Hoodoo Challenge has record turnout

The 2019 edition of the Sisters Kiwanis Run to the Top Hoodoo Challenge trail race held Saturday, July 27 had the best turnout in the event’s three-year history under nearly perfect conditions.

Course designer Eugene Trahern made adjustments to both the 5K and half marathon (13.1-mile) courses this year. Both courses started in the Hoodoo parking lot and finished at the top of Hoodoo Butte giving the competitors and both races the opportunity to climb the steep road to the top.

The half marathon started in the cool of the morning at 8 a.m. sharp, and included 65 total finishers among the 81 who originally entered, while the 5-kilometer race began an hour later. The half-marathon included mostly dirt roads and passed near Island Lake, Link Lake and Sand Camp Lake. Total elevation gain of the course totaled 1,920 feet.

As it turned out the leader of the 5K, Ryan Singleton, 47, of Sisters, and the leader of the half marathon, Ryan Bak, 37, arrived at the bottom of Hoodoo simultaneously and, though in different categories, raced to the top in the true spirit of competition.

Bak captured the title in the half marathon by just over 10 minutes with a time of 1 hour 31 minutes and 25 seconds, an impressive time on a tough course. Singleton crossed the line as the winner of the 5k in 33:41, a testament to the challenge of the final mile of the race.

Kevin Cave came through as the runner-up in the half marathon with a time of 1:41:33, and Kirby Garlitz finished third overall in 1:45:36.

The top local finishers were brothers Jadon and Asher Bachtold, who finished together in 1:52:28 in seventh and eighth place respectively.

Perhaps the most impressive performance of the day came from Lynette Patterson, 64, who finished first among women with a time of 1:55:49, which was 30 seconds ahead of Patti Mode (1:56:18) and two minutes ahead of Whitney Rich (1:57:50).

As individual winners, Bak and Patterson received season passes to Hoodoo for next season.

Eric Liddell of Sisters took second overall in the 5-kilometer race (39:36) with Eric Davis just a step behind in 39:39 for third.

Colleen Oliver, 33, the first female, reached the summit five seconds later in fourth place overall in 39:44. Heather Beyel (40:04) and Tamara Zelen (41:32) rounded out the top three, finishing fifth and seventh respectively.

After completing the courses runners had to hike their way back down the mountain, but the Sisters Kiwanis club made all the effort worth it with a generous barbecue lunch along with cold drinks down at the Hoodoo lodge.

Matt Kirchoff served as race director and reported that with all the volunteer support from the club, the event came off “flawlessly.”

Proceeds of the race help support services and scholarships offered by the Sisters Kiwanis Club, according to member Suzy Ramsey.