Plains course challenges competitors

A Missoula man was well in the lead in defending his title of the Clark Fork Adventure Challenge on Sunday when one of his tires blew during the mountain bike segment of the race.

Erik Digby was one of seven competitors in the 3rd Annual Clark Fork Adventure Challenge triathlon at Sanders County Fairgrounds.

"That mountain bike portion is tough. It's really the most challenging part," said John Haines, the race director and the person who came up with the idea of the event. The race was sponsored by the Clark Fork Valley Hospital Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps purchase equipment not in the hospital's regular budget.

Digby, formerly of Thompson Falls, had a near eight-minute lead over Scott Richardson of Clark Fork, Idaho, at the start of the bike race and was about halfway through when his back tire blew. He also fell twice and although he wasn't badly injured, it gave Richardson the chance to take the lead. Richardson finished the triathlon in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 59.1 seconds. He did the mountain bike segment in 1:16:49.57 at a pace of 11.3 mph, according to Cory Kaufman of Competitive Timing, whose digital equipment clocked the competitors to one hundredth of a second.

Digby was the 2016 champion in the first annual triathlon, finishing as champion with a time of 3 hours, 23 minutes and 59 seconds. On Sunday, Digby crossed the finish line in second at 3:29.42, about 20 minutes slower than 2016. In third place was Plains resident Andrew Ordelheide, who finished in 3:32.42, nearly 13 minutes faster than two years ago, when he finished third.

"Just about the first three miles of the bike course is uphill, so you're beat by the time you get to the top," said Digby. Competitor Dave Kirkwood of Plains said there's a thousand feet of elevation gain in the mountain bike short course. Haines said the longer course is probably about 1,500 feet. Digby, Ordelheide and Kirkwood were the only ones who competed in the first triathlon.

This year's Adventure Challenge featured two races, the 31-mile triathlon and what organizers called the "tryathlon," a 20-mile race, which included a five-mile run, a five-mile kayak race, and a 10-mile mountain bike ride. The longer race had an eight-mile run, an eight-mile kayak race, and a 15-mile mountain bike ride. Both races started and finished at the fairgrounds. Eleven men and eight women from age 19-64 competed in the two races. A dozen people competed in the short race and seven took on the long course. "Our hope is that the competitors see that the shorter race is a stepping stone to the full race," said Barry Fowler, one of the race organizers and the Clark Fork Valley Hospital Foundation executive director.

Eight locals – one from Paradise, five from Plains and two from Noxon – competed in the races this year. The rest were from outside Sanders County with the farthest coming from Bozeman.

Participants could sign up to compete individually or as a team. Only first place finishers received a trophy. Kirkwood, along with Lisa Sears and Marie Errecart, were members of the only team this year and it was in the short course. Their team, "A Chick A Chick A Dude," finished the race in 2 hours, 56 minutes, and 47 seconds, claiming a team trophy. Sears finished the running portion in 47:06.39. Errecart did the river race in 49:58.30. Kirkwood completed the bike race in 1:19:42.45.

All but one of the competitors used a kayak for the river race. Reuben Stratford of Paradise converted a catamaran sailboat into a pontoon vessel and rowed with his back to the front the entire eight miles from the Paradise Fishing Access to the fairgrounds, moving at an average of 6.20 mph, according to Kaufman. Stratford finished in fifth place with an overall time of 4:16.33.15. His time on the river was 1:17:25.27. Despite his placement, he plans to utilize the pontoon boat for the 2019 challenge.

"The participation was great. We had a lot more than the first time and I think we're going to double it next year," said Haines, who added that he hopes they get some youth involved next year. Fourteen years old was the minimum age to compete. In 2016, just over a dozen people participated. Last year's had to be canceled because of the Sheep Gap Fire and the thick smoke in the vicinity. Haines said the weather was perfect this year. There was talk of holding the event earlier in the year in 2019, but nothing yet has been decided.

First place in the short course was Tony Bontadelli of Polson, finishing at 2:37.30. Bontadelli did the run in 38:29.42, the kayak in 51:58.28 and the bike in 1:07:02.30. First place in the women's class short course was Claire Clemens of Clark Fork, Idaho, finishing at 2:43:14.18. She completed the run in 36:45.95, the kayak race in 50:20.60, and the bike race in 1:16:07.63.

Second place in the women's class went to Carolyn Lisle of Libby, followed by Carmin Sather of Noxon in third. In the men's division, Chris Clemens of Clark Fork took second, followed by Canaan Bontadelli of Bozeman.

Plains resident Mina Ziai nabbed first place in the long course in the women's division, finishing at 5:05:55.97. Ziai completed the run in 1:24:22.07, the kayak in 1:18:50.82, and bike in 2:22:43.08.

Second place was a tie between Kristin Maxwell and Celene Paulsen, both of Plains. They were the last competitors across the finish line, crossing at the same time at 6:20:32.70 and receiving almost as much applause as the first placer.

Fowler said the event was a big success and credits much of the success to the more than a dozen volunteers who helped with the race and with the development of the courses. The Clark Fork Adventure Challenge is one of three fundraisers for the Clark Fork Valley Hospital Foundation each year. Lisa Eberhardt, the hospital's chief nursing officer, said they plan to use the money raised in the triathlon to help pay for a new surgical operating table. Fowler said they were still calculating numbers and didn't know how much they had raised.