The VIRA Island Race Series Port Alberni Paper Chase 15k race takes place on March 4th, 2018 at 11am. I can’t believe that we are approaching March already and the series is halfway done. Time is going by way too fast.
This race is 3 days after my birthday, so I hope there will be lots of sweet and awesome post-race treats to complete my “birthday week”. 😉
For those of you traveling from Victoria or farther, you may want to go to Port Alberni the night before so that you will be well-rested for the race. If you are wondering where to stay, the Port Alberni Chamber of Commerce has some suggestions.
The 15k is new this year. Last year, it was a 10k race. Many participants are liking that the 15k distance is back again. However, this is completely different from the Merville 15k that they used to have.
From what I was told, this is an extension of what the 10k was last year. It is a rural route starting from the Cherry Creek Community Centre and running through the trails through the McLean Mill Historic Site.
Runners of all levels are welcome. If you plan to take longer than 2 hours to complete the 15k distance, you can do the early start. 🙂
According to the course map below, there are a lot of turns. Therefore, running the tangents here will be very important.
Since this is an unfamiliar route to me, I always believe that it’s best to start conservatively.
I also used a route planner to try to see if I can get a rough idea of the elevation profile.
Based on the below elevation profile that I’ve been able to create using the above course map, I notice that there are some hill climbs towards the middle of the race.
The rest of the route shows that there will be some slight ups and downs, but nothing too huge. As we can see, the elevation profile is at the bottom of the map below.
Some tips for running this race:
**Please note that the above elevation profile may not be 100% accurate because this tool did not allow me to get as precise as I wanted to when tracing this map. However, this appears to not be as fast as Merville was. Therefore, if you’ve run Merville before, my advice is to not compare your times.
**It also appears like there will be some trail running.
**Port Alberni is a beautiful place and many of us don’t get to go there very often. Therefore, rather than worrying about how fast you go, enjoy the scenery.
**If the above elevation profile is accurate, I would definitely start out conservatively and watch how I take the corners.
**As you approach the hills, keep yourself relaxed and focused on getting to the top of the hill. When it comes to hills, every uphill is followed by a rewarding downhill. Therefore, use the downhills to your advantage.
**Once you are more than 2/3 of the way through the race, you are safe to speed up, because it will be over soon. Towards the end, there should be some flatter sections.
**In order to finish strong, try not to burn yourself out at the start or the middle of the race. Every time that I started too fast, I always paid for it in the second half of the race.
Conclusion:
I believe we should all be excited to run in a new place and try out a new route. I’ve never been to Port Alberni, except for when I drove through it back in 2015 to go to Ucluelet.
Overall, I’m stoked to be running a race that I’ve never done before. Port Alberni is a beautiful place. 🙂
Furthermore, it’s exciting to see how accurate the elevation profile I attempted to create actually is and whether or not this tool is something I can use in the future.
See you all there!