Rudy Award Archives - ActiveSteve

Road to my 1st Ever Rudy Award

Greetings all! You’ll never guess what this blog post is about. What’s that? My Rudy Award? Damn, you folks are good at this guessing game. Of course you are right that much of this post will be about my quest for a Rudy Award. But it will also diverge a little bit to fill you in on another race that I recently took part in. You are unlikely to ever see this one crop up at the Olympics anytime soon, but it is still a feat in human endurance and spirit. Yes, I speak of that most impressive athletic endeavour, the Beer Mile! If you’re not sure what that it, please follow the link and read a bit for yourself. It is devilishly simple in concept, but can be hard to execute. And I now speak from experience. Before I delve into that particular report, I’ll get into the meat of my Rudy Award, and just touch casually on each of the events that went into making this award a reality for me in 2011. I didn’t get there completely alone, so there are people to thank for their support as you can imagine. Before I go on, please have a look at the pictures and video I took of the beer mile as well as the awards ceremony. You’ll get a good laugh, and can then read on for the real story.

Race Reports

Mission Accomplished! Twice Iron Through Determination

Greetings friends! Let me get right into this race report. To summarize the events of the Iron-distance race that I just completed, it was the greatest challenge I have taken on when compared to all my races before. Not for the physicality of the race, but for the will needed to complete the event. Indeed, this race had almost nothing to do with the swimming, biking, and running, and everything to do with sheer determination, and the assistance of good friends willing to help me get to the finish line with their own spirits. Yup, it was that kind of a day folks. I’ve said before that you only get out of a race what you put into it, so I had not been expecting the best race ever, given my lack of preparation, but I got way more than I bargained for with this doozy. Please join me on my journey by reading through the remainder of this blog post. I will indeed try not to pontificate too much, but there is much to say. As usual, don’t forget to check out the pictures from the race, then read on for the rest!

Race Reports

Slipping and Sliding 50km to the Finish

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Welcome back to another race report. This was a tough one, and one which required me to try a new skill the night before the event! I’m talking of course about the Gatineau Loppet, a 50km cross-country ski race that I just completed over the weekend in the classic category (as opposed to skate skiing). The real challenge in this year’s race was the crazy weather that we had in the days leading up to the event. In spite of the crazy conditions, I had what I would call a successful race, and was very happy to cross the finish line. The best part of the event was that once I completed it, I was able to say I was now 40% of the way to my 2011 Rudy Award. Yup, event number two is in the bag, and the next 3 events will be in MUCH warmer conditions! Obviously, I wasn’t about to tote a camera around with me on the course, but there are a few pictures from before I started, as well as some thumbnails I grabbed from the ZoomPhoto page. To see all the pictures, check out the folder on flickr. After that, click on back and read the rest of the story.

Race Reports

Winterlude Triathlon: Starting 2nd ‘Tri’ at Rudy Award

Good day friends! Well, I’m starting to feel better about this whole blog post thing now. I’ve almost caught up to my race reports with this posting. As the title implies, I’m going to be talking about the 2011 Winterlude Triathlon in this post. This event is the first official qualifying event I have to do this year in order to get a Rudy Award! Many of you have probably heard me talk about it in the past, as it is something I’ve always planned on doing. So what is it? Well, basically you have to complete 5 events in a calendar year: the Winterlude Tri, the Gatineau Loppet (53k ski race), Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour (360+km in a weekend), a full 42.2km marathon, and an Iron-distance triathlon. For me, it’s never been about the events themselves, but more about the timing of some of the events. After all, I’ve done all those events before, and do long adventure races and multisport events as well. So I know that I have it in me. For pictures of this year’s Winterlude Tri, head over to my flickr page. Afterward, come on back for more stories about it.