Rob Newell

ELEVATING HER GAME ... Arlene Schieven prepares to defend her Knee Knackering Trail Run title this weekend.

07/12/2001
Good and knackered

By Justin Beddall


Arlene Schieven needs a new pair of shoes.

After winning last year’s gruelling Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run, she was presented with a beautiful West Coast Native-carved trophy and a brand-new pair of Adidas Brahmas running shoes.

Schieven still has the trophy, but the Adidas didn’t last very long.

“I’m on to a new a pair — you tend go through quite a few pairs of shoes,” the Lynn Valley resident said.

Schieven goes through four pairs of the the $120 Adidas trail-running shoes a year, so she could probably do with another pair in her closet. All she has to do is win this weekend’s Knee Knackering North Shore Trail Run.

Ranked as one of the Top 10 toughest races in North America by Running Wild magazine, the 48-kilometre (30 miles) race along the Baden Powell runs from Horseshoe Bay to Deep Cove going up, over and around the three dominant North Shore mountains — Cypress, Grouse and Seymour.

Last year Schieven, the program head of BCIT’s tourism marketing management, won the women’s division with a time of 6:27:21. Remarkably, it was her first time competing in the annual event that attracts ultra-marathoners from across Canada and the States.

“It was a bit of surprise. I didn’t know what to expect. It was a rewarding experience, the fact that I won it was a big thrill,” she said. “The longest I had ever run was four hours. You don’t know what’s going to happen in the last two hours.”

Schieven didn’t enter the race to win the trophy or the shoes, though. She simply wanted to test her mettle. She used to be a competitive bike racer and in 1991 she won the Canada Cup national cycling series.

“I’m used to competing, so it’s nice to have a goal,” she said. “You want to see what you can do.”

Before Schieven moved to North Van two years ago she lived in Whistler for four years. That’s where she first got involved in trail running, mostly because she figured it would be a good way to walk her dog, Sadie, a Siberian Husky. “She loved it,” Schieven said between sips of an iced Starbucks herbal tea.

Schieven learned about the Knee-Knacker from a friend, Mike Medland, who had competed in the race four times. Last year, with the help of Medland, she started training for the race in April.

Schieven lives close to Lynn Creek, so the Baden Powell is literally in her backyard.

“It’s two minutes to the trail and I’m on it,” she said. And this year, she started training in January, running the Baden Powell up to four times per week, sometimes for four-and-half hours (she also mountain bikes twice a week).

Before entering the Knee-Knacker she had competed in a trail-running circuit called the Five Peaks Mountain Running Series where she had managed some good results. “That’s what encouraged me [to compete in the Knee-Knacker].”

Still, nothing could prepare her for a six-hour grind across some of the most rugged terrain the Lower Mainland has to offer. Racers must run through snow and mud and navigate over roots, rocks and other obstacles.

“When you get tired you have to concentrate and that’s what make the race interesting,” she said. “Especially with the elevation gain.”

Wipeouts are also common during the race. “It’s very technical,” she added.

Schieven says she’s more relaxed heading into this year’s race because last year she “didn’t know what to expect.”

But this year there’s the added pressure of defending her women’s title, though she says, “I’m not putting a lot of pressure on myself.”

Schieven will be challenged by Jacquie Trudeau and fellow North Vancouverite Alexandra Watson, both of whom finished right on her heels last year. Along the race course there are several “fueling stations,” but Schieven prefers just the essentials when she’s competing: watered-down Gatorade and a few PowerBar gels (a concentrated liquid-form carbohydrate).

Schieven’s race strategy is to be among the pack leaders heading into the second half of the race, where she’s been training since January. “I’ll be in familiar territory.”

On Sunday she’ll hopefully be lacing up a new pair of Brahmas, her favourite trail-running shoes.

“They have better tread, and they’re usually not white so the dirt will blend in.”