Andy Tullis / The BulletinDan Simoneau

Dan Simoneau calls it the “biggest failure” in the history of Central Oregon’s signature multisport event.

During the Pole Pedal Paddle in 1985, Simoneau held a seven-minute lead going into the paddle stage, but he flipped his narrow racing kayak — five times, he recalls — dumping himself into the Deschutes River over and over again. He finished fifth.

“I hadn’t really practiced and I just thought, ‘Hey, I’m an Olympic guy, I can do this,’” recalls Simoneau, a three-time U.S. Olympian in cross-country skiing in the 1980s. “I was so far ahead that I flipped three times before I got passed.”

Longtime friends in Bend remind Simoneau of that race every May. But he resolved his water woes and managed to win the next three PPPs.

The 38th annual U.S. Bank Pole Pedal Paddle is set for Saturday. As the nordic director for the Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation, Simoneau has been in charge of staging the equipment for the PPP since 2009. (The race is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the nonprofit MBSEF.)

The PPP has grown to host about 3,000 participants each of the last few years. Competitors race the six-stage event as teams, pairs, or individuals — and the winning elite men and women individuals are crowned the unofficial king and queen of Central Oregon endurance sports.

Simoneau is just one of a long list of former Olympic cross-country skiers who have won the PPP, including eight-time winner Justin Wadsworth (1989-1996) and six-time winner Ben Husaby (1999-2004).

“If you ask Husaby, if you ask me, if you ask anyone, being an Olympian is second in this town to winning the PPP,” Simoneau says. “It’s like, ‘You’ve been in the Olympics?’ Yeah. ‘YOU’VE WON THE PPP??!!’ ”

Simoneau — who competed in the 1980, ’84, and ’88 Winter Olympics — says that when he won his three PPPs (1986-88), the event was just “blowing up.” Each year would include more racers, and each year the race would somehow seem more meaningful, more prestigious, with added categories, prize money and rules.

“It’s gone from being kind of a race, to an event,” Simoneau says. “You get so many people out doing different things, and it’s such a community-building thing now. It’s a big social event. It’s doing things with your friends and putting yourself sometimes in uncomfortable positions with your friends, and enjoying it.”

Simoneau says he likes the “intellectual” side of the PPP, which includes preparing for the transitions between the stages and dealing with the jumble of logistics and gear.

“It has this weird mix of things that brings people together,” Simoneau says. “It takes over town for two weeks. We had a pre-PPP skate race the other day, and an hour and a half after the race people are still sitting in the nordic lodge (at Mt. Bachelor ski area) talking about changing boots (during the alpine/nordic transition).”

Simoneau admits that sometimes he misses racing the PPP, but he enjoys his job as one of the event’s primary organizers.

“I’ve been there and I’ve done it,” he says. “I’m perfectly content with my role now, which is providing it for others.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0318, mmorical@bendbulletin.com