This falls into the “in-case-you-missed-it” category. If you haven’t read sports reporter Brian Rathbone’s piece on paraglider Ari DeLashmutt breaking the Oregon distance record, give it a look. It ran in Friday’s sports section and is on our website, bendbulletin.com.

Central Oregon is well known for its love of extreme sports, such as Iron Man events — grueling long-distance running, biking, swimming and skiing competitions. Yet, this achievement resonates for me simply for the awe factor.

According to the report, DeLashmutt, of Redmond, took off from Pine Mountain, climbed to 9,000 feet in the air, crossed several mountain ranges into Christmas Valley, then to Summer Valley, then flew across the entire Warner Mountain Range in Southern Oregon and Northern California. He landed 65 miles south of Alturas, California, nine hours after takeoff, he had traveled 230 miles — breaking the state record of 198.2 miles for a single flight.

Nine hours in the air, strapped in a paraglider. Let that sink in. This sport takes a certain amount of nerve, skill and stamina.

Earlier in my career, I covered the annual “Umpteenth Festival of Free Flight” held just outside of Lakeview each summer. I watched in awe as paragliders ran down the hillside and launched themselves off cliffs when the thermals were just right. Many actually flew up from northern California to Lakeview for the event. A few face-planted upon landing, too. But it was all for the fun of the sport.

Mark Webber of Lakeview, the unofficial keeper of the records of the event, said at one time he photographed 80 paragliders over the Warner Mountains.

“We call it the umpteenth because no one can remember how many times it’s been held,” he said. It is a fairly laid-back event, where participants help each other, and compete in a friendly, informal way.

As I read Rathbone’s piece, my jaw dropped from one paragraph to the next. Just an amazing feat. To me, this type of sports coverage really inspires new generations of extreme sports athletes and is just plain fun to read.

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Gerry O’Brien, Editor