Clark Fork Adventure Challenge benefits hospital
THE RUNNERS take off from the starting line of the Clark Fork Adventure Challenge. (John Dowd/ Clark Fork Valley Press)
ANDREW LEICHTNAM Comming in as the first kayaker to finish the boat portion of the challange for the long heat. (John Dowd/ Clark Fork Valley Press)
DAWN LEV taking off on her mountain bike for the long heat bike portion. (John Dowd/ Clark Fork Valley Press)
Last Sunday a group of athletes gathered at the starting line for the annual Clark Fork Adventure Challenge.
Every year, for the last four years, the Hospital Foundation has held a triathlon race for Sanders County to raise money for the Clark Fork Valley Hospital.
The foundation has raised more than $350,000 for the Hospital over the last 15 years. Last year they donated $25,000 to be used for a new operating table. This year their goal is to raise money for new ultrasound equipment for the anesthesia department.
The race itself took place in the Plains valley and had two heats: a short race and a regular race. The short was comprised of three events: running, mountain biking and kayaking.
Competitors could participate in teams of up to three, or alone doing all three events on by themselves. They started in the fairgrounds, next to the agriculture building and ran five miles to Rocky Point.
There, the next competitor on their team hopped into a kayak. The boaters would float down the river back to the fairgrounds beach. There a team member would hop onto a mountain bike and pedal a 10-mile trail, finishing where they started at the fairgrounds.
The regular race began in the same place, however, the run would take the competitors eight miles to Paradise. There they would either trade off, or themselves, hop into a kayak and paddle back down to the fairgrounds beach.
There the figurative baton was handed off to the next competitor participating in the mountain biking portion. This competitor would bike 15 miles, and again, as with the short race, would return to the fairgrounds.
The entry fee for participants in the short race was $65 for an individual, or $130 for a team to compete. For the long race it was $75 and $150 for a team.
This year there were 39 people who competed, nearly doubling last year’s 19 participants. The first year the foundation held the race, they only pulled in 12 people.
Foundation Director and Senior Hospital Manager Barry Fowler talked about how good this kind of race was in a community such as Sanders County.
“People love this race,” Fowler said.
He was thankful that because of the help of their sponsors, that the race has always made a profit.