Sooke Challenge
Community At Its\' Finest
Doug Doyle / 25.09.2005
Smaller race venues are the means one can see part-time athletes competing head to head with elite athletes or often with no elite athletes at all. The race field is smaller, the ‘prize purse’ may be limited or non-existent, but the main asset that is observed in every smaller event that I have either raced in or reported on is community.
Sooke is a small west coast town located on the south western tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada about a half hour drive from BC\'s capital city Victoria. Sooke has it all: hiking, biking, kayaking, fishing, sailing, music, drama, arts and crafts, gardening, team sports and numerous community organizations. All in all, a vibrant smaller community with much to offer it residents.
The Sooke Challenge, an annual event and in its’ ninth year, played host again to local residents and outsiders taking part in this multi-sport event.
On the race menu: a 10km run, a six nautical mile kayak and a 30K plus mountain bike ride. Teams of three participate in a relay with the runner handing off the kayaker who then hands off to the cyclist or ‘tri-athletes’ can race as solos.
Barb Broster, race director for the Sooke Challenge enjoys incredible community support for the Sooke Challenge and also has the backing of numerous businesses to assist her in putting together the race as well as prizes. Barb has been one of the driving forces behind this not for profit race: it is a community fund raiser for the Sooke Women’s’ Transition House and the Sooke Sea Cadets also receive an honorarium for assisting with race logistics.
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