Pole Pedal Paddle: A View from the Inside

Editor’s Note: The 39th Annual Pole Pedal Paddle Classic in Bend brought out the usual mix of top-tier athletes, young upstarts and just-for-the-fun-of-it participants of all ages, shapes and sizes. Mount Hood Alpine racing dad, ski mountaineer and free ride coach Ben McKinley competed for the 12th time with his wife Christi. Here is our conversation about what originally drew them to PPP — and what keeps them coming back.

How long have you and Christi been doing Pole Pedal Paddle?

The first year we did Pole Pedal Paddle together was before we were married, back in 2004. And we’ve done it together probably 12 times over the past 15 years or so. There were a couple of weddings, a couple of babies, a couple of graduations that kept us from doing it every year. I always joke that the hardest part about doing the event is getting to the starting line.

What first got you into trying the event, and what keeps you coming back?

I grew up down in Medford, and we used to race a lot at Bachelor. It’s a big fundraiser for the Mount Bachelor Sports Education Foundation program, and it’s a fun combination of sports. I always wanted to get some friends together and do it, and the first time that actually happened was with my girlfriend at the time, Christi. We had at least some level of competency, and she’s been a real good sport ever since.

How do you and Christi split up the race?

Christi does the Alpine, I do the Nordic and bike ride back to back, so that gives her enough time to get into town for the run leg. She does the run, I do the paddle, and then she does the sprint to the end.

So you guys take the whole family out to Bend and make a weekend out of it?

We do, and the nice thing is, my in-laws moved over to Bend a few years ago. So now it is a much easier tradition, because they’re always excited to have us come and visit. They look after the kids and come down to the finish to cheer us on, so it’s really become a fun thing. The event brings out the best in Bend. It’s family friendly with dogs and people of all ages, athletes of all shapes and sizes. And I get really inspired by the Oregon Adaptive Sports folks. They’ve got people with all sorts of mental and physical challenges out there competing with big smiles, and it’s just a lot of fun to be a part of it.

The quality of competition seems especially high.

Being around these elite athletes and these ex-Olympians is a rush. Some of these folks out there competing are so next level. The group that won our age class this year, the splits that they had – Man, there was no way. We’re racing for second if that group shows up. The competition varies from year to year, but any time we are able to get in the top three and win one of those coveted ceramic mugs that they make, those are real special.

I see that some of the individuals finish as fast as the teams – these must be some crazy-fit.

Oh man. And it’s only been in the last few years that teams have been able to beat the elite individual males. For a long stretch the elite men were consistently the fastest. And then this year this group Atlas Cider made it a point to put together a team of really strong athletes to win. You wouldn’t think it would be that much of a challenge for a team to beat the top individuals. But it is. Watching the elite athletes go through and seeing their pace times and their splits, it is very humbling.

Do you guys train for the event specifically or just kind of stay in shape and then go for it on race day?

There’s always going to be trade-offs. I’ve probably Nordic skied 15 times the last 12 years, and 12 of those were for PPP and the other times were training for it. So that’s one that always suffers. But I’ve got a nice boat that I bought, and the Willamette River is less than a mile from my house. So I get some good training there.

Is it a kayak?

It’s actually called a surf ski. It’s a long, narrow, sit-on-top boat. It’s like a really fast sea kayak, but you sit on top of it.

Is it tippy?

It is tippy, that’s the trade-off. The only reason I bought it was for Pole Pedal Paddle. I had tried it in creek boats, like kayaks that are made for playing, and they are so slow. They’re made to turn, not go straight. I had some real frustrating kayak legs out there. But as we got more committed I convinced myself and convinced my wife that we need a surf ski. And it’s been worth it, because I am able to cover some good ground on the competition it comes to that paddle leg.

That’s fun because it’s right near the finish.

Yeah, it’s been great the past few years, because I have been able to pass people we had lost some ground to. It was the difference between third and second last year, and the difference between fourth and third this year.

How were conditions this year? I know there was no Nordic skiing leg because of the lack of snow.

It was the first time in the 39-year history that they haven’t had a Nordic leg. It was really hard on the organizers, because for a lot of Nordic skiers, that is their thing; that’s what they want to do. They had roughly 18 percent fewer people participate. So it was tough from a fund-raising perspective, but they did an awesome job. They had a nice 2.3-mile trail run, and as a result the long-standing champion Marshall Greene ending up finishing second behind a world-class triathlete from Bend [Jesse Thomas].

What was your favorite part of the race this year?

It had to be the end of the paddle leg when we were trying to get into the top three. It’s just a lot of motivation, a lot of pain where you’re already spent physically, and I paddled as hard as I could and barely passed this guy on the last bridge, and ultimately we beat that team by just under a minute to get into third and get one of the mugs. That was pretty darn fun to put that effort in and have it pay off like that.

How was the scene after the race?

It’s just a big party: Dogs and grandmas and grandpas, a lot of athletes with their babies and little kids. Great sponsors, so you’ve got people pouring beer and people serving food, sponsors giving away massages and kombucha and so forth. And they had live music in the amphitheater, this local Bend guy named Franco who writes with Ben Harper and has done back-up with Garth Brooks. He produces and records at home, and he is a really talented musician.

Did you hear any buzz about Hood 2 River [a similar event recently launched on Mount Hood] when you were there? Are you guys thinking of giving that race a try?

I would absolutely do it, but it’s on the same weekend as my daughter’s birthday. There’s also another event that Albany’s been doing [the Willamette River Relay]. It’s August 15, and it’s running, paddling and biking, to celebrate the Willamette River. They had a booth and they were handing out fliers. Hood 2 River might consider setting up a booth at PPP next year if they want to build numbers. Because you have all these people coming off Pole Pedal Paddle who have all the gear and the skills and are all fired up and wondering what’s next.

But yeah, I’ve been thinking for years that a Pole Pedal Paddle from Meadows to Hood River would be prime, so I’m real excited to see that it’s happening on Mount Hood.

Ben McKinley is CEO of Cascade Web Development in Portland.

Ben Jacklet is Editor and Publisher of Shred Hood.