where to run in Victoria?
where to run in Victoria?
I can't believe all the lovin' Edmonton is getting on this thread. Give your head a shake, people - the whole city is nothing more than the world's largest bush camp.
Calgary's ok at some times of the year, but the winters and the wind in the spring aren't great.
The answer is either Vancouver or Victoria with honourable mention to most of the rest of southern BC.
As for southern Ontario ... hell, that place even makes Edmonton look good.
Victoria runs:
Thetis Lake; Royal Roads Uni,Beacon Hill Park, Goldstream Park, downtown waterfront, UVic, Mt Doug, Sooke Park, Francis King, Mt Work, Camosun College...
All of these have trail networks, many can be linked and all have a variety of terrain and spectacular views.
Oasis,
Collision is spot on. The places he/she listed are meccas. Especially Thetis Lake Park/FreemanKing Park/Goldstream Park/Mount Work/Skafe Mountain/Stewart Mountain -all connected so you can run in new, semi and old Growth temperate rain forest for hours. Lush green mosses...dear, wabbit, bears. Spectacular views, creeks - lakes ....
I must know Collsion...Hmmm?
Dean Park...Broadmead if you want rural/urban mix. You can run everywhere. You can see runners and cyclists all the time on the roads, it's quite safe that way.
Actually the bike lanes take up a fair swath of road, throughout the city. Lochside trail out to beautiful Sidney, Galloping Goose trail is a network of mostly paved trail throughout Great Victoria that take you through downtown, Esquimalt, Saanich, Colwood, Langford and Sooke. It connects to Lochside trail.
Thetis Lake is Epic though, if you want to be close to town. Royal Road is fantastic...Gowland Todd range, but get someone to go with you.
Ten minutes from downtown and you are in a lush forest. Coming to Victoria? I can tell you where to meet running groups if you are interested...
Thanks Dr. E,
Where the best places to do hill workouts? Coming to Victoria in late Feb. The mention of bears has me kind of worried, is there alot of bear sightings in the trails. The elk lake trail I have run before, is it 10k around the lake.
Oasis,
You would never see a bear or cougar around Elk/Beaver Lakes...too many runners and walkers. I think there has been one spotted in like 10 years or something. Even if you did, the black bears are safer to be around than some people's dogs.
Forget I mentioned them.
Elk/Beaver have some slightly different turns however, the marked trails with the 'km' markers (which are not very accurate in placing) is like 9.96 km...close enough.
Thetis has many many secondary and tuitary (sp) trails. The main Thetis Lake is 3km around, the upper and main Thetis lakes together are 5 km around and very hilly, shorter steeper hills.
Depending on the type of hill workout you are thinking of....
2km hill - Observatory Hill (Little Saanich Mountain)
1 mile hill - slightly steeper, Mt Doug Park. Mt. Doug has
plenty of trails - the road is 1 mile up.
300m hill - Flagpole at Beacon Hill.
3km hill??? - Bear Mountain (Jack Nicklaus designed golf course - hence 'Bear'). nice houses to look at.
1 km - Mt Tolmie
Royal Roads and Thetis Lake very hilly terrain.
Mt. Finlayson...straight up and epic view.
All hills are in town or are 10-15 minutes out of town by car.
Show up at main parking lot of Thetis Lake on Saturday at 8:00 (sharp) there are a few groups that leave from there. Visit our club's website at
Really appreciate the info Dr. E,
The 300m hill at Beacon Hill (Flagpole) sounds perfect for the workouts I want to do out there. I will also check out the other ones you mentioned. I am planning on racing at Royal Roads on Feb. 26 (8k), do you know what the race route is like, i.e. hilly, flat.
Thanks again
Ha h aha!
Royal Roads is the tough one out of the 9 series races ...big hill! Rolly...Mostly paved, but some gravel 3 km gravel.
At Beacon Hill at the Flagpole hill, the loop paved used to be a horse track and it is a certifed 1 mile loop exactly...so you can use the hill or the loop for good workouts...See you at Hatley Castle 8km.
So Flagpole hill is paved, is it steep, about what grade (estimate), does it have a flat section at the top and bottom. Thats good news about the race because I am starting hill work the next week.
Flagpole is not really steep no. Degree?? I don't know. If you desire steepness, try Mt Tolmie. Just stop at 300 or 400m...the University track is 900 metres away from Mt Tolmie.
If you are staying north of town at all or north side, consider Observatory Hill, just go to the first gates, which are about 400m...the total hill is 2km. On the other side of the road (West Saanich Road) There is a trail which is great for doing turnover on and a soccer field close by.
Or just go faster paced up Flagpole hill...
Or try King George Terrace in Oak Bay, that'll make you hurt.
Bush camp ??..thats not very nice
>>Edmonton>lovin'<<
My GAWD what an oxymoronic situation.
And there is this really creepy cult thing going on there with John Stanton. The man who bought the Running Room. (it used to be a athete-runner owned store).
Anyway, for you non-Canadians, he has turned it into a national franchising machine.
He puts himself in almost every brochure, newsletter, signage...very creepy man.
The Running Room likes to put on grossly inaccurately measured races at exhorbitant prices.
Apparentlym a good runner guy I know moved from Victoria, the mecca of running to Edmonton (cause he had to) and found himself at an Expo or pre-race dinner or something. He said something slightly negative about John Stanton and a group of old ladies started crying and yellng at him. - He said it was really surreal.
Let's be realistic here, Edmonton is NOT a mecca for running. As I said earlier, it is a nice place train with some good trails and tracks but gets way too cold in the winter.
The other downside to it is that there is no top notch post university groups to train with and also if you are looking for any kind of high quality races than you have to travel out of the province. That can really add up. Meccas for training would be Vancouver, Victoria or Southern Ontario.
HHH,
I mean to say Victoria is the mecca for running in Canada...not Edmonton.
That's why I told the scary story about that evil monster John Stanton.
Plus it is so cold sometimes in Edmonton that peoples lungs freeze and they keel over and die. No one notices the dead runners, because they get covered in the snow. In the spring when the thaw happens, there's all these dead people on the beaulevards, wearing Running Room labeled spandex.
I know what you meant Dr E! And this is very funny...
Dr. E wrote:
Plus it is so cold sometimes in Edmonton that peoples lungs freeze and they keel over and die. No one notices the dead runners, because they get covered in the snow. In the spring when the thaw happens, there's all these dead people on the beaulevards, wearing Running Room labeled spandex.
Barkway - Because it is the only place in Canada I ever ran. The Deer flies tried to carry me away, I was attacked by a grouse, and I never saw a vehicle.
Oasis,
Go to link provided, click on Victoria and find Beacon Hill Park at south end of city. The road named 'Beacon Hill' is indicated to be 388metres on this pedometer. So it is probably very close to 400m. Notice the loop oval there...it is precisely a mile....
On the far west of the city is off Hwy 1A and off of Wishart Road is a green patch, which has rail tracks near it..is where the Royal Roads race is.
Branden Canada without question!
Brandon Manitoba
Thanks Dr. E