I’m just back in NWT from a trip back home to Newfoundland and Labrador for the month of October.  Besides just always enjoying spending time in the province, I was there to run a fairly new race - the Cape to Cabot.  2009 was just the third year, but for sure it’s going to become a fixture on the Newfoundland road running circuit along with the Tely Ten in July.

This is a 20 km race that goes from Cape Spear, the easternmost point in North America and a National Historic Site (great lighthouse!), to Cabot Tower on Signal Hill high over the enterance to St John’s harbour.  Cabot Tower is also a National Historic Site and gives awesome views of the city of St John’s and the coastline back towards Cape Spear.

So, you have 2 beautiful National Historic Sites, both with wicked scenery and views.  You also get a little tour around St John’s Harbour both on south and north sides.  All wunnerful grand! 

However, you also have not one, not two, not three, but four big hills to deal with - and the last one is a doozy, particularly the first third.  From where you start your uphill on the waterfront it’s exactly a mile to the top of the hill and the finish line - starting this year they now record everyone’s time doing the “Mazda Mile” up Signal Hill in addition to overall time for the course.  A nice addition and you get to see that pretty much everyone else had as tough a time on Signal Hill as you did yourself!

The race is limited to 400 runners for logistical reasons - they bus everyone out to the start at Cape Spear - and this year registration was full by end of August.  They began accepting registrations on 01 August and had a rather sizeable backlist of folk that wanted to enter after they’d gone over the 400 mark.  I can see it getting tougher and tougher to get into the event as it grows in popularity and word spreads of this running gem on the east coast!

For a destination run, for a challenging and awesome course, for a well-organized event, and for a grand time in the fun city of St John’s - I HIGHLY recommend this event for seasoned runners looking for something a little different.  If you do enter it - you MUST train for the hills!  I thought I had, and still struggled up Signal Hill and finished 30 secs over my goal of under 2:00:00.

Hats off to the folk at Athletics NorthEast for coming up with this idea and pulling off a great race!  Visit the C2C website at http://www.capetocabot.com/ - great website too!  I’m already planning Cape to Cabot 2010 and want to accomplish the goal I set this year and just missed…