In the Wenatchee Valley: Live4Adventure

Community Adventure Race Set for Apple Bowl
By Torin Koos


The Wenatchee Valley’s a buzz about a new race set to take place Saturday evening, May 21st in the Apple Bowl arena and adjacent parks.

If you ever turned the television to ABC’s Wipe Out and wanted to get off the couch to take on an obstacle course with the big balls and water and mayhem, the Live4Adventure organizers had you in mind.

Just like on the small screen, announcers will provide a running commentary of race proceedings from atop the Apple Bowl control tower. Also at the three stages of the relay event, course-side commentators will be out to provide a little color as the teams navigate through the course.

The first part of the three-leg relay tackles a hay-bail and foot high hurdle-adorned bike route. The flag-lined course snakes its way out through the grass fields of Triangle and Pioneer Parks. The cycling stage is hosted by Wenatchee Valley Medical Center who partnered with local biker John Scarfotti to design a course to test ten year olds, offers a something for elite bikers, and above all else is safe. “The seven-to-ten minute ride will give the racers a taste of the madness of cyclo-cross racing,” said local physician and Live4Adventure board member Stuart Freed. “For the experienced racer, this won’t be a significant cycling challenge. For this athlete, the event is about coming out and enjoying a big community event. For a ten year old, though, it might just open their eyes about what you can do on a bike.”

From here, teams hand off to the second racer for the Sport Skills & Games Stage. Combining elements inspired by NBC’s Minute to Win It, racers are told to expect the unexpected. “No one will be able to achieve a high level of expertise at all the venues,” said Dr. Freed.

Stemilt Growers hosts the Sport Games Stage. “At Stemilt, we’re all about promoting community, education and health. And the Live4Adventure hits a homerun in all these areas,” said Courtney Mathison. “It’s about getting kids and adults fired up for sport in a way that gives back to the schools.

“Its such a tragedy to see that happening with obesity taking so much of our kids life, said Mrs. Mathison, a former pediatric physical therapist. “My passion is health and fitness in children. Most won’t become an Olympic athlete. Yet everyone can be a participant, a player.

“For someone like me that grew up in Texas, the Ridge2River was a scary event. Even to watch was a challenge. I call the Live4Adventure the no excuses race.”

The third and final stage is the Biosports Strength and Agility Course. Physical therapist Michael Hanson has three decades worth of human movement expertise gained from helping to heal everyone from Joe Montana to the regular Joe. Whether it’s flipping combine tractor tires or navigating an aquatic course with kayaks in Pioneer Park’s 50 meter pool, look for the team at Biosport to set a new standard in obstacle courses.

“Sitting in the Apple Bowl, you’ll be able to see the whole race,” said Dr. Freed. “In the stands, it’s going to be a riot. This is the perfect race to take your place in the field. This is a race to wear a costume to.”

For more information visit: www.live4adventure.org or contact 509-885-4231. Scholarships to have the race fee waived are available by writing an essay on your greatest adventure. “We want to be inspired,” say race organizers.

Apple Blossom Run: In Images

For Whom the Bell Tolls: A Story of Duty and Honor

photo from USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) Album. May 1, 2011

The moment arrives. At this moment both opportunity and duty collide. The bell tolls. Without having to ask, without hesitation or delay, you know its for you. You answer the call.

Its at this moment you have a destiny to fulfill. When Theodore Roosevelt said "The man in the arena... knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; he spends himself in a worthy cause" that's exactly what he's saying to me.


photo from USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) Album. May 1, 2011

Hemingway's For Whom The Bell Tolls opens with a John Donne poem of the same name. In it, he says:

any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind,
and therefore never send to know for whom the bells
tolls; it tolls for thee."

Just as any death diminishes, every act of of kindness or greatness enhances us; both as individuals and as a community. In sport, we continually redefine ourselves with every honest, taxing effort given. As a MH-60 Black Hawk or F/A-18C Hornet Pilot like my cousin Mike Shaughnessy provides close air support in last week's Pakistan theatre of operations they redefine what it means to be an American. I feel emboldened by their attainment of skill, sense of purpose and composure in answering an incredible call of duty.

As a token to the tenderest of debts, I hope in this small way today to honor those who have honored us all. By answering the call of duty, you have set a standard for us all to live up to. Bonne Chapeau.


same day at the track with the mountain lion distance crew.

"For whoever much is given, much is expected."
-Paul Tergat

After a short talk with Coach Peck and Coach Wolfman, 4x400m await the kids. Wait, what is that I hear ever so faintly in the distance?

Nordic Nomadic: A Book

A book fresh from the Publishing House.

Nordic Nomadic by A Book by Torin Koos | Make Your Own Book

Old School Campiona

In the days before index shifting and carbon fiber bike frames, the experimental Danish filmmaker Jorgen Leth turned his camera to cycling. Atypical to film making today, Leth films with wide angle, long duration shots that let the story come to you. In 1973, Leth made two transcendent cycling movies. Stars and Watercarriers captures the perfectionism of the professional peloton from the Giro d'Italia in a simpler time. There's a history and a certain beauty to the Grand Tours, three week affairs of attrition and resolve that trade in names like Giro, Vuelta, le Tour de France.

The Classics, though, are where its at. Instead of having to husband one's finite reserves over two-thousand miles of racing, the Classics come as a one day Dante's Inferno of martyrdom, as Leth tells it. Here, riding with heightened aggression and caginess are a prerequisite for a chance at the day's greatest rewards.

After the riders leave the hard early spring racing from Italy and Belgium behind, events that trade in names Fleche Wallonne or Amstel Gold arrive. The crown jewel of them all is the Paris Roubaix. The name denotes the race's 166 mile route from start to the finish north in Roubaix. This Classic presents a special challenge summed up in its alternate moniker, The Hell of the North. After 100 miles of mostly traditional riding, the roads give way to the Pave du Nord. These cobblestone pathways are so old - some trace back to the Romans - and so poor they are open only to farmers driving cattle, along with a certain bike race. It's a race exclusive only to the hardest of men. Leth captures a young Eddy Merckx. He looks so dapper driving up the day before the Roubaix in this baby-blue-on-blue travel suit. Then, the next morning you see why Mercx is still known as the Cannibal.

My introduction can only do it so much justice. Here's Jorgen Leth's A Sunday In Hell. It'll send shivers down your spine.

The History of Leavenworth Skiing

Since 1928, the little mountain town of Leavenworth, Washington has played a role in America's nordic ski history. Hear Ski Hall of Famer Kjell Bakke tell stories about Ron Steele and Alf Engen to the 10th Mountain Division and the Apple Box Brigade here:

Leavenworth Ski Hill History from Skipow Visuals on Vimeo.

Scenes from the Road: NordKetten, Austria Edition

The mountains outside Innsbruck got to be special. They played host to the 1964 and 1976 Olympic Games.



After climbing a mountain, the other side might offer a different view. Here, I'm focused on all the soft snow and steep angles I'm going to have to navigate to make it back home from this mountain tour. Somewhere in my relatively near future I would be really wishing I had some crampons and an ice axe.


Klettering along the top of the NordKetten's north face.


Surveying the scene, getting some sun. Yeah, not too bad a way to spend the day.