The Gully Run

The Gully Run is a classic Broadway Run Club 21-miler which incorporates some of Vancouver's finest hills.

The Gully Run is a classic Broadway Run Club 21-miler which incorporates some of the finest hills the west side of Vancouver has to offer. The run dates back to the spring of 2007 when BRC Legend, Rich Widdifield, requested a route with some hills to help us prepare for Boston. Rich had recently picked up his first Blackberry but had neither mastered typing with his thumbs nor realized just how smart his new smart phone was when it came to editing his numerous typos*, so his request came through as “let’s do a really gully route.”

There are a number of great hills within range of the running Running Room on Broadway and when we took the marathon clinic there, we hit them all, usually one at a time for 6-12 repeats each, often in the dark and sometimes in driving rain. I like running hills and took great pride in hitting those repeats with consistency, but at some point running up the same hill over and over got really tedious so I started looking for an excuse to hit them all in one run and maybe add a few to create a real epic. All it needed was a few fearless partners to christen it and the Gully Run was born.

Keen observers will note that there are indeed more than nine decent hills on the route and that maybe one or two of the ones included in the list of nine aren’t really that tough. Both are good points and I likely could have dotted the map with worthy hills. The main criteria in the decision to include a hill was familiarity, and that means each of the nine has a story to go with it. Of course, if you want to hear the stories, you’ll just have to join us next time we do the Gully Run.

* for the record, Rich Widdifield is normally a very good proofreader and has since become quite an accomplished thumb-typist.

Turn-by-Turn Directions:
starting at Broadway and Fir – up Fir and cross 16th – RIGHT at Pine – LEFT at Marpole – RIGHT at Angus – RIGHT on N. side of King Ed to Arbutus – LEFT at crosswalk to S. side of King Ed – LEFT up King Ed – RIGHT at Angus – RIGHT at Nanton – turn around at Arbutus and up Nanton – RIGHT at Marguerite – RIGHT at 29th – turn around at Maple and up 29th – RIGHT at Alexandra – RIGHT on Connaught – RIGHT on 33rd – cross Arbutus and up 33rd – turn around at Larch mailbox – RIGHT at Arbutus – LEFT at 37th – LEFT at Ontario – LEFT at 33rd – LEFT at fork and up hill to top of Queen E Park – from entrance of conservatory, run COUNTERCLOCKWISE around dome about 180 degrees and look for a slightly hidden path with stairs down to the right – LEFT on larger path down to 33rd – RIGHT at 33rd – RIGHT at Heather – LEFT at 16th – RIGHT onto Wolfe-15th-Marpole curve to 16th and Granville – continue west on 16th – LEFT at Dunbar – RIGHT at 41st – RIGHT at Camosun – LEFT at 29th which hairpins right to become Imperial – LEFT at 16th – RIGHT at Blanca – RIGHT at 8th – at the bottom of hill continue straight over grassy area to rejoin 8th – LEFT at Yew – RIGHT at 7th – RIGHT at Fir – up short hill to Broadway

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