Scope
Private chain or public event?
Small and private
Working recommendation: six to ten people complete every leg. A larger room gathers only at supper. A team has now formed, so this is the decision closest to being made.
BC + AI / Life Sciences / Working concept
Unlisted working brief · no RSVP
The VancouverMacnab
Snow to salt water, then supper.
A proposed one-day route from Cypress to the Downtown Eastside. Seven legs, one small working group, and a shared table at the end. Nothing here is confirmed.
- Format
- Working concept
- Route
- Seven legs
- Window
- Spring 2027 proposed
- Decisions
- 1 of 3 made
The route
One descent. Six handoffs.
The working route follows one line from the North Shore to the water, then into the city. It was redrawn in September 2026 so the day ends in the neighbourhood the money is meant to serve rather than at a comfortable beach. Every handoff adds an operator, a safety decision, and a reason to keep the group small.
Run one
The descent
Ski
Cypress summit to base
Snow fixes the season. The final route and operating window still need mountain review.
Cycle
No SCypress base to Ambleside Beach
The road leg carries the group from 826 metres to sea level. It is the only leg that breaks the S joke.
Sail
Ambleside Park to Stanley Park
The crossing needs a vessel, crew, route plan, weather rule, and a confirmed handoff point.
Swim
Off the boat to the Stanley Park shore
The shortest leg carries the largest safety question. Cold-water expertise and insurance decide its shape.
Run two
The city
Skate
West Hastings
Added September 2026. The city legs turn a coastal challenge into a route through the neighbourhood the money is meant to serve.
Scooter
East Hastings
Road controls, a stop rule, and the beneficiary relationship all have to be settled before this leg can be described in public.
Supper
Ashore to one shared table
A brewery table is proposed and unconfirmed. The challenge stays small. The table is where a larger group could gather.
What survives the retelling
The whole day is one line.
Ski. Cycle. Sail. Swim. Skate. Scooter. Supper.
The idea is legible because the route is physical. Mountain, road, water, shore, street, table. The format stays memorable only if the logistics stay honest.
Boundary
This is a decision page, not an event listing or a fundraising campaign.
Decision ledger
Three answers unblock the rest.
Each recommendation is on the table. None is a commitment. The program stays unowned and unscheduled until a human says yes beside all three.
Open
Funds
Who receives donations?
Direct to the beneficiary
The beneficiary has said yes. What is still missing is the written agreement covering how they are named and described, and how money reaches them. Working recommendation stays: route donations through their own giving system so neither BC + AI nor Simon ever holds the funds.
Date
Which spring weekend?
Unresolved: Saturday or Sunday
Two answers are now on the table. This brief proposed Saturday April 10 with April 3 as fallback. The September 8 slide showed five Sundays: March 14, 21, 28, April 4 and April 11. Nothing is confirmed and the weekend has to be picked before anything else can be booked.
Critical path
The next move is still at the top.
Booking anything now would turn uncertainty into expense. Owner, beneficiary, and date come first.
- Simon
A team formed at the fourth supper
Verbal interest became a named group, the route was redesigned to run through the Downtown Eastside, and a first-year fundraising number was said out loud. No delivery owner was named.
- Simon + Kris
Name the delivery owner and pick the weekend
These are the two answers the team did not produce. Every remaining booking, permit, and insurance question waits on them.
- Simon + Kris
Field trip, then the agreement in writing
The beneficiary has said yes. The visit still has no date, and the written agreement covering naming, language, and the giving path has not been drafted. Both come before anything is promoted.
- Delivery owner
Route, marine, venue, and safety checks
The mountain, road, sail, swim, two city legs, and supper each need an accountable operator and a stop condition.
- Delivery owner
Insurance answer and go or no-go
If the water legs cannot be covered safely, the day changes shape here, not at the shoreline.
- Proposed
Snow to salt water, then supper
A working window, not an announcement. The weekend is not settled.
Release gates
Nothing promoted until these are real.
- 01
Delivery owner
One accountable person can make the operational calls.
- 02
Beneficiary agreement in writing
They have said yes. The written piece still has to cover how they are named, how the work is described, and how money reaches them.
- 03
Safety and liability
The route, cold water, marine handoffs, insurance, and stop rules are written down.
- 04
Exact-copy review
Simon, Kris, and the beneficiary review the words and visuals meant for release.
Guardrails
The field trip happens first.
See the work before building a challenge around it. The beneficiary conversation follows the visit, and public language follows consent.
This order slipped. The ask happened in the room in September 2026, before the visit had a date, and the answer was yes. The correction is not to pretend otherwise, it is to make the visit and the written agreement happen before the day is promoted, so the relationship is real rather than retrofitted around a fundraiser.
Relationship
No one-day stunt gets to stand in for long-term support.
Safety
No promotion before cold-water, marine, road, and insurance review.
Consent
No beneficiary name, quote, attendee detail, or room story without permission.
Still open
Questions ranked by what they block.
The first answer creates an owner. The next answers create a program.
| Question | Who answers | What it blocks |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns delivery? | Simon | Every downstream decision |
| Saturday or Sunday, and which weekend? | Simon + team | Venue, mountain, and marine booking |
| Which organization could receive the funds, and do they consent in writing? | Simon + beneficiary | Purpose, language, and giving path |
| Who carries liability? | Delivery owner | Whether the route can happen |
| Is the fundraising target the working number or an approved goal? | Simon + Kris | What success means, and what can be said in public |
| What route and road controls are required? | Delivery owner | Cycling, marine, and the two city legs |
| What happens in a bad snow year? | Unassigned | The opening leg and the date |
The name
Macnab, settled.
The 1925 novel is John Macnab, by John Buchan. The Field, which codified the later one-day format, calls it the Macnab Challenge. Vancouver Macnab keeps the spelling that carries the reference.
Simon says McNab aloud and transcripts rendered McNabb. Those remain source variants, not the house spelling.
The sharpest question asked of this idea is whether it earns the name at all. Buchan’s original is three poached acts announced to the estate in advance, and its charge comes from the trespass. Nothing on this route is illegal. What carries across is the shape, one day, several disciplines, declared beforehand, refused the option of quietly not finishing. That answer is not settled and the brief should not pretend it is.