Kip Brown’s rough hydroplane season continues in San Diego
September 18, 2012
After qualifying in fifth place with a speed of 152.774 mph at the San Diego Bayfair, Miss Red Dot’s rough year continued when mechanical issues forced Kip Brown’s team to forfeit the hydroplane race.
“We had engine issues all weekend,” owner John O’Brien said. “We qualified for the race in the middle of the pack, then we had one problem the first day and another the second day.”
One piece of good news for the Miss Red Dot team is Brown was a full go in San Diego after having to miss Seafair with a broken ankle that he suffered in Tri-Cities.
Tiger Mountain State Forest bike trail opens
September 11, 2012
The state Department of Natural Resources opened a mountain bike trail in Tiger Mountain State Forest on Sept. 5 — 1.4-mile-long stretch long awaited by mountain bikers.
The result of months of construction, East Tiger Summit Mountain Bike Trail is the first new mountain bike trail built on Tiger Mountain in 20 years. The trail is accessible from the Tiger Summit Trailhead along state Route 18 southeast of Issaquah.
Department of Natural Resources planners received a pair of state Recreation and Conservation Office grants to build mountain bike trails on East Tiger Mountain and connect the path to existing trails.
The state received significant help from the nonprofit Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance and volunteers to complete the project.
Annual Issaquah Run is set for Sept. 30
September 11, 2012
The 36th annual Issaquah Run is set to kick off at 7:30 a.m. Sept. 30. This year’s event will consist of the 10K run, a 5K run/walk and the Kids Dash.
Registration for the 5K and 10K is $35 for adults and $20 for ages 15 and younger. Registration for the Kids Dash is $5 and another $5 for a cotton shirt.
Early registration closes Sept. 27 at 11:59 p.m.
The race is once again sponsored by the Issaquah Rotary Foundation and is benefiting the Swedish Cancer Institute.
Japanese fencers join international trend to train in Issaquah
September 4, 2012
A delegation of young fencers and their three coaches came from Japan to Issaquah to train with saber coach Wang Yung (center, standing) at the Washington Fencing Academy the week of Aug. 27. By Christina Corrales-Toy
Issaquah has become quite the destination for elite fencers looking to improve their game.
Fencers from all over the world travel to the Washington Fencing Academy, just to train with saber coach Wang Yung.
Yung has coached national and world champions. In July, the coach hosted Mannad Zeid, an Egyptian fencer who spent time training at the Washington Fencing Academy before he traveled to London for the 2012 Olympic Games.
The parade of international competitors hoping to learn from Yung continued the week of Aug. 27, as eight junior fencers from Japan traveled to Issaquah to train with the coach for a week.
Decades after debilitating crash, local sailor overcomes paralyzing disability
August 28, 2012
Bob Jones sails with a teammate during a busy summer of 2010 at one of several regattas in the Atlantic Ocean off Newport, R.I. Contributed
Bob Jones, of Issaquah, has long loved competitive sailing and when he was paralyzed in a car crash in 1981 that didn’t change.
Beaver Lake Triathlon tests top athletes
August 21, 2012
Megan Worzella, 27, of Bellevue, leaves the transition area to begin the running leg of her winning the female 25-29 years of age category with an overall time of 1:3å3:33 in the Beaver Lake Triathlon. By Lillian O’Rorke
The buzz of hundreds of people chattering rose up from the shore of Beaver Lake Aug. 18 as athletes clad in Speedos and wetsuits waited for their turn to make a splash.
The Beaver Lake Triathlon kicked off at about 8 a.m. with the first group of elite challengers disturbing the silky lake surface like a school of salmon. What followed was wave after wave of 50 swimmers each, making their way around the quarter-mile course before sprinting to the bike transition area.
“It was very warm — we had that heat wave,” said Jason Renfroe, of Sammamish. “It’s a real short course. All you do is sprint as fast as you can, gulp a lot of water and tag your partner.”
His teammate Steve Holton took over for the second cycling leg of the race. After finishing the 13.8-mile bike ride down and back up Redmond-Fall City Road, Holton was stripped of any grand illusions but still smiling.
“It was hard,” he said. “I don’t think we are in as good a shape as last year. But it’s always a good event.”
Hiker creates guide to Wonderland Trail, ultimate Mount Rainier adventure
August 21, 2012
Mount Rainier looms above subalpine scenery visible from Sunrise. By Tami Asars/‘Hiking the Wonderland Trail’
Civilization fades far into the distance along the Wonderland Trail, a 93-mile loop around Mount Rainier.
The volcano looms above the landscape, as clouds play peek-a-boo around the glacier-capped summit. The meadows below buzz as marmots and other creatures dart among the wildflowers.
The scenes along the trail seem cut from a postcard. Even the name is majestic.
Tami Asars, a third-generation Washingtonian and lifelong hiker, created a guidebook for the premier trail in Mount Rainier National Park — “Hiking the Wonderland Trail,” a recent release from The Mountaineers Books.
“You get to see almost everything when you go on the Wonderland,” she said in a recent interview. “You get to see so many glaciers. You get to see all of these little great meadows and little nooks and wildflowers. The creatures that live in the park are just everywhere. You get to see the marmots — they’re in almost every field you come across, whistling and squeaking and playing patty-cake.”
Asars, a North Bend resident and former employee at REI in Issaquah, led classes about the Wonderland Trail at the sporting goods store. Then, as she amassed more and more information for prospective hikers, the idea for a book germinated.
Local mountain biker to represent U.S. at international orienteering championship
August 14, 2012
Rebecca Jensen trains for the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships by riding through trails at Issaquah’s Grand Ridge Park. For this photo, she set a camera in the trees and put it on a timer to get the shot. Contributed by Rebecca Jensen
Rebecca Jensen loves mountain biking.
The only reason she moved to Issaquah in 2010 was to take advantage of the trails around the area.
Lindbergh High School’s Max Ferguson wins Cougar Mountain Trail Run Series
August 14, 2012
Skyline High School’s Keegan Symmes finishes second
Marlene Farrell, of Leavenworth, runs toward the finish line to post her winning time for women on the 13-mile course with a time of 1 hour, 56 minutes, 9 seconds. By Greg Farrar
People take interest in running for a lot of reasons. They do it for the health benefits, the stress relief and even the runner’s high. But for Cougar Mountain Trail Run Series 13 Mile winner Max Ferguson, he had only one thing in mind.
The ladies.
“I guess I started in eighth grade because I wanted to be better at the mile in P.E.,” Ferguson said. “I thought that me being better at the P.E. mile would help me do better with the ladies than I was doing at the time.”
Ferguson attended Lindbergh High School where he ran as a member of the cross-country team. After going to college on the East Coast, Ferguson returned home and, like a certain Tom Hanks character, kept running.
Local family experiences Olympic history in London
August 14, 2012
Giant Olympic rings dangle from the Tower Bridge as a double-decker bus crosses the span. Contributed By Sue Hamke
London extinguished the Olympic flame in a glitzy, star-studded ceremony Aug. 12, after 16 days defined by milestones reached, records shattered and, for a local family, a golden opportunity to experience the 2012 Summer Olympics up close.
Sue Hamke — joined by husband Kurt, daughter Jessica and son Tyler — left the Sammamish Plateau for London in early August.
The family attended the Winter Olympics in 2002, 2006 and 2010, but London offered the Hamkes a chance to experience the Summer Olympics in a familiar setting. The family lived just outside the city from 2004-06, as the International Olympic Committee awarded the games to London and preparations for the event started in earnest.
The games, clustered in futuristic venues constructed mostly in London’s East End, did not disappoint.
“The amazing thing about the Olympics is seeing athletes from all over the world and how the crowd cheers for them all,” Sue Hamke recalled Aug. 12.
