Harbour City Howler

About the 8th Annual Harbour City Half-Marathon:

The 2010 Harbour City Half Marathon will be held on the Sunday of the long weekend of September, Sunday September 5th. The race is adopting a brand new theme which holds some very interesting history for Nanaimo. The theme [...] is a “PIRATE” theme and all finishers of the race will receive a souvenir coin from the Harbour City Half treasure chest after they cross the finish line.

The new start/finish of the race is in Maffeo Sutton Park which [is] the perfect venue for Canada’s largest PIRATE PARTY!

Finishers will be greeted with after-event refreshments and music!

Our goal as a community is to make the 2010 Harbour City Half Marathon the most successful year yet!

And of course, Tourism Nanaimo and our friends at Tourism Vancouver Island and Destination Nanaimo just knew we had to be a part of the event! Meet Team Tourism:

From Left to Right: Jennifer Ford (DN), Katie Ferland (City of Nanaimo), Liz Williams (City of Nanaimo), Chelsea Barr (DN), Kara Walsh (TVI), Amanda Evoy (TN) Missing: Heather Maycock (TVI) and Jody Young (TVI)

Kara Booth Kara is a casual runner, running Westwood Lake (6km) between 2 and 3 times a week. “I love running but I do it mostly for the social aspect. I have been running on and off my whole life, but have never participated in a major running event. My goal is to have fun, feel strong throughout the run, and hopefully accomplish the 10km in less than 60min.”

Jennifer Ford Jennifer has been a casual runner for many years, and enjoys running the trails and logging roads near her home.  She most often runs solo with her dog Billi, and frequent sightings of black bear ensure her & Billi keep up with a good mix of stop, walk and sprint.  This will be the first time Jennifer participates in an organized race, and she looks forward trying the experience of running with other people!

Heather Maycock In the past, Heather was a frequent runner completing 5 km, 10 km and even a half marathon races. These days, she has tried to diversity her training and now enjoys playing tennis and going to boot-camp. She is still unsure if she will run of walk the Harbour City 10km it will depend on her summer training schedule. Her goal for the Harbour City 10km is to support her fellow tourism colleagues, enjoy the excitement of the race and most of all have fun!

Elizabeth Williams “Rather than join a gym I enter races, it’s my version of a gym membership. The bonus is I have a lot of t-shirts!”  She may not be a fast runner but she always finishes the race.

Chelsea Barr Just back from maternity leave, she is really looking forward to get back into shape. “This is the thing I needed to motivate to get moving again”. While Chelsea enjoys a lot of different sports, she doesn’t have extensive running experience. But she’ll take one for the team.

Katie Ferland Katie took the Learn to Run clinic through the Running Room in 2005 and has enjoyed jogging around Westwood Lake ever since.  Lately she has been pushing herself a little harder, to help build my cardio for her latest adventures in mountaineering.

Jody Young Jody is not an avid runner but keeps active by going to bootcamp and hiking regularly. She has never trained for a 10k race but is always up for a good challenge! By training for the Harbour City 10k Jody looks forward to completing her first 10k race and supporting her Team Tourism team mates by motivating them to reach their individual race goals! Long term Jody hopes that this experience will motivate her to add running to her regular workout schedule.

Amanda Evoy After taking two back to back 10km Running Room clinics in 2008, successfully running in two 10km races and a sprint triathlon Amanda learned to really enjoy running and have fun with it. She has kept up her running routine with 2-3 weekly runs around Westwood Lake and is ready again to put that extra effort in to challenger herself to complete this race. “My goal is always to have fun and do my best.”

So wish Team Tourism all the luck in the upcoming Half-Marathon! If you’re interested in participating in or volunteering for the event you can find out more on the Official Harbour City Half-Marathon Website.