Sunday, August 21, 2011
Dirty Dash
A great time out at Riverside State Park yesterday.
For those of you who might have been wondering why it took an hour to travel from Downtown Spokane to the intersection of Ft Wright and Government Way, it was the Dirty Dash. There were thousands of people nicely spread out, with a start about every 20 minutes for the 10K course. Mudpits, balance beams, straw bale obstacles and mud-filled culverts were climbed up and through and over. There was even a quick dip in the Spokane River.
Tons of families and groups of friends were doing this together. I was lucky that my son, Kirk, let me hang out with him and his cool friends. My other two boys (Ike and Aidan) hung out at the finish line and took pictures and cheered us on. Thanks again for that! Sarah was stuck in traffic for half an hour and u-turned home. I think we are all on-board for doing it together next year.
There were plenty of cyclists and runners who made it to the start quicker than we did by car. File that one away for next year. No car. Although, it might be a miserable ride/run home covered in dried mud, or it might be kind of fun.
Any run that starts off with a beer is a good one. There was also a beer obstacle at about mile 4.5 featuring some of my favorite.
There were a lot of out-of-state license plates at this event. I would imagine it pumped a lot of revenue into Spokane's coffers. Again, Spokane shows itself off as a place where we can stage big events. The traffic stuff will have to be worked on.
Near the finish line it looked like a mass casualty incident. Lots of IVs. Apparently there were some broken bones and other afflictions. AMR had their hands full, but were doing a great job.
Here's the Dirty Dash website.
Hey New Belgium, look at us! Bring the Tour de Fat here. We've got to be more fun than Boise!
I really hope Riverside State Park enforces the new required parking permit next year. If they do hosting this event and the 24hr bike ride could bridge the much needed financial gap we have for our state parks. As it sits i've heard that both the dirty dash and Round and Round productions only donate a small pittance (1k or less) to RSP to use the space.
ReplyDeleteAre we not men?
ReplyDeleteGreat post...thanks for the support.
ReplyDeleteJohn at The Dirty Dash!