Interview with Gary Robbins, Arc’teryx Squamish 50 Co-RD
June 14, 2012 by Bryon Powell · 37 Comments
This August 11th, Gary Robbins and Geoff Langford will host a few hundred runners at the inaugural Arc’teryx Squamish 50 (mile) and its complementary races. Below, we interview co-RD Robbins about how the Squamish 50 grew out of the demise of the STORMY ultras and where he sees the Squamish 50 going.
iRunFar: The story of Squamish’s STORMY ultras has run its course and the races are no more. In the wake of their demise, you’re putting together the Arc’teryx Squamish 50 (mile), which also features a 50-mile relay and half marathon. Can you explain your connection to STORMY as well as to Squamish’s trails?
Gary Robbins: I was a resident of Squamish for three years and the greater Sea To Sky Corridor from Squamish to Whistler and Pemberton for six years. My first ever ultra was the 2004 STORMY 67k and my first ever 100-miler was the 2008 STORMY 100. When I moved to Whistler in 2004 and started trail running for the very first time, I truly cut my teeth on the Squamish trail network and as such it’s held and incredibly special place in my heart ever since.
The view from the start of the Arc’teryx Sqamish 50.
iRF: We’d love to hear about how the new Squamish races came about? What was the inspiration? Did you talk to the STORMY RD?
Robbins: Absolutely. A few years back the original STORMY distance was changed from 67k to 50 miles and I was one of the most adamant local proponents of the idea. Eventually, ownership of the race was handed over to fellow Montrail runner Ryne Melcher and he passed it along to myself late last year. It was well stated in advance of that handover – after STORMY, unfortunately, did not occur in 2011 – that I fully desired to give it a rather abrupt face-lift, to the tune of completely redesigning the course and altering the name. We did stick with the same great community though, and the same race date that it historically occurred on.
To take this a step further, my personal motivations for changing up the race were that the original race was strictly designed around a bike course called The Test Of Metal, which is a Canadian classic. The 67-kilometer distance followed the bike route in its entirety and even the name was born of this as S.T.O.R.M.Y. stood for Squamish Test Of Running Metal Yeah. In the eleven years since this idea was dreamed up, ultrarunning as a whole had changed significantly, but, more importantly, the little town of Squamish, BC has become an absolute Western Canadian trail Mecca. There are few places in North American that can boast the network that Squamish has developed and, as such, I felt there was a true need to finally expose all of this incredible new running terrain in a racing format.
The town of Squamish with start (far right) and finish (dead center).
So far we’ve had nothing but positive exchanges and massive excitement by the route changes. The name change was because we felt this would give immediate notice to people scanning race calendars that something different was happening in the town of Squamish this summer. With about two months until race day, we’ve already surpassed the highest registration numbers STORMY had ever seen.
iRF: Not a year goes by when a quality race doesn’t disappear from the ultra scene and when an RD says enough is enough. Is there any reason that you didn’t simply take over the STORMY races? Any advice for someone who wants to either revive a disappearing race or create one in its place?
Robbins: I slightly answered before, but in terms of reviving or creating a race in its place, I personally feel you have to have a deep understanding of that community, from the local runners to the local business people on out. I don’t think you can create a worthwhile event in an area if you don’t already have an emotional attachment to that specific area and an understanding of how your event may benefit that community best.
The “Powerhouse Plunge” on the Squamish 50 course.
iRF: You and Geoff Langford are the co-race directors of the Squamish 50. Geoff’s been a race director, but this August’s races will be your race directorial debut. How are you feeling about that at the moment? What are the biggest challenges right now? How about going forward?
Robbins: It’s not my official directorial debut as I used to direct another Squamish race called The Squamish Thunder (I know, why all the storm references, right!) That year it was the largest trail race in the entire Sea To Sky corridor and I would like to add to that that NOT A SINGLE runner took a wrong turn. This is one of the main things I feel necessary to believe you’ve hosted a successful trail race, yet also one of the most difficult to achieve.
Since then, I have also grown into course-management roles with a local adventure racing company called the MOMAR (Mind Over Mountain), a trail series known as 5 Peaks (the largest trail series in Canada), and am also working with Red Bull on a Divide and Conquer race for North Vancouver. All in all, I’ll be course managing or race directing six races this year after five last year (four of which I did while I was on crutches).
As you mentioned, Geoff brings over 15 years of race directing to the table while creating and staging some of the most legendary expedition races in Canadian history. We’ve got quite high hopes that we’ll have a successful debut come August.
We’re excited to announce that we’ve brought Arc’teryx on board as our title sponsor. With their help, the Squamish 50 will have a $50 tech tee to the first 200 runners to sign up, a race prime over the first 11 kilometers of our course, and prize money for winners ($300). We’ve already got the likes of Dakota Jones, Ellie Greenwood, Amy Sproston, Jason Loutitt, Chris Downie, and Aaron Heidt all signed up and ready to rock!
Call for Comments
Post your STORMY memories, share your thoughts about the Arc’teryx Squamish 50, or otherwise leave a substantive comment to be eligible for a free race entry! [Holly V was our lucky winner of the Arc'teryx Squamish 50 entry!]
Are you as excited about the Arc’teryx Squamish 50 as these locals?
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Filed under Interviews and Profiles, Races ·
Bryon Powell is the Editor-in-Chief of iRunFar.com, which he founded five years ago. Also the author of Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, he's quickly approaching 10 years as an ultrarunner and 20 years as a trail runner. These days he calls Park City, Utah and its trails home.
All posts by Bryon Powell
Good luck with the race Gary. Great to see you guys take it on. I know of a few Ontario runners planning to make the trip and very jealous of them.
Gary is such a class act! It’s great to have him back both on the trails and now behind the scenes.
Not sure how substantive this is, but as a mid-Atlantic native living in New England who has never been further west in Canada than Toronto, I would love a race entry for 50m in the breath-taking mountains of BC. Sign me up!
Yeah! I love how excited Roxy is! I may have to travel north for this.
man, every pic i’ve ever seen from there looks amazing… i’d LOVE to check that race out… and stay for a bit to see more of the area, too. thanks for the heads up on some of the details! good luck on a smooth event this year!
kristin z
eugene, or
love the dog in the picture :)
Great pup!
had no idea the elites that were committed, that’s fantastic. as i stated on twitter, if i were allowed back in the country of Canada I would be running this for sure (joke). Gary has great shots of this area, need to get up there to do some running asap – #Canada
Can’t wait!!
Looks like an awesome event right here in the Lower Mainland!
When I heard you were RD’ing a race, I knew I had to be there, too much fun to pass up. Never been to Vancouver or Squamish and why not go if there is a race too. Wish Derrick could be there. Looking forward to my first Mountain Ultra. I may be slow, but I will be happy.
Really excited to have another race close to home! It’s be awesome if I snagged an entry :)
It’s always a good sign when the race is RD by a competitive ultra runner like Gary. Plus having ran the terrain up near Squamish a little bit and knowing how beautiful and runnable some of the trails are, this should be a great inaugural race. Should carry on the tradition of Stormy.
Class act guy all the way! The energy of events goes up a notch just from having Gary there. Can’t wait to see how he molds the hills of Squamish into 50 miles of lovely. Sweet!
Man, this place sounds awesome! How is the course? Hilly? Technical? Fast?
Hey Seamus, yeah we’re pretty stoked on the race and the terrain for sure.
The race should have a fairly fast finish time near the front, like 7hr range, but mainly based around the first 6miles of the race being near flat singletrack running.
We have two large climbs and a total of nearly 10,000 feet of climbing, which is really in just 44miles after the flat entry.
We definitely have some nice technical sections thrown in as that’s what BC trail running is all about!
Hope to see you out,
GR
I saw Gary running the West Coast Trail while I was hiking it and I realize (looking back) that he inspired me to get into trail running. Moved to Australia shortly afterwards but I will be back in BC when this race occurs and may have to make it my first Canadian Trail Race.
Thanks for the post!
I remember everything about that exchange Clint. It would be great to see you out for the race!!
GR
This will be a great race!! Great people putting it on, and beautiful terrain. I wish I weren’t tapering for another race in early August, but I’m really looking forward to volunteering.
I’ve been looking for a race to step up to my first Ultra, and this sounds like it fits the bill! I’ve done some running and biking in the Whistler area and loved it. Another East Coaster here who would LOVE to be there!
Please take my name out of this contest, just realized I cannot be there. Damn!
Sorry to hear but maybe we’ll see you in 2013!
GR
The photos of the area are amazing! So cool about the elites committed and can’t wait to hear how it goes! Maybe I can get up there next year… :)
aw, I love how Roxy is all in on the excitement! I am excited about this new race even though I’m not in shape for 50 miles right now… would love to do the 21km distance.
Sadly I’m doing a trail marathon, the Aspen Backcountry Marathon the end of August, and can’t do this, otherwise I would mention how cool that plank boardwalk looks in the “Powerhouse Plunge” pic above – freaking amazing.
Hey Charles, not an exaggeration when I say there is so much comparable wood work to that picture in this race that us locals sometimes forget just how amazing those features really look.
GR
Amazing to see that this race has been brought back life, and a new life at that, registering last year for the barefoot boogie and not making it to the race.Stumbled home on a long training run with a torn hamstring muscle, I have been keen to get back into some serious training, this race Aug 5th makes me want to do exactly that. Great article and looking forward to the race.
never been to squamish, but it looks like a LOT of fun!! I would love to run this race!! ready, set, go!
It’s great that Canada gets on the map for some big ultra races. People will be pumped with the awesome terrain and fantastic Canadian hospitality! Not to mention the addition of the premier apparrel manufacturer, Arc’terx ( also Canadian). Unbeatable combo!
Can’t wait to run this amazing course. Starting out near the water will definitely add to the energy.
My memories of Stormy… well, seeing as I hadn’t heard of it until seeing Gary’s tweets about Squamish 50 I don’t have many. BUT! I have some memories with the big GR– watching him finish Mountain Masochist behind another GR… winning a headlamp from Roxy… randomly meeting his gal Linda post-run at a buffalo restaurant… hanging with the two of them over stellar Thai food…
Anyway, I’d like a few more good memories to add to the mix, and I’ve been considering running the 21k, so please put my name in the hat.
We’d love to see ya out for it Chris!
This race looks awesome! I was in the process of registering and found out it was full! Hopefully next year!
Hey Erin, we have been able to extend our trail permits to allow for more runners. The only thing we are currently ‘sold out’ on is our tech shirt that was only available to our first 200 runners. We’re looking to do branded shoe bags for those over and above 200.
Hope to see you out!
GR
The Arc’teryx Squamish 50 looks like a great race. Thanks for the chance to win an entry.
This will be a great, emphasis on great, first year run!
Hi All, I just wanted to take a quick second to say thanks for all of the incredibly kind and positive comments. I am very excited about this event and dedicated towards ensuring it becomes an undeniable stop on our ultra scene.
If anyone ever has any questions please don’t hesitate to let us know via our race page contact form.
Congrats to Holly Vipond on the FREE ENTRY!
GR