On this beautiful Indian summer day the Calgary Roadrunners hosted the Inaugural Douglas Fir Trail X-C race. Race-director Bob Dumalanede with help from David Irvine-Halliday had laid out a very interesting but demanding course, about 11 to 12 km long. They took advantage of about all the natural obstacles present in this area. The course had not only the obligatory steep hills but also featured mud pools, wet grassland, fallen logs, gopher holes, wet logs, stairs and a nice flat fast finishing straightaway. For what can one ask more?

For those of you who don’t know where the Douglas Fir Trail is, the trail winds up and down the north-facing bluff on the south side of the Bow River in between Edworthy Park and the Shaganappi Golf Course (near Crowchild Trail).

Eighty-one people registered for this event, more than twice the number of the June Nose Hill X-Country race. The word is spreading about how much fun these x-country runs are. Or is it because of the cookies, muffins, bananas, apples, etc. you get for only a $5 entry fee? Again, this time Margaret Carleton made sure there was more than enough for everybody. Thanks Margaret and thanks to Bob and Dave for putting this race together. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to our inaugural winter X-Country run.