All posts tagged with: Abbotsford

It’s time for the Fraser Valley to wake up and embrace the LGBT community! Organized by the Fraser Valley Youth Society, the inaugural Fraser Valley Pride Parade will take place on Saturday, May 25, 2013, marching through the streets of downtown Abbotsford.

Friends, family, allies, and members of the LGBT community are welcome to attend the Saturday afternoon parade. The organizers are quick to point out that this is not an official parade with street closures, so the parade will take place on the sidewalks, at least for this year. Parade participants are encouraged to dress appropriately for the youth-led pride initiative and to bring rainbow flags to show their support.

The parade will start at the Matsqui Recreation Centre (3106 Clearbrook Road), at 3:00pm on Saturday, travel south on Clearbrook Road, then turn east on South Fraser Way, ending at Civic Plaza (32315 South Fraser Way).

Dubbed The Bible Belt, the Fraser Valley, located one hour east of Vancouver, BC, has a poor reputation in the region for not being gay-friendly. Members of the LGBT community, both youth and adults, who live in the Fraser Valley claim they do not feel safe or are not welcome based on their sexual orientation, and want to make a stand for equality. PFLAG will be participating in the parade.

In the recent BC provincial election, Todd Hauptman, campaign manager for BC Liberal MLA for Langley, Mary Polak, made headlines across the province as he resigned his position with the campaign just one week prior to the election over differences related to LGBT rights and issues To date, no members of the BC Liberal or BC NDP party have come forward confirming their attendance to the Fraser Valley Pride events.

The youth-led group has hosted a walk for the past five years, and this year has expanded the event to draw greater awareness and attention to the LGBT community.

Following the pride parade there will be speeches from members of the community. To wrap up the days events there will be a screening of She’s A Boy at the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium, hosted by the Fraser Valley Youth Society.

Mother Nature is calling for overcast and light rain this weekend; ideal weather conditions for the 6^th annual Abbotsford Run for Water marathon, being held on Sunday, May 25, 2013.

The Boston-qualifying marathon is one of BC’s flattest courses, making it fast and exciting. The full loop course starts and finishes at Mill Lake Park. Marathoners will run through downtown Abbotsford and out into the agricultural lands of the Sumas Prairie. It’s a very relaxing and peaceful marathon course where participants can enjoy the scenery and enjoy the challenge of long distance running.

The route has been designed to give runners minimal traffic interruption along the course, keeping safety top-of-mind. The course includes water and aid stations, with nutrition provided by PowerBar.

The marathon starts at 7:00am for all runners and will be open for six hours. The course will close at 1:00pm. There will be 4:00, 4:30, 5:00, and 5:15 pace bunnies.

Race package pick-up is on Friday, May 24 from 2:00-8:00pm, and Saturday, May 25 from 9:00am – 4:00pm, at the Envision Athletics Centre at the University of the Fraser Valley (1396 McKenzie Road in Abbotsford).

The race will be timed using MyLaps bib tags. The timing chip is located on the back of the race bib, which must be securely fastened to the front of each participants shirt. Participants will also receive an official race shirt and coupons with their race package.

There will also be half marathon and 10km races also held on Sunday, and a ultra-marathon on Saturday. Late registrations are being offered at package pick-up.

Casual Italian family dining is at its best at Paliotti’s Italian Restaurant. The large restaurant serves up traditional Italian faire including pasta’s, pizza and seafood dishes.

The garden salad was fantastic. There was a great mix of greens and a great balsamic vinaigrette. The meal also included fresh bread with oil and balsamic vinegar.

Pasta options include both traditional white and whole-wheat pasta, along with gluten free. While the sauce and pasta were perfectly prepared, the chicken clearly was not fresh – it was very tough and rubbery.

The service was very warm and friendly, although it did take a while to get and settle the bill at the end of the meal.

Paliotti’s has locations in both Abbotsford and Maple Ridge.

The Sandman Suites in Abbotsford is pretty sweet! Imagine staying in a hotel where you have all the comforts of home – in-suite laundry, free wi-fi, kitchen with granite counter tops and dishwasher, private patio and flatscreen tv’s.

Located in the Fraser Valley, the hotel has 136 king guest suites located in the heart of Abbotsford. The spacious and fully contained contemporary decorated suites are comfortable and inviting. Guest rooms have comfortable king size beds and bathrooms have deep soaker tubs – ideal for a romantic getaway.

Rooms are an incredible value with suites starting from $134/night. Where else can you find high quality accommodation at such an affordable price? It’s worth taking a trip out to Abbotsford just to spend the night for the weekend – even if you never even leave the hotel!

Also located in the property is a Denny’s 24 hour restaurant and Moxie’s Classic Grill.

Brian Webb finishes the 2012 Abbotsford Run For Water in 3h 54m 04s

New course records and many personal bests were set this past weekend in Abbotsford as over 4,000 participants took to the streets for the 2^nd annual Run for Water road running races. The highlight races of the weekend were the 55km ultra marathon with 18 participants, on Saturday, May 26, and the 42.2km marathon, with approximately 175 participants, on Sunday, May 27.

Known as the fastest and flattest marathon course in the lower mainland, the course started off with a nice 6km downhill departing the streets of Abbotsford and heading to the Sumas boarder. The next 30km took the runners through the scenic countryside of the Sumas Prairies. The course re-joins the first 6km, all the way up-hill back to the finish line.

The Abbotsford Run For Water feels like a true cross-country race. The long country roads give the sense that you can just open up and run for miles. Best of all, because there were only 175 participants, the course was truly at your own pace and became a personal race; not a race against others.

Water stations were positioned approximately every three kilometers along the course and were well stocked with water, Gatorade and Power Gel nutrition. It was noted by a few participants that there were some aid stations towards the end of the marathon course that were serving what seemed to be lemonade, which confused a lot of people. Most stations had restroom facilities.

The volunteers, course marshals, first aid attendances and officials did a wonderful job at putting on the race and keeping the course free of obstacles so the participants could focus on their goal; to cross the finish line.

The finish line was well organized with volunteers greeting each finisher and awarding them with a finishers medal and plaque. The Run for Water was almost appropriately named because at the end of the course, the water was at the end of the cool-down zone, not following the medals – which confused a number of the finishers.

Marathon finishers received a special plaque

There were also 5km, 10km and half marathon races held on Sunday, May 27. Participants each received a t-shirt and finishers received the coveted finishers medal.

So far this year I have completed six timed road running races with personal bests in 5km, 10km and half marathon. Although I did not set a personal best in the Abbotsford Run for Water, I am exteremly happy with my finish time of 3:54:04; not too many runners complete two marathon races in three weeks. Here are my official race stats:

• Gun Time: 3:54:09
• Chip Time: 3:54:04
• Average Pace: 5:33 / km
• Male 30-39: 11 of 18
• Male Overall: 55 of 113
• Overall: 71 of 175

It’s fast. It’s flat. It’s scenic. It’s for charity. This Sunday, May 27, up to 4,500 marathon runners will take to the roads of the Fraser Valley for the Abbotsford Run for Water marathon.

The Boston qualifying marathon event starts off at 7am in at Mill Lake Park in Abbotsford. The 42.2km (26.6mi) course winds through Abbotsford’s agricultural lands and Sumas Prairie.

Last minute race entries will be accepted at the Abbotsford Running Room until May 25 and the Race Expo, held at the Bakerview Eco Dairy (1356 Sumas Way) on Saturday, May 26 (9am – 4pm). Late registration fees are $100 for the full marathon, and $80 for the half marathon. Race fee includes a technical shirt (long sleeve for marathon / short sleeve for half marathon), finisher medal and post-race snacks and beverages.

On course hydration and nutrition will be provided by PowerBar. Aid stations are located approximately every 3km. There will be marathon pace bunnies for 4:00, 4:15, 4:30, 4:45, and 5:00 hours.

In addition to the Sunday marathon events, there will be an ultra-marathon held on Saturday, May 26. There are 20 registered participants for the 63.3km event, including Canadian adventurer and ultra runner, Ray Zahab. Ray has ran 1,200km across the Atacama Desert, the Death Valley off-road, and across the entire Sahara Desert!

Proceeds from the weekends events and donations collected will go to HOPE International Development Agency, a Canadian not-for-profit organization. The funds will be used to deliver clean drinking water to the world’s poorest in southern Ethiopia.