The group participating in this year’s Mike-athon poses at the Devils Lake trailhead after descending South Sister on Labor Day weekend. The event raised money for the Silent Warrior Scholarship Fund.Mike Cook / Submitted photo

The setup of the Mike-athlon sounds like a dare made after a long day at the Bend Brewfest.

From Bend, bike to Mount Bachelor and then down to Elk Lake. Swim in Elk Lake, hop back on the bike and head to Devils Lake.

Hike South Sister. Descend South Sister.

Bike back to Bend.

All in one day.

“It’s supposed to be hard for a reason,” Mike-athlon founder Mike Cook says. “It gets you a good group of people.”

Cook, 28, started the Mike-athlon, — which he and a group of friends most recently completed on Aug. 30, — two years ago as a way to honor his friend and fellow Marine, Nicholas R. Walsh, who was killed in action on patrol in Fallujah, Iraq, on May 26, 2007.

“He was an outdoor enthusiast,” Cook says about Walsh, who was 26 and a married father of two boys when he was killed. “Everybody in our unit pushed themselves to do tough stuff.”

Originally, just Cook and his sister, Kristen Conklin, made the 12-hour trek up the mountain, across the lake, up the third-tallest mountain in Oregon and back to Bend. Last year, Cook persuaded three more pals to partake in the Mike-athlon adventure, and then this year their numbers swelled to 14.

With the larger crowd this Labor Day weekend, Cook decided his ultimate Bend endurance test could help raise money for Marines like Walsh.

“Before, it was just for fun,” Cook says. “But I figured if so many people were interested, we could start a fundraiser.”

Now, Cook’s tribute to Walsh benefits the Silent Warrior Scholarship Fund, which awards college scholarships to the children of fallen Reconnaissance Marines.

“Any kid (whose parent was a Recon Marine) is eligible,” says Cook, who said that the Mike-athlon has raised approximately $2,200 so far.

Two Saturdays ago, over Labor Day weekend, Cook and his crew met in Bend at 6 a.m. at Rebound Physical Therapy’s west-side office — he is a physical therapist aid there — where they dropped off their swimming and hiking gear in a trailer that met them at Elk Lake. The bike ride started at 6:30 a.m., and everyone reached the lake in about 2 1/2 hours, according to Cook. Because it was a group event, early bikers waited for the slower cyclists before all 14 endurance nuts launched into Elk Lake off the boat ramp near the Elk Lake Resort.

“Yeah, there was a lot cramping,” Cook says about the swim after the 31-mile uphill bike ride to the lake. “But my parents were in boats out there for safety, and we swam along the shore in case anyone was distressed.”

After the approximately 1-mile out-and-back swim, the group biked back to Devils Lake, where they started the climb of South Sister, an 11-mile round trip with about 4,900 feet of elevation gain. For the enjoyment of his peers, Cook packed and hiked with a sixth barrel — about 5.2 gallons — of delicious 10 Barrel Brewing.

“We had some weather problems,” Cook recounts. “It was really windy and rainy and cold.”

They had to turn around when they saw lightning and heard thunder.

“Hiking about the tree line with lightning and a keg of beer isn’t the smartest idea,” he acknowledges.

Cook and his cohorts got off South Sister, biked back to Bend — the supply trailer mercifully drove the keg into town — and were barbecuing by about 6 p.m., he says.

“Dark to dark,” Cook quips.

—Reporter: 541-383-0305; beastes@bendbulletin.com.