Well this year's version of the Barbarian Replicas has come and gone, and I want to thank each and every one of you for helping do your part.

This is the first year I never checked the results to see where our team finished at any leg in the race. The final results will be up on the CTRR web site soon, and you can all get your times and pacing rates. Someone said we were in the mid 40's out of the 65 teams, but I'll find out soon enough. To me the results are not important, the important part is we were participating in a very unique event that encourages an active lifestyle. That's the most important point to me.

Although I had the slowest time ever in 17 years, it did reinforce with me, that you can still be stupid at any age. If you have a few beers the night before, you better suck down some H2O before you lace on your runners the next day. After 34 years of running you'd think I'd be a bit smarter. I'm positive the extra weight I put on this past year had nothing to do with my slow time...yeah right!

Kirsten Mitchell did Leg 2, filling in for the injured Ann. Kirsten was magnificent in her run. Thank goodness there wasn't a breeze blowing, or it would have blown her in the ditch. Ann looked at Kirsten's finishing time and said, "you'll probably want to keep her around for next year." She's right.

Nick Slaunwhite, who has run Leg 8 for us for ages, decided he wanted to run early in the day, so he did Leg 3. I guess standing around the finish line all day doing his technical job, and then running, was starting to get to the Old Fella. Jerome Bruhm (former Replica) was going to run the leg as a "bandit" (with no number or official race status), but some team took pity on the pathetic moans and groans uttered from his lips and gave him a number. Nick and Jerome just had a chat and ran, you got to like that. Then they resumed their role with the finish line crew.

Rocket Ronnie Kaszor wanted to run Smokey before he passed on, so he started eating Vegan and lost a bunch of baby fat. Ron looked way too good finishing Smokey. Ron works with VIA, so he was practicing on Mount Royal in Montreal. (Mount Royal is a breeze compared to Smokey) It was great to see a man realize one of his dreams. The other dreams...you'll have to run them by Nancy first.

The Prince of The Pint, Andrew Currie, just back from working for a month in Ireland did Leg 5. He told me he didn't do any running while he was in the Emerald Isle. Pubbing, pubbing and lots of "the brown soup", were his daily activities. The Bathurst Boy did exceptionally well.

Bruce Murphy has run Leg 6 (Little Smokey) for eons. Tough things come in small packages. Early in Bruce's leg, some young fella was telling Bruce the proper way to run down hill. That's like someone telling me how to drink, because Bruce eats people on a downhill. The first long downhill Bruce said see ya, and "zip", left the kid in his dust. Some people should just bite their tongue. Good job Bruce! Next year Bruce will be back in the van with us, forgoing his technical job for fun and fanatics.

The first of our new recruits from Baddeck, Kaleigh Dunlop, ran Leg 7 like a veteran. She did pass her "old" hockey coach, and decided to give him the Hiking Stick to ease the pain. Nice touch! Kaleigh picked up a rock in her heel, and it wasn't until 10 minutes after she finished the race she mentioned it. We looked at her socks and her white sock was red. What a trooper! The kid is tough. After her Leg was over she started working with the finish line crew. Committed. I love it.

The banker Pat Murray, also a new recruit, ran Leg 8. No one told us he was a ringer. Cripes, I think he might have finished in the top ten for that Leg. Pat will start to give our team a bad name. Other teams might even try and beat us. Just because his daughter was born in Sydney, he felt he had to do a superior performance. I guess you "foreclosed" on a few of the runners that could only look at your ass after you passed them. Great job!

Wily veteran, Robert Proctor, wanted to finish off all the mountains before he got his first pension cheque, so he did the last one in his book, North Mountain. (Leg 9) Normally Robert is soft spoken and not prone to aggressive language. If anyone chatted with him on Sunday, and asked him how it was he said, "it was f*****g horrible. Thank God that's over." After Cathy (Steve's wife) picked both of them up and were heading to the Duck Cove, Robert felt the urge to... "heave", while Steve was eating a sandwich .... After that was over, Steve asked him, "Do you want a piece of gum?" (It is a small car.) Robert can now concentrate on the flatter legs to finish his 17 Leg quest.

Steve Dunn, another new recruit, ran Leg 10 (MacKenzie) for a placemat. Silly, silly man. Steve had run the Blue Nose Marathon the week before in Halifax, and was quite annoyed with his time. Well, he shouldn't be annoyed with his time up MacKenzie. Thank God I was asleep before he got back to the Motel, or we'd still be up celebrating. Thank you Steve.

Rae Harvey ran down French Mountain (Leg 11) at midnight. She was so worried wild animals were lying in wait for her, she ran faster than she planned, so she didn't have to run alone. Rae, to tell you the truth, the people you were running with were much more scary than any beast on French Mountain, but you never heard me say that. You said you didn't even lose a toe nail. What's up with that? A friend of mine Bob Kaufman ran that leg 15 Years ago. Bob's a big guy, he had put on some weight and wanted to run downhill. Bob passed a fish truck on the way down. Two days later he walked like he was 90 and shit his pants. He did lose a few nails. Thank you Rae.

Rufus Sweet ran Leg 12 into Cheticamp. I was snoring with the God's, dreaming of the Leaf's winning the Cup so I have no verified gossip to pass along. He's a pro and you just point him in the direction and he'll take care of the details. Rufus and Trish (I still want to call her Cynthia) were a great addition to our team this year. Helping out at the water stop on Leg 4 without spitting in the cups is a treat. If your team doesn't get back in next year and we do, you're welcome back.

Mark McGrath, ran leg 13, and was the quiet man on the team. In fact I thought he was a mythical runner but according to others, he runs very well. I'm not used to efficiency, it rather scares me. It's rumored you "took a shine" to the Scarecrow at Joe's Scarecrow Restaurant, and you two are now an item...but who will know? The Scarecrow will never tell.

Barry "I'm Just So Frigging Positive" Ashworth arrived with his daughter Janice, from Ottawa on Friday. This was Barry's first year with us, he's an old veteran of this race. In fact one of his teams, Telecom Canada came close to winning back in the late 80's. One of the reasons they didn't win was they recruited a person from Halifax (not me) who greatly exaggerated his running prowess. Barry and his team realized this about two K's into his leg, when the guy threw up. Barry darn near won his leg. Don't tell anyone you ran for us. We have a reputation after all. In fact, our team boasts a bunch of winners on the woman's team. One year, Sheila Poole, and Sue Pirie ran with us and won both their legs. Thanks for the help this weekend Barry. It was great to see daughter Janice win Leg 17 for a League of Their Own.

Shawn McCormack...no...it was his brother Ken McCormack...no... it was Mary Cullen who ran Leg 15. Mary had I.T Band Syndrome happening on her leg so the longer she ran the worse it got, but she looked great, and had a great time. If anyone out there knows her email address, please forward this to her. I've included her picture just in case anyone sees her again. Thank you Mary. Shaw/Ken had Rufus deliver 2-24's of Mooshead Light to Mom's on Friday. You have to understand, I'm a beer whore, so anytime you want to run with is just fine with me. In fact, if you bring beer, open mouth kissing is an option. I hope your run was a good as your beer was. Free beer is so sweet!! Thank you.

The Trainer of the Year at UCCB, Marshall Kaiser (Not KASZOR) decided to lose his racing virginity on Leg 16. He did great. He was quick to thank, O'Henry, McDonald's, Wendy's, Pizza Hut, Harvey's, Sweet Marie, Labbat's, Keith's for getting him "race ready". Marshall was singing the praises of Mooshead Light an hour after his race. Funny how that stuff works.

Home Town Hal Montgomery ran the Glory Leg again for us this year. For an all star hockey player, he's a hell of a runner. Next year, I'm going to make sure you have a new pair of runners, at least 4 weeks before the race and they are properly broken in, BEFORE RACE DAY! (Hal's feet go to sleep, maybe it's his head.) It's great to see someone from Baddeck run down Main Street to the finish line. Hopefully Acadia will get you "race ready" for next year.

The Lovely Ann was a great help in a support role this year. She takes care of the details I forget about, together we're a great team. This was the first time in 17 years she had to sit out because of her leg injury. She'll be back with a vengeance next year.

I'll have to give special thanks to two people, Hal and Rufus. Hal thank you for recruiting Kaleigh and Rae. These ladies are just great people, and will be a huge success at what ever they decide to do in life. It makes me proud to see Baddeck turning out "Great Kids". Rufus, thanks for bringing your guys to our team. They were professionals. They got the job done without any fuss or muss, and are really good people.

Thank you all for making the weather this weekend seem inconsequential to this great event.

If you want to check out some other year's pictures, the Barbarian Replicas have a part of the Gonzo Adventure Club website at Gonzo Archives

Gregor - Kink Replica

PS: If anyone has pictures send them along. I'd like to get a better team picture if someone has one.

References for Pictures:

Team Picture - Back Rows - Greg, Robert, Ann (Alumni), Andrew, Jerome (Alumni), Steve, Barry. Front row - Mark, Rufus, Ron, Marshall, Hal, Kaleigh, Rae, Nick, Bruce, Pat. Missing Kirsten Mitchell and Mary Cullen.

Base Mackenzie base - Greg and Andrew

Banquet 1 - Ken McCormack (didn't run with us) Mary Cullen (Standing), Pat, Trish, Rufus (sitting)

Banquet 2 - Bob, Marshall, Mark, Andrew (in corner)

Banquet Crew Baddeck - Hal, Kaleigh, Rae

Base 2 - Greg and Ann

Friday night- Ann, Jerome Bruhm, Mark Stein, Hal, Robert, Bruce, Marlene Reid, Greg, Ron, Marshall, Nick, Kaleigh, Rae

Water Stops; Hal, Rae, Rufus, Kirsten, Robert, Trish, Ann/Greg

Final 7 - Back Row : Mike Jessome (Halifax), Mike Haynes (Halifax-Ottawa), Peter Hanna (Sydney), Bob Carroll (Sydney), Dave Gabriel (Sydney), Greg MacDonald (Halifax), Sandra Gabriel (Sydney)

Gang;

There was one thank you that I missed in my email. Perry Abriel has been our patron for years. Perry, with Nick and Ron's help, organized the Frost Bite Five Miler (Frozen Foot) in Sackville for many, many winters.

Perry has been a Replica for ages, but had to miss this year's race because he's recovering from major surgery. Perry has retired from running, but is very active with the "technical support" for the race. He's a great emcee, and I remember his line last year as we parked the at the finish line for Leg 7. Apparently Perry was becoming quite pissed that people were not listening to him when it came to "sign in" their runner. "Sign in" is always at the "front" of the finish line van. With a note of frustration in his voice Perry announced, "the sign in for Leg 8 will take place in Sydney. You have to drive to Sydney to sign in your runner for the next Leg." I guess he figured they weren't listening to him for the first 7 Legs, why would this be different. That's our Perry.

Perry made another cash donation to the team this year. It covered beverage expenses at our meeting a week ago last Thursday at Maxwell's, and the beverages we had at the Community Hall in Baddeck, plus a food items on the weekend.

Did I mention Perry is a fantastic golfer, and never, ever says funny things to disrupt your concentration on the golf course?

Thank you Perry.

Greg

PS: Perry is the small, cute guy on the right. (The others are from the left, Jerome Bruhm (inducted into the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame in 2003), Mark "I'm Selling Halifax" Stein)