Shelley Hatfield's Staging Area

I love this run so much! I have repeatedly run this race every year for 22 years since the day it started. What a beautiful way to be grateful! The course is lovely the weather is always nice! They have regular and veg chili at the end and lots of other food. Costumes are a must at this event! Great location on Granville Island, head to the market after for coffee, lunch or the bakeries.

Smaller race with great vibe!

I’m new to trail running so I found this hard as hell. The start and finish views were fantastic! Tons of elevation and a challenging course for me anyway. Everyone was so friendly and personable. You got neat swag at pick up. Gels, lotions, jar of jam, Vitamin C mix, gummies, Tshirt and more. You got a draw ticket to check the prize table when you came in. I won a pair of nice shorts. The medals were hand made of wood and the logos were burnt in. Loved the earthy vibe. Amazing and unique food at the finish. They even offered my supporter snacks. They had a Slurpee machine, coffee, baked potato station and really neat food items.

Constructive feedback…
loved the signs on course which LMAO, but I’d like a few course km markers even if every 5k? Amazing course marking and you had 4 courses going at once, impressive! I only got a bit confused 1x nearer to the end. But maybe it was me tired? I just followed 2 other fools wink. The other small suggestion is the shirts but I gave this feedback already. The shirts say Freaky Creeky 50. I didn’t do the 50 so I feel like a poser and won’t wear it. I get there are 4 distances so put all or none. But if I did the 100 or the 50 I’d want that on my shirt. So for what that’s worth. All in all great event! Would do again.

As far as trail races go this one is pretty easy. Great for beginners with no elevation gain just nice rolling hills. There is no time restrictions so newbies….No excuses! I love love love this small race who pays attention to the smallest details. I have run over 20 years and these tiny details make me giddy! She’s a after my own heart, offering a fun event that is very personalized. They are all personable and super friendly and welcome every ability runner. This race offers a big medal, a bonus chocolate medal as that is their theme, and a Seattle brand large chocolate bar to take home. If you found the names of the 3 gnomes on course then you got a bonus swag mug! Finish line buffet includes anything chocolate you can imagine. The cold chocolate milk was refreshing after a humid run. I dressed up in chocolate attire. If you are going to be slow then have fun!

I have done this race over and over in Whistler as well as other locations. In every aspect the races are amazing……..except this year……

I was so disheartened in so many ways this time. I was with a team of 22 and of course we bring our own party and had a great time. Most were new and had no expectation for this event. If you read my reviews I am pretty skeptical and a straight shooter. I have high expectations and have been racing over 20 years.

Okay so let’s recap the day shall we and you can form your own opinions.
We drove up from Vancouver early am to attend the event. Upon arrival the price of parking a vehicle is $30 (on top of the $200 entry fee if you paid it) This is for the cheaper and far out of the way parking (note there was more pricey parking.) Like miles away, no joke. Check in was fast and efficient then off to drop a bag as you need dry clothes to finish right (because your vehicle is nowhere to be found, it would take you about an hour to get back to your group. That is if you could find your vehicle, more on that later. Bag drop is another $10 per person. (I believe parking was 20 before and bags were 5, so they upped it more)

We were there plenty early and got into our assigned corral which we had stickers with our time for 1030. We did not get to start until 1105. Okay so finally get going and there wasn’t really much mud this year as opposed to other years. The sun was out and it was very hot. There were over 30 minute line ups later on in the day to get over one easy ladder from hell obstacle. This is ridiculous!!! Of course we had newbies who wanted to try everything and not want to walk around the crowds. Why should they, they paid big money to do this. This course took our group 6 hours to complete due to the line ups. That is crazy if you aren’t aware. I have run this solo before in about 2.5.

Speaking of sun and heat, there weren’t as many water stations as I felt they should’ve had on this hilly challenging and dusty course. This was a problem for some of my members and you can’t really carry water on you on course. I believe there to be less this year. They have had food, gel stations before but those were also lacking. They used to have electrolytes and gummies at a few stops along the way. We had nothing, but I think one had bananas. I was too desperate grabbing water at that point. Side note of the thousands upon thousands of wasted cups at these events. Lets get with the times and issue everyone a reusable on to tuck in their shorts. Yes it works, I had one with me.

Okay obstacles…..really sucked this year!!! Okay, I really like the Blockness Monster and that was there at least. So the famous monkey bars weren’t there, nor the 20ft drop into water where you would run and jump onto a swinging bar to hit a cowbell. Whatever that one is called…nope! The arctic enema was well a nice place to hang out this year with the heat. Not much ice for shock factor. They did away with having to duck under the bar. Maybe you like that lol. The half pipe seemed to be half sized. All and all I got the feeling they were being sued for some safety reasons. Again, this is just a feeling with all the dumbing down of the event this year. I can’t figure any other reason as why? There were no Legionnaire obstacles at all. There is usually at least one at the finish line. Nope!

Finally coming to the finish you usually head through the electro shock, they had another immediately after that this year. It was a giant cargo net ladder. We waited 45 min to get over that and just stood there not moving. Really? People we damn near getting shocked as they couldn’t move forward to the next line. Okay it wasn’t that bad but really close to it.

Finish line you get your headbands as per usual. I am not a fan of these but people like them I guess. I feel like there should be something else as well. They hand you your t shirt next and have tiny little cups of water for you. But you have to keep moving……I’m thirsty as hell and they usually give you a bottle or 2. So I kept going back and pushing my way through to get more. They gave you a beer ticket, however I am not a beer fan. I just wanted water!!!! There was a food bar handed to you as well which was appreciated, but no other snacks, swag, or anything this year. In the past there were all sorts of goodies, and treats. Of course the pay for cafe is conveniently right there for you to go buy some over priced food and a swag tent to buy over priced gear.

Leaving…….Wow that took over an hour to find the car. There were no signs or directions how to get back to the cars. No one directing and you were left to go find it. We wandered aimlessly as there was no one to ask. My poor newbies were just done and we walked 4-5 km to find the truck. No joke! We actually found someone to drive us around! Not staff, other participants!

All and all I have to say it looks like they dropped down to half budget this year. This is my honest opinion. We still had a good time but not up to their super high standards that have blown me away in the past. I used my volunteer code for the free race which is amazing that they do. They are so good to their volunteers with food, swag etc. (well, at least previous years. I didn’t volunteer this year) I am glad I didn’t pay the money for this event, so all in all it was worth what I paid for it. That’s all I have to say about that. Cheers and happy running Shel

WOW JUST WOW! Orca just keeps bringing it time and time again. Every race just keeps getting better. Their races showcase the nature, diversity, and beauty of areas surrounding their home base of Seattle. I travel from Canada and they are so worth it! I’m telling you this small personable team think of every detail! Clearly they are runners and they get this. I did this run as a quick get away with hubby who isn’t a runner. It was a bit pricey but well worth it. If that’s a concern for you, Orca has got you covered! They start the race a bit later so you can walk on the ferry and a shuttle picks you up. You have no excuse not to do this. This race is small and I can’t for the life of me figure out why? PEOPLE YOU ARE MISSING OUT! This is one of my best races ever and I’ve traveled the world for hundreds of them. This is practically in my back yard.

Ok the view was spectacular the entire course. The scenary kept changing. At one point while chatting with another runner we felt we were in Tuscany and the Mediterranean. The medal is one of my all time favs, the shirt is soooo soft, you start and finish on 2 beaches, ice cream, pizza, candy bonuses at the end, they happily feed your support crew who didn’t pay (never seen that before) I’m sure I’m limited to how much I can say here but can’t say enough. I’m am blown away by the small numbers and would hate to see it disappear. Do yourself and the rest of us a favor and show support to this team so they continue to give us the best races of our lives. Do it next year! I can’t wait for my next one with them, they offer package pricing and payment options to do multiple races. I am doing 4 this year but will do another 4 next. Of course this will be one of them. I hope this helps you.

Loved the entire course it had some challenging moments. Such a beauty in its entirety. A wildly unique medal at the finish line. Get there fast to scoop up the best snacks! A great race to plan to stay the weekend for. Enjoy the weather and the surrounding tourist attractions.