Wanderers Display Running Prowess Around the Globe....
Canadian Rockies....Austria....Boston...Virginia Beach!!

Reports & Photos: Canadian Rockies | Austria | Boston | Virginia Beach

CANADIAN ROCKIES: Banff Marathon Relay Race

Report by Phil Roach

On October 15, the Banff Ekiden Relay was held here in the Canadian Rockies. Thought you might like to see some pictures from a race I was in last Saturday (see below). In case you did not know, the Ekiden is a Japanese-style relay. The course was a full marathon distance, split into 5 legs of different lengths. My wife Patti and I were signed up to do 5K and 12.4K respectively. Unfortunately, Patti came down with a flu the day before so we pressed my brother Greg into action. He arrived on Friday night for a weekend visit and got more than he bargained! Greg and I are posing in a couple of shots - he's not a regular runner but performed admirably.

This was the second year I participated in the Ekiden, thoroughly enjoying it again. The race is a fundraiser for the Banff Ski Runners, a competitive amateur xc ski team in Banff. Since there are many club and national team skiers who live and train in the Banff-Calgary corridor, the elite participation in the event was impressive. I think the combined winning time for the relay was around 2:30. My team was about 2 hours behind! I ran the anchor and had to continue running to the gym where the buffet was set up in order not to miss the chow before the kitchen crew called it a day! Seriously, the skiers in the race were so inspirational... very nice young people with an absolute passion for sport and life, no attitude, amazing talent... then there was me. Oh well, I think I have the attitude part - I also flew Wanderer colors for the event.

I had a very hilly course and struggled to a 1:15 finish - disappointing, but I have not exactly been training. One highlight was the number of deer in town. As I came back from the outskirts of Banff into a main residential area, I was confronted with two large, ten-point bucks coming up the middle of the street. I had to stop and skirt around them so as not to spook them. When we passed each other, I continued on to the final nasty hill which crested about 200 meters from the chute. I took a deep breath and surprisingly, look like I'm going more than a walking pace at the finish. The mule deer in the pictures were totally unconcerned by us and grazed as we got them in a few shots on our way back to our van for the drive home.

Event Photos

Greg (left) and Phil Roach

Reports & Photos: Canadian Rockies | Austria | Boston | Virginia Beach

<- go to the last page  |  old news reports (pre 2008) »  |  current news »