Suburban RUSH 2009 Post Event Summary

Everyone has a story

Lisa Hall at the start line

Every racer has a goal. Some racers set out to land on the podium. Almost all would agree just having fun on the trails is the best reward. And still for others, they strive to simply finish the race.

Caryn Leech and friends at the start

For a week leading to the race, 'clouds with showers' hung over the race day forecast. But lucky for all, the showers never fell and it was a perfect day for racing in Port Moody. Newport Village buzzed with anticipation for the start of the 5th annual race. Over 200 racers made it to the start line ready to tackle 30 km of off-road trails. Our national anthem alumni singer, Feona Lim brought her daughter to join in the act in singing Oh Canada before another crowd of spectators and racers. Three, two, one and they are off.....

Top of the run at CP2

The climb spread out the racers as they headed for CP3 near the highpoint of 483 metres into the mountains and above beautiful Buntzen Lake. A thrilling single-track descent was followed by the four km navigation challenge which had racers running in every direction finding markers in the forested lakeside trails.

Fortier chasing Muller to the finish line after CP5

From almost the start there was a good fight for first overall between; Glen Iverson, last year's yellow jersey solo male winner, Charles Fortier (Five year veteran of SR); Stefan Muller, and Dustan Sept of Norco. Stefan crossed the finish line first overall with a time of 2:11:41, with Fortier seconds behind.

Team Cactus Kids near CP3

Then there were teams like the Cactus Kids taking a more relaxed pace pictured here taking some time to enjoy the fantastic mountain views from high up on checkpoint 3.

Thomas Howard, John Crosby and the chicken - our MCs

Lastly, there was Amy. Her story started when her race partner withdrew and she was faced with racing solo. No. 66 was focused on finishing her first adventure race. Unstoppable, Amy persevered for 6 hours and 19 minutes to the finish line at Pioneer Park where she was greeted by her husband. Amy said she had a great time.

Amy and her husband at the finish line

Adventure racing is not supposed to be a walk in the park, we attempt to put a course together that is both a challenge and at the same time gets you home for dinner (or to the pub in time for a pint). Everyone has their own unique story from race day and we hope yours was a memorable one Saturday as well. Feel free to email us and share it: info@suburbanrush.com.

Five year veterans of Suburban RUSH

It’s been an incredible five years doing this race. We sincerely thank all the volunteers, sponsors and racers for making 2009 once again a truly amazing experience. On behalf of Shawn Leclair, Dean Wutke and the entire race crew at Suburban RUSH, thank you.