It’s been two years since the Broadway Run Club packed their old lime-green singlets and boarded the Langdale ferry for Gibsons to run the Fools Run Half Marathon, but this weekend, Brian Wynhoven, one of the original BRC fools is returning and he’s bringing company. 
Now in its 33rd year, the Fools Run started in 1978 as a bet between a runner and a teacher who bragged that he could run the thirteen miles from Gibsons to Sechelt without training. Since then the run has grown into a gem of a race on the early season race calendar. Following a challenging, net-downhill route from Gibsons through Roberts Creek to Davis Bay, the Fools Run is a tailor-made tune-up race for anyone training for the Boston Marathon — if ony it wasn’t scheduled so soon before Boston! The race has a 9:00 am start time to allow runners from the mainland to take the first ferry over in plenty of time to get to the start, and with an early bird price of $25, the Fools Run is a bargain by big-city half marathon standards.
This is also the second year in a row that the Fools Run is doubling as the BC Half Marathon Championships, so we’re hopeful Brian will come back with some other trinkets from that as well.
Good luck Brian, Dario, Marten, Mike and the other fools heading over to race this weekend (with an extra dose of luck to Mike since he’s planning to run the Diez Vista 50k the day before!)
Also this weekend, the fearless Tim Wiens — all rested up from skipping Chuckanut three weeks ago — is heading south to tackle the Mt. Si 50-miler in Snoqualmie, WA. Go Tim!
UPDATE: Brian ran a 1:21:44 to finish 10th overall and was second in the Masters race behind VFAC‘s ageless wonder, Kevin O’Connor. Dario was probably wearing his new LGRR singlet instead of Tim’s old BRC gold (Tim needs that back, dude, but is too polite to ask) en route to a 9th place finish and tops in his age group in 1:21:31. Honourary BRC member, Mike Palichuk, finished 41st in a very respectable 1:32 less than 24 hours after running a 4:48 at Diez Vista. Part-time race announcer and Steve King fan club president, Johnny Atkinson was 17th in 1:24:09 and fellow monarchist, Marten Sims, was 44th in 1:33:01.
Click here for full 2010 Fools Run results
Down at Mt. Si, Tim ran a 6:53:59 which was good enough for 4th overall in the 50-miler. Team Montrail super stud and local orthotics-peddlar, Ryne Melcher, won the race in a new course record of 5:54:15.