Sarah Max has experience on her side when it comes to multi-sport races. "After a winter of planned workouts, I generally don’t follow a training plan for the Pole Pedal Paddle," the race's four-time winner explains. This year was no different. But she did incorporate running workouts to minimize the "brick" feeling one gets from transitioning from the bike to run.
It took some flexible training and a plane trip from Minnesota, but last Saturday, Santi Ocariz achieved his longtime goal of racing (and winning) the Pole Pedal Paddle in Bend, Ore., while women's runner-up and Bend native, Zoe Roy, challenged the winner.
BEND, OREGON – How would a veteran describe Bend’s five-sport Pole, Pedal, Paddle to someone who has never seen it? “It’s a circus,” XC Oregon racer Stephanie Howe told FasterSkier at the race’s conclusion. “It’s the biggest logistic nightmare in the world… I just never have stuff lined up ahead of time. It’s always scrambling at the last minute.” First there’s the equipment: alpine skis, poles, boots, and a helmet; nordic skis, poles, and boots;...
BEND, Oregon – It’s hard to imagine Kris Freeman as an underdog in a race that involves cross country skiing and running. But to this city’s residents, that’s exactly what he was on Saturday morning before the start of the 36th annual Pole Pedal Paddle: some Olympian who was trying to unseat the hometown favorite, Andrew Boone. Boone had won the race – which combines downhill skiing through gates, roughly eight k of nordic skiing,...