JOIN THE TEAM
with a donation to our campaign to grant a child with a life threatening
illness or condition a wish. $5 or $10
makes a difference and 100% goes to the Make A Wish Foundation.
Please click on and highlight 2DreamRunners 2012 under support a specific BC Campaign when you to click here make a donation and complete the rest of the donation form. THANK YOU!
While it is
true that individuals can do great things on their own, accomplishing great
things with a team can be much more powerful.
This weekend, July 7th and 8th, we will take on a
huge personal challenge -but we will not be doing it alone. Our second milestone in the 2DreamRunners
2012 campaign to grant a wish for a child with a life threatening illness or
condition is the Sinister 7 Ultra + Relay. The
148km course travels through some of the most rugged, remote and beautiful
terrain in Alberta's stunning Rocky Mountains. Just as the children we are fundraising for need the
support of their families and generous people like you, we will need the
support of our team to cover the distance of Sinister 7.
7 amazing people have joined with us
to form team 180 – DreamRunners. Allow
us to introduce these awesome and brave folks:
Zach Romano: Zach is
a long time runner who, as part of his training for this race decided to train
for and participate in the Vancouver Half Marathon this spring. Zach finished his first Half in an impressive
1 hour and 49 minutes. Zach was
scheduled to carry Leg 2 of the Sinister7 but had to withdraw in order to
support his family. While Zach won’t be
running with us, he’s still a valuable member of our team and we‘ll all carry
his positive energy with us.
Karen will
start our team off with the first leg of the Sinister 7 crossing
the massive debris field of the Frank Slide. Spread over several kilometers,
the slide consists of rocks and boulders as large as houses. After the Slide, Karen
will run through the town of Hillcrest and onto cross country trails to the
base of Hastings Ridge covering 16.5 km and with an elevation gain of over 500
meters.
Karen will hand off to John Thomson. Talk about supporting the team.
John joined our team to bring us home on Leg7 – after all the other legs
had been spoken for. No problem, the Canadian
Death Race runner said, “I’ll run whatever is needed for the team”. Wow, did he mean it! When Zach realized that he couldn’t
participate this year, John stepped in and took Leg 2 as well as Leg 7. John will run Leg 2 Saturday morning beginning
with a grueling climb to the top of Hastings Ridge before descending down the
other side and back to Blairmore to the finish of leg two. Approximately 17 hrs later, John will put his
runners back on and run the 7th and final leg of the race. He’ll begin with a steep, ugly climb up the
base of Wedge Mountain, followed by an incredible single track descent into the
Nez Pierce Creek valley. Overall, John
will run a total distance of 28.8 km with an elevation gain of 1, 343 m. After completing Leg 2, John will hand off to Barry who’ll
carry the DreamRunners banner for Leg 3.
Barry will run across the Continental Divide and through the haunting
remains of the 2003 Lost Creek fire where one feels as though they are on
another planet. After passing the burn Barry will climb back into Blairmore running 35 km with an elevation gain of 1,327 m.
Barry will hand off to Dave Lovekin for the
start of leg 4. Meet
Dave - he works for The Pembina Institute - a non-profit environmental
organization working on Canadian energy issues. He lives in Nelson and
has the pleasure of walking, biking, riding everywhere. Dave lives in a
collective house called the Dandellion Collective - a social cooperative type
of living with people that have shared values on the environment, food and
social living. Dave has been running on and off for a few years and has completed
some fun and challenging races! Dave will run the second longest leg of
this race covering a total distance of 32km with 1,000 m of elevation
gain. Just as the sun sets, Dave will
pass the torch to Richard Simpson for Leg 5.
Richard and Lisa
Simpson are running
legs 5 and 6, respectively, this year. They recently returned from a 10
month trip around (or part-way around) the world and have been slowly easing
back into a regular running schedule. Richard has run legs of the Death
Race in Grande Cache, Alberta and completed his first marathon in 2010. Richard’s
leg 5 tries even the toughest of racers. Running north on one of
the wettest and dirtiest trails in Canada, Richard will make his way in the dark
to the evil climb across Seven Sisters Mountain. Richard will run a steep 22.7 km climbing over
1,000 m before handing off to Lisa. Lisa has very little running
experience, but served as a pinch-runner for an injured friend in the 2009
Death Race...in which she completed her longest run of her life at 19km!
Her bucket list does have a half-marathon on it and she’s quite certain that
her overactive imagination will assist in increasing her pace during her
nighttime leg of the Sinister 7 this year.
Lisa will make her way around the base of Crowsnest Mountain
along trails and numerous drainages just before dawn Sunday morning running 13.8 km on a
run requiring sure footedness with steep descents dominating.
Two more very important people round out our team. While Cassidy
and Jake, our amazing teens will be
supporting the DreamRunners – they’ll also be volunteering to help race
organizers pull off this incredible event.
Jake and Cassidy are working through the night from midnight to 5 am supporting racers and organizers at the McGillivray
Aid Station/Transition Area maintaining facilities, keeping the water flowing and assisting race directors
to make the event run smoothly. As with
any large event, volunteers make the difference and we are proud of Jake and
Cass for giving of their time and effort so generously to help all the racers
have a safe and enjoyable race.
Good Luck to us - and remember, our challenges are small compared to those children facing a life threatening illness or condition. Please join our team and make a donation through our campaign.
