Running
• Central Oregon teams complete relay: Two Bend-based 12-person relay teams completed the inaugural Hells Canyon Relay, staged Friday and Saturday in Eastern Oregon. The 210-mile running relay consisted of 36 legs, started at the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City and concluded at Pioneer Park in La Grande.
Casey & the Sunshine Vans, a team from Bend Research competing in the corporate team division, completed the race in 34 hours, 28 minutes, 35 seconds. Team members were Kristi Downing, Melinda Sather, Alison Viles, Becky Dobbs, Steven Park, David Snook, Trevor Lane and Janette King, all of Bend; Amber Petersen and Ryan Minikis, both of Redmond; and Christopher Rogers, of Sisters.
And competing in the mixed open division, a team that included several Central Oregon runners named Beauts & Beaus ADD Some Crazy, finished in 32 hours, 30 seconds. Team members from Central Oregon were Tonya Koopman, Mark Koopman, Kathy Lein and Cherri McKenzie, all of Bend.
Swimming
• Local coach awarded national honor: Bend’s Bob Bruce, longtime head coach of Central Oregon Masters Aquatics, has been honored with the Dorothy Donnelly Service Award by U.S. Masters Swimming. Each year, 12 USMS volunteers are presented the award for their service to swimming at local, regional and national levels. Bruce serves as the director of COMA pool and open-water events and has been head coach of the program since 1996. He has been a member of the Oregon Masters Swimming Board since 1998 and its long-distance chair since 2001. He was also chair of the national coaches committee from 2003 to 2006 and has been the open-water rules specialist for the national long-distance and open-water committees since 2007.
Triathlon
• Central Oregonian wins national title: Bruce Rogers, of Bend, captured the men’s 45-49 age division title Saturday at the Xterra USA Championship off-road triathlon in Ogden, Utah.
Rogers covered the course — consisting of a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 28-kilometer mountain bike ride and a 9.8-kilometer trail run — in 3 hours, 2 minutes, 44 seconds. He bested 19 other participants in his division and defeated the runner-up by more than two minutes. Additionally, Rogers took 52nd place overall among 320 finishers.
Also from Bend, Michael Nyberg finished ninth of 22 finishers in the men’s 50-54 field in 3:26:34, and Richard Albrow placed 14th of 44 finishers in the men’s 40-44 division in 3:14:18.
—Bulletin staff report
