Team Wine-der Woman running through the vineyards—C.Helbig
It’s my favourite weekend of the year! It’s filled with belly laughs, outrageous silliness and much wine consumption with great friends. This is our fourth year participating in the Oliver Osoyoos Half Corked Marathon, an annual event that takes place in the vineyards of British Columbia’s beautiful Okanagan Valley. Named the 2017 Canadian Event of the Year at the Canadian Tourism Awards, the “marathon” is an 18 km (11.2 mile) course that winds its way through bucolic countryside with more than a dozen wine tasting and food sampling stops along the way. There are no prizes for speed, only creativity. After being pushed off the podium last year, we were thrilled to reclaim first prize with our WINE-der WOMAN costume.
Team Wine-der Woman poses at Church and State Wines—C.Helbig
As some of you know from previous years, we take costumes very seriously. This year, it started way back in January when my friend Andrea came up with the brilliant idea of a shield that when flipped over doubles as a wine serving tray. WINE-der WOMAN was born. The costume morphed over numerous brainstorming meetings and many bottles of wine, with crafty homemade embellishments and crazy Amazon finds.
It was a sweet victory after last year where we definitely stole the show as Make America Grape Again, but not the judges hearts—possibly not the best choice for an event promoting tourism.
There were many great costumes again this year. My personal favourite, The Malibooze Barbies who updated their costume from several years back to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the event. They deservedly took first prize in the couples division.
Although this isn’t a timed event, there’s still some pressure to get to the finish. It shouldn’t be difficult to do a relatively flat 18 km (11.2 mile) course in the roughly allocated 3.5 hours, right? Well…try stopping for food and drink at a dozen or so wineries—Silver Sage served up a buffet fit for an Italian wedding. It would have been a cinch for Wonder Woman to fly through the course, but for us eight gracefully ageing Wine-der Women it was a challenge, albeit a fun one.
Enjoying the wine at Bartier Bros.—C.Helbig
Amazing food and wine spread at Silver Sage—C.Helbig
Drinking with Sister Chardonnay at Church and State Wines—C.Helbig
We did manage to make it across the finish line in time for the awards presentation (with a few kilometres of help from the shuttle bus). The Oliver Community Centre field was transformed into a giant party with live music, food trucks, and you guessed it, more wine.
Food trucks were a nice addition at this year’s event—C.Helbig
Half Corkers at the finish party—C.Helbig
The team, minus one, with our prize (wine)—C.Helbig
The Wine-der Women are looking a little tuckered on our victory photo (above) and one of us is MIA (probably sampling more wine). The prize—an oversized bottle of Half Corked Blend—will be opened as we start dreaming up next year’s costume.
The Half Corked Marathon is the feature event of the weekend but there’s all kinds of other activities (concerts, pre and post-run dinners, pancake breakfasts), and of course stopping at our favourite wineries to pick up a bottle or two before we head back to Vancouver.
For more information about the event and lottery allocated tickets (in the fall) visit the Oliver Osoyoos Wine Country website. For my previous posts about the event, see Real Housewines of Vancouver, The Walking Red, and Make America Grape Again.
I’ll be back to writing about Argentina for my next post.
Writes of Passage 
Damn we look good… or is it just the camera? Caroline, you have a wonderful way of capturing the moment- thanks!
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I agree, we do look good! I love that picture of you holding your tray high as we “run” through the vineyards. Look at that arm… you could get a job carrying a heavy load of beers at Octoberfest.
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Rendered speechless once again, in part because of triggered uproarious laughter/joy again! Thank you Caroline for capturing our best (or infamous?) moments so exquisitely well; love the lead up to it, the event itself, the women and the wine, the whole espri de corps, so lucky, so fabulous! xo
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And you are too kind with your compliments Trish! This event was such a pleasure to write about, and it was totally fun looking back at all our infamous moments.
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Hahaha this looks like brilliant fun!! Congratulations! And those costumes are fantastic, very impressed with the thought and detail that’s gone into them!
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Thank you! We enjoy planning and making the costumes as much as the actual event!
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That made my afternoon! Great costumes.
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Thanks! That makes me happy.
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Looks like fun, and a challenge! 😉
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Totally fun! Now it’s back to more “serious” runs and hikes.
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haha – that really looks like a lot of fun!!! 😀
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It sure was. Thanks!
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Well congratulations on your well deserved win for a clever and creative and hilarious costume. Sounds like so much fun and certainly looks it in the photos. Food, wine, friends, craziness ~ I love it all. Well done!!
Peta
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Thanks Peta! I’m lucky to be able to enjoy this with such a great group of friends. It has become a tradition.
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Wow! the event looks so colorful and fun. Thanks for sharing such an amazing experience.
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I’m glad you enjoyed reading about it. Seeing all the creative costumes in the vineyards is very fun.
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Caroline – I loved reading this! What a great time we had!!! Making the costumes was such a team effort! Along with everyone’s input – your skirt design and sewing was outstanding! I love this group of women!!! From the planning meetings, to the road trip up, to the actual “race” day, to the party after. Perfect. Thank you for the wonderful article and photos – what great memories!
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Thanks Monika. I came down with a stomach bug (going around my mom’s place) and this post was the only thing I managed to get done today. What a laugh we had….so easy to write about!
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My first reaction was that this looks like one of the most fun events I can imagine! Running, friends, food, wine, flat ground – what’s not to love? My second thought was of how incredibly impressive the costumes are! (They are all fantastic, but of course I thought you should win.) Where on earth did you find those outstanding tights? The Malibooze Barbies almost made me laugh out loud, and I have to say I for one would have voted you to the top of the podium for Make America Grape Again!
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Thanks Lexi. It is one of the most fun events I can imagine. The tights are an Amazon purchase. I could probably find them if you want to make a statement on your next run. I wish I could have shown the amount of detail that went into the Malibooze Barbies costumes…they even had accessories attached to the inside of the box, and the age 19+ (I guess 21 in your case) is priceless. We’ve learned to stay away from politics at this event, but still glad we dd it.
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What a hoot! Great fun. Theme and costumes are very creative. Congrats.
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Thanks Brian. If laughter is good for us, I got my dose that weekend!
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