, dark sweat pants, and white shoes. Anyone with information is asked to call the Westshore RCMP’s non-emergency line at 250-474-2264.
📕 Medicine Wheel Publishing opens a bookstore in Langford after six years of publishing Indigenous authors. “Stories are wealth,” owner Teddy Anderson said. His business started with a focus on children’s books, and with the opening of the bookstore he plans to expand the collection to include stories for all ages. The store fully opens Sept. 12. [CTV]
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TOGETHER WITH ELIZA AT ROYAL BAY
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Community Events
⚾️ Langford Parks is hosting an open house on Sept. 10to share recreational opportunities and gather feedback from locals about what recreational amenities to prioritize over the next five years. Sports and recreation organizations will be there, as will the whole parks and rec staff. Eagle Ridge Community Centre, 1089 Langford Parkway, 10am-2pm.
🖼 In Sight festival at Fort Rodd Hill: Colwood Arts and Culture is hosting a weekend festivalof arts, music, and dance at the natural historic centre. Watch painters create "en plein air" and take in the inspiring setting.
**📌 The Sooke Lions will host a town hall to talk their proposal for the John Phillips Memorial Park.**The multi-purpose building with a parking lot the Lions have suggested has been controversial. Sept. 25 at the Sooke Community Hall, 11am-3pm.
What’s Offshore?
Still nothing!
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Westshore Snaps
(📸 Richard Steward)
There goes Mystic Beach being mystical again. — Richard Steward, View Royal
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