Good Luck DD Runner's

This Saturday will be the 10th Anniversary (sort of) of the Dirty Duo race .



It all began in 1999 (wow that seems like a long time ago) when 4 runners set out to participate in MFRR (Mike's fun run race). There were 3 runner's doing the 27km run and 2 (including Mike Wardas) running 57km. In 2000, the MFRR grew to a whopping 16 participants and out of that, 3 of them were doing the Ultra. In 2001, the Dirty Duo was born! 10 did the solo (bike/run), 42 did the 25km run, 19 did the 30km bike, and 19 did the 50km ultra. That year they had a total of 90 participants and today there are well over 200.



Mike Wardas gave up his race directing days and sold the race to Heather Macdonald and she has done such a fantastic job. She has her own company called Mountain Madness and through this she puts on a number of trail running clinics and races. The clinics are an amazing and fun way to get familiar with the trails and meet like-minded people. I have been a volunteer now for the last 2 years and I have met a lot of unique and inspiring people from all walks of life. For many of them, it is their first race and its a pleasure leading them towards their goal every Saturday. The picture below is the lovely Heather "H-Mac" Macdonald.





Peter and I volunteered at the North Shore Athletics aid station last year (and we will be this year), which is located at the junction of Twin Bridges and Fisherman's. It's a great spot because we get to see all of the racers, some of them twice. It's especially great for the biker's who have to ride up twin bridges to Lilloet Road. After the they come off the bridge, they climb all the way up Twin Bridges. The first hill is steep and if a rider stopped at our aid station for fuel, they seemed to struggle gaining any sort of momentum to get up the hill. Last year Pete did such an awesome job at grabbing hold of rider's seats and throwing them up the hill.His strategy was to grab on, run and push, while riders peddled as hard as they could and they seemed to fly up that hill with ease. He got a lot of thanks for that effort.

In a lot of longer races, 50 mile-100 mile trail races especially, you see themed aid stations. They are always a blast running into and they always seem to brighten my spirits. Many of the volunteers at these aid stations have been doing them for years. They get their friends out for an all day affair and have a blast. This year Peter and I have decided attempt this ourselves. I had a thought, if I was a runner/biker in a race where the air was still cold and snow was still on the ground, what kind of aid station would I want to run into. A light bulb went off in my head and an idea was created. It will have to remain a secret and any racers out there will have to wait for Saturday to see what it is we came up with. BUT I AM EXCITED!!! I do love themes, especially anything that involves spandex and bright colors. However, I was shut down on that idea and we went with idea #2, sorry guys. The hot pink spandex will have to wait for the Hallow's eve trail race.

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE and I look forward to seeing you all out there. The Mountain Madness crew are going to rock it considering all their training was in the snow. It should be an epic year, and to anyone who complains about the weather, all I have to say to that is...SUCK IT UP BUTTER CUP!