What the runners said...

Thank-you for putting on an exceptional race. The whole family loved the race weekend and everyone is talking about the dirty girls race next year!! We had an incredible experience, loved everything about the race, were thrilled with the course,enjoyed the competitors and were grateful to all of the volunteers. Bravo to you for putting on a world class event- I would recommend this to all international trail runners! Cheers... Laurie

I hope you have been able to get some rest in between the details of wrapping up a wonderful race. Your energy was great and your organization unbelievable...Jeanne

My gitch fits perfectly and they are very comfortable...Thanks again for putting on a great event! I really enjoyed myself and I'm sure everyone there appreciated all the work you put into it...Jim

Hope that you are "recovering" from such a great weekend!! You truly deserve a rest and a great thank you for putting together such a great event!  Thanks again...Adi

The following is an excerpt from an email sent following the race from one runner to another:

You missed a superb run yesterday- Dirty Girls!  You must put that on your calendar for next year, as it will be a not to be missed event!

Firstly- the weather was gorgeous! Only roughly about 70 people, and a lot of spirit! And So many sponsors! Diane is amazing! She had everything down to the very intimate detail! To the point I e-mailed her on Thursday that I would be signing up same day, and she had a goodie bag ready with my name.

However, she did not have the special "gitch " she had a little adorable note saying , that Sorry--no special ones left -please accept these as an alternative,,,, because I signed up late. Other runs- sorry - too bad....yadayadayada!.

After the run- she gave away dirty girl t- shirts and wrapped gift tarts, and pins , and I got a subscription to a trail magazine, ...She gave away lights and belts and ....on and on.... and then there was food. !!!!

Now the trail was a 10 km loop- challenging- some uphills, and steep downhills.... and many stumps sticking up. Friendly aid station stocked at 5k. (and start/end, with full clean washroom!)

I ran the first loop with a slight cramp in my left foot - the same stupid annoying pain I was getting in February, so I took it easy. It disappeared by about 8 k, as usual. First loop ok.... at 15 k, I fell , skinned my left knee, and decided that I better focus more on the ground and less on the scenery. At 22k I fell again! This time I skinned my right knee, got up much faster and began running again. A few moments later I realized that I no longer had my Oakley thumps. ( my running glasses with my music, that I don't even USE on a trail!), so I headed back to the place where I think I lost them..... searched for like 10-15 minutes, and then decided to complete 3 loops and then go back to look...... so I did.... I was mad at myself for being so stupid!! Anyways- I went back in, and searched and FINALLY after 15 minutes or so, found them under some bushes.... What a relief! Was only going to do 3 loops- but once I was at 32k- I figured- it won't hurt to complete the 4th loop...as long as I go slowly! Anyways- all in all 40k,,,,, 5 hrs 16 mins, l glasses found, 2 skinned knees- a full belly, no heartburn - great weather and company.., And a Saved spot on my calendar for next year!  I AM a TRAIL RUNNER!...Debrah

I just wanted to let you know again that I thought you did an AWESOME job organizing this event! I had a wonderful time and plan on doing it again, but I think I will try the 6 hour next time. I found that 12 hours on the
trails is a bit much for me as I am not the best trail runner and am paranoid of tripping and wiping out and breaking something. I only tripped and fell once, but I must have had 8 close calls!

I can only think of one thing that you might do differently next time and that is to have someone set up at a BBQ to cook burgers, veggie burgers, etc for those finishing and needing major protein. I also wanted to add that I felt the course was well marked. I did not have any trouble finding my way around it!  Once again, congratulations on running a great race! Have a super rest of the summer...Teresa

You should be proud of this event, extremely well-organized and a great group of volunteers supporting it.  Looking forward to next year's race!...Paul

First, let me just say, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for a wonderful weekend!! Congrats on a job well done!! I loved the race, the place, the people, the swag. The personal touches were very original, creative and funny. (Next year I would like to sponsor 1 trail marker called the "Chatty Girl's Big Stinky Tree", which was a big, dead tree somewhere between 2.5 and 5 that smelled of moss and fungus. I'm willing to go out and locate it. I'm offering $20. :-)

Seriously, that was a great race. I loved the 2 aid stations, they were well stocked and well staffed. As much as I hated the taste of Heed, it kept me running and that's all that matters. Food and drinks were great, amenities were good, the goodies given out were an excellent proof that you did a great job persuading sponsors of the beauty of this sport. You may not feel like much of a marketer/sales person, but you show genuine passion and dedication and that goes a long way.

Have a good rest now, and keep up the good work. I'm looking forward to coming out next year, too. I would like to register in the 12 hr run next year. Stephan had a great time, too and he'd be into doing 12 hrs on that course, too, I think.

Thanks for the great time! 

Happy trails...Kinga & Stephan

Thanks again for doing such a fantastic job! You are awesome!  I had a great time on my first ultra. It was a great course, great people, great food.  It was a privilege.

You can feel great about the gift you were able to give everyone by putting on such a great race.  Much luck in the future on all of your endeavors. I hope to see you again soon...Sara

Thanks so much for the kind words you posted about us (Cherie & Connie).  It was funny, after the race, when we were talking, Cherie told me that she would come in and check the board to see how I was doing, and then when I would come in I would do the same for her. I am lucky to have her as my sister and friend.

I wanted to thank you, for putting on such a fantastic event. If someone had told me 2 years ago that I would sign up and complete a 24 hour racing event, I would have called them all crazy, and now look at me! Between you and Cherie, you gave me the push and encouragement I needed to complete my last lap. And now, I can tell people with pride, that I have walked 100 kms.

Thanks again for a great and inspiring weekend. I am already looking forward to doing Dirty Girls again next year!

Have a great day!...Connie

Just wanted to congratulate you on a great race! The course was very well marked, the aid stations were stocked with cold drinks and yummy treats, and you couldn't have asked for more with the support of the volunteers. Oh, of course the undies and pin were a perfect touch.

Looking forward to being a Dirty Girl next year! ...Angie

 

 

Tony Power's photos            
Antonio Epifani's photos       
Simon Guthrie's photos

Race Director's Recap

So anyways...I had spent way too much time organizing the inaugural dirty girls run.  Call it obsession or passion, I enjoyed every second of putting together this race from the dirty gitch to ordering the tarts and making off-the-wall tart cards, gitch cards and every other little detail that made this event nothing no runner had ever experienced before.

I've been told not to use double negatives in sentences, but I figure, "hey, what the heck," I'm breaking all the rules anyways.

To make a long story short, it was Thursday, August 9th, Henri and I packed our two vehicles without any room to spare and made the trip from St. Catharines to Mansfield.  Now, we could find the place without any problems, but I hear through the grapevine that some of you found my directions to be lousy. Sorry about that.  Will make them more detailed for next year.

Thursday was consumed with setting up basecamp.  Friday we spent a crazy five hours marking the course.  Ken, the most aussum land owner of Mansfield, thought it took us a bit longer than other RDs to mark similar course routes.  But, if all the post-race testimonials are true, the course rocked as far as flagging.  The only complaint was the one near-intersection on the hill.  Henri marked that part.  All right, we both did.  We think that next year, the addition of arrows and less flags could help prevent the adventure racer lookin' type of runner from missing the turn and proceeding to run the course backwards. Sorry about that (and thanks to the runners who helped turn him around on course).

Let's see. What else?  Well, the heat was relentless but I felt I was personally able to help some runners - and dogs, and cute little kids cheering on their moms - cool off with the hose. On that note, I was touched by the most aussum support crews that showed up to the event.  The McGrath clan was there and provided much needed help with timing and camp cleaning.  Team Gillies had a complete cheering squad on deck for part of their 12 hour race, and they were all cute as buttons!  And then there was Erlinda, Barb, Cheryl, Joanne, Dave's wife..apologies if I've forgotten some of the other faces we see at almost every ultra supporting their runners as they run their little hearts out for 6, 12 or 24 hours; 50k, 50miles or 100 miles.

Oh yes - I visited the 5k aid station after dark and was so impressed by their little setup that I've asked to be placed there next year (???).  Keith (5k aid station night guru) and Henri had Brazillian-type jazz softly playing away, a cool mood lantern light flickering in the night and THEIR TABLE WAS SOOOO NEAT!  In fact I was so motivated by their aid station that I proceeded to clean up the start/finish aid station every time I returned to it.  However, I found that I started to have complete mental lapses after about 10pm at night.  If it wasn't for Tony, Gailanne and Kinga & Stephan (the latter three who had run the 6hr event earlier), I think I would have been cooked!  Of course, my most aussum cuz, Michelle and long-time buddy, Diane H., also rocked on the day shift at the 5k aid station.  And I'm forever grateful to Odino, Ann and all others who pitched in at base camp during the day shift. And BFJ (best friend Jen) - thanks a million to BFJ for pitching in everywhere and anywhere and to the most aussum film crew, Carmen and Jaqui, for shooting and bringing a spare best friend! Thanks too to Mike for returning on Sunday to help take the camp down!  And the Mud Puppies for all the race gear to set the course up in the first place!  Runners rock!

And of course - the awards ceremonies.  All three were pretty goofy.  The video(s) should be up sometime soon if anyone missed these.  I would say that next year, I'd provide separate plaques for top female and male in every race.  As anyone that's worked the finish line knows, TIMING IS STRESSFUL.  I am forever grateful (yes - again) to the most incredible team of Ever-ready Jane, so-cool Duff and doc Jeff for doing timing and the scoreboard updates.  They had some excellent suggestions for next year and one of these is to have one person dedicated only to scoreboard updates. We had some big lags in updates with our system and I thank all runners and crew who dutifully followed up with scoreboard errors. I think this was an important addition to this event. And for the record, I was not on a sugar high or adrenaline rush for any of the ceremonies.  That's just me in performance mode.

Why all the give-aways? Well, I've been working on this event since sometime in mid-2006.  I'm horrible at sponsorship/sales but I can talk endlesslessly (like chatty girl) about the values of ultra running.  I am very, very proud to have had dirty girl gaiters, Sport Suds and Mountain Equipment Co-op come on board in addition to the OUS series sponsors - Nathan, Advil, Trail Runner Magazine, Montrail and Hammergel. I think that values are very important in everything we do, and this includes the partnerships we make.  As those who have been through this site know, I am an ardent supporter of ultra running. I think the sense of community we derive from it is very unique and something to be valued.  I often choke back tears when bearing witness to the effort ultra runners put into a run.  What I caught of the 6 hour finishes, the 12 hour finishes and the 24, all made me so proud to be holding this event.

I didn't have much time to sit quietly and take in each event, as I was too busy "directing."  However, I began to relax through the night and to interact on a one-to-one basis with the 24hour runners.  Karin made me laugh and I still can't believe that she is still smiling in the middle of the night.  I share in her pride of running a distance she has not done in nine years.  Jim from the States was inspiring with his good nature and perseverance at all hours. Canadian Jim was unbelievable with his calmness.  Laurie, well Laurie down right inspires me with her performance abiltiies.  And Charlotte must be the most determined little runner I know!  And then there's Ron - he makes me LAUGH!  Apparently he stopped at 130k because he was quite sick. BUT HE NEVER LOST HIS HUMOUR!  George "Bionic" is inspiring to watch. He just never stops. Every move he makes is strong and almost calculated.  Scott Douglas is unbelievably fast.  He is unassuming and determined as well.  Theresa McGrath - well, never think for a moment that this McGrath, who is relatively new to the ultra scene, is anything but fast herself.  I laughed when she asked for bagels and cream cheese at hours 19 and 21 as we had heard that uber-fast Jim Orr was also onto bagels and cream cheese at this point on course.  Now, of the 24 hour runners who I came to know through the night, I have saved my stories of the "sisters" for the end. Cherie and Connie are sisters, best friends and each others' inspiration.  Cherie is really making strides this year - some great results in many of the races!. And she inspired Connie to run.  Connie power walked this course.  She hit 100k.  I have run 100k. It's not easy. For some laps, the sisters came into the aid station together, others, they ran at their own pace.  I think that the one great mystery of ultra running that most of us have discovered, is that it is a very achievable challenge.  We can all do what we put our minds to.  To those who ran and persevered the 6, 12 or 24 hours in the inaugural dirty girls run, CONGRATULATIONS!  Thanks for coming out, thanks for making the journey from Indiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Missouri, New York State, Italy, Sudbury, Quebec and all over Southern Ontario.  Now tell me your stories, tell me about your gitch, and share your pictures here. (heydiane@dirtyrunnerproductions.com)

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