Are You Tough? Can You Endure?
The Inaugural Badger Mountain Challenge
On March 25 and 26, 2011, for the first time in southeast Washington, 500 people in three races that began and ended on Badger Mountain, and traversed nearby ridges, found out that they did love the challenge and were tough enough to endure!
The Badger Mountain Challenge included a 100 mile Endurance
Run starting at 7:00 AM on Friday the 25th, a 50K
Ultramarathon and a 15K Hike and Trail Run
starting at 7:00 and 8:00 AM, respectively, on Saturday the 26th. The
events made for an exciting new addition to Tri-City area races and
southeastern Washington’s first ultramarathon. The Challenge drew
participants ranging in age from 11 to 82, and from as far away as
Colorado, Hawaii, and Christ Church, New Zealand.
Though the course stretched runners with sometimes sandy and
sometimes very rocky terrain, participants made great time. First and
second in the 100 mile race came in at 3:47 Saturday morning, a running
time of 20:47!
The event organizer, Brandon Lott, who has run
nine 100 milers, saw the Challenge as taking advantage of the tremendous
resource of Badger Mountain, his training ground for running
ultramarathons, and which he sees as a perfect location for mounting
such events.
Drawing from the post-race write-ups of participants, Margaretha
Fortmann from Squamish, British Columbia, who raced the 50K, wrote: ". .
.thanks to the Race Director for having the guts to stage such an epic
first event. For a first race, the organizers got many things right...
volunteers who always had water, gels, and lollies on hand, amazing food
at the finish, a great finish-line atmosphere, showers donated by the
local gym down the road, and an after party at a local winery to finish
up the day!"
Terry Sentinella, of Skagit Valley, one of the 100
mile winners, wrote ". . .the first and last 3 miles of the Challenge
were in the Badger Mountain Preserve. . .with some of the most amazing
trail systems. I thought all the trails were going to be this well
groomed. I was waiting for the butler to bring me a glass of fine Badger
Mountain wine. Soon we learned that Brandon’s plan was 1st to spoil us,
2nd to make us HURT, and 3rd to make us HURT some more. . . Still it was
one of my most memorable. . .a tough run but worth every bit of effort.
Brandon’s dream of showing the beauty of his home land will be forever
engraved in our minds."
With more than 150 people coming from out of the area, the Challenge
also proved to be a boon for the local economy, and drew strong support
from local business. Lott commented that the willingness of the business
community to step up with critical advance support allowed us to create
a high quality event. This degree of success for a first event is
unusual and the next event has been scheduled for March, 2012.
Lott presented a check for $6150 to Friends of Badger Mountain,
representing the net proceeds from the event. Lott remarked, ". . .only
because the Friends have been successful in preserving Badger and have
built and maintained three excellent trails were we able to mount such
an event….only with access to the ridges will we have marathon race
events."
Sharon Grant, founder and past president of Friends of Badger Mountain added, "the Badger Mountain Challenge provided a great opportunity for people to push their limits and build the kind of camaraderie that comes from pursuing a challenging goal with like-minded people. I hope local communities see preservation of the ridges for the benefit they are to our local economy -- a world class natural habitat and viewscape, providing a unique opportunity to promote enjoyment and well-being for all."
More information, including a list of sponsors, is available on the Badger Mountain Challenge web site. The mission of the Friends of Badger Mountain includes three main goals: 1) Preservation of our area’s ridges and other special open-space habitat for the benefit of the general public; 2)Stewardship through building and maintaining trails; and 3) Mounting efforts to increase the public’s enjoyment of the ridges.
Brandon Lott
The Badger Mountain Challenge
590-430-4244
Sharon Grant
Friends of Badger Mountain
509-943-8688