By: James Pruitt
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
Hoping to catch the wave that’s changing the way people think about running, the YMCA hosted the first ROAR event at Camp Palmer Sept. 3.
ROAR stands for Rogue Obstacle Adventure Race and the event Saturday presented a 1.5-mile fun run, a 3-mile fun run and a 3-mile course competitive race. Fifty runners turned out for the three heats.
“Obstacle courses are an up and coming thing,” YMCA rep Heather Jones said. “The Y has been trying to find a place to do this for the last three or four years trying to brainstorm of a good area with lots of land that we could put obstacles in and Camp Palmer came to mind.”
Camp officials readily agreed to the idea and helped organize the event, Jones said.
So under blue skies on a sunny start to the Labor Day Weekend, with Camp Palmer as the setting, the runners wound their way through the course. There was plenty of running, but with some twists thrown in.
Runners had to run in a creek, carry a large rock around one bend of the course before tackling a rope wall. The wall proved to be a daunting challenge for some runners.
The next challenge was a post walk before running through the woods and heading for the finish line.
The short course required one lap, while the longer course required two.
Edon teenager Logan Bloir finished first overall in the competitive race with a time of 24 minutes, 14.356 seconds. Tara Gutierrez (4th overall) was top female finisher at 33:01.426.
The event served as a fundraiser for the Y and Camp Palmer, Jones said. While expectations are low (a couple hundred dollars), the goal is for it to become an annual affair and bring in $1,000, she said.
Competitive race finishers
1. 7 Bloir, Logan 00:24:14.356 Run (M)
2. 71 Wermer, Jason 00:29:39.840 Run (M)
3. 55 Mabus, Mark 00:32:33.063 Run (M)
4. 32 Gutierrez, Tara 00:33:01.426 Run (F)
5. 63 Oberlin, Scott 00:33:01.490 Run (M)
6. 8 Borton, Nicole 00:34:20.700 Run (F)
7. 56 Mendez, Heather 00:34:20.763 Run (F)
8. 54 Link, Sandy 00:35:17.490 Run (F)
9. 15 Fowler, Pattie 00:38:22.686 Run (F)
10. 49 Link, Randy 00:39:15.560 Run (M)
11. 2 Beck, Kamie 00:41:55.013 WChair (F)
12. 70 Thiel, Jodi 00:42:34.653 Run (F)
13. 31 Gillespie, Debbie 00:42:34.903 Run (F)
James Pruitt may be reached at
publisher@thevillagereporter.com