Ninjas meet challenge of Sea to Ski Race

By DAVID LESNICK

The Daily Inter Lake

When it comes to sports, Zach Brenneman, Chris Doyle, Luke Thies, Nicho Hash, Alex Cox, Dan Windauer, Colter Lane and Tim Herset all have their individual preferences.

Brenneman, Hash and Thies enjoy the challenges of soccer; Herset gets his thrills from downhill skiing.

Windauer and Lane are both into running - cross country or track.

Lane, on the other hand, prefers wrestling while Doyle spent some time on the tennis courts.

But for one day last month, those eight Flathead High school seniors combined forces and talents to compete in the challenging Ski to Sea Race in Washington.

The event began on Mount Baker with cross country and downhill skiing and finished 82.5 miles later with sea kayaking in Bellingham Bay.

This was the 33rd anniversary of the race.

Competing in the high school division under the team name Fire Breathing Ninjas, the Kalispell contingent finished third.

"We were all stoked," said Cox, the team captain.

"We got a plaque and a medal. So many awesome things happened I can't pinpoint just one."

The Ninjas finished a very respectable 113th out of 404 teams.

It was their first time competing in the Ski to Sea Race, which allows competitors to sample the recreation wonders of The Evergreen State by skiing, running, cycling, canoeing, mountain biking and kayaking.

Their total time was eight hours, 51 seconds.

Barron Heating was the overall winner in 5:46:05.

"We were friends before, but we're so much closer now," Cox said.

"We're all seniors, in FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). God and a love for the outdoors; that's what we have in common."

Cox said they never practiced together in preparation for the race. They all did their workouts alone.

"We talked about it at school," said Cox of their race preparations.

"(This is what we normally would do anyway) in our spare time, " he said

Hash had the honor of doing the first leg of the race - cross country skiing. That began at 8:30 a.m. on May 28. He covered the four-mile course in 37:02, which was good for fourth place in the high school division and 117th overall.

Herset did the snowboard ski/downhill segment of the race, the second leg, finishing his two-mile race in 26:54. He was second in the prep division, 51st overall.

Windauer was up next with the running leg, eight miles. He covered that in 44:45, which was the third best time in the high school division, 41st overall.

Lane followed with a 36-mile bicycle leg. He was timed in 1:37.46, placing second in the prep division and 120th overall.

Doyle and Thies then combined forces for the canoe leg, which covered a distance of 18 miles on the Nooksack River. They had the fourth best high school time, 2:36.57, and were 252nd overall.

Brenneman had the best showing on the team, winning the high school division mountain bike leg. He was timed in 36.16 for nine miles and won by 54 seconds. He was 48th overall.

Cox had the honors of finishing the event with leg seven, the sea kayak. That race went five miles (4.3 nautical) and he was timed in 1:21.11. He finished third in the division, 233rd overall.

"We kind of went with who has done the most of each thing," said Cox on deciding who did what events.

"I whitewater kayak, not super great, but I dabble around. This was my first time sea kayaking. The first time I got in a sea kayak was a week before the race."

Cox borrowed a sea kayak, which is narrower and longer than a whitewater kayak, from a teacher.

"You have a rudder (on the sea kayak)," Cox said.

"Whitewater kayak is all you and the paddle."

Cox said Lane does a lot of mountain biking, so it was natural for him to handle the bicycle leg.

"He managed to borrow a road bike early on and practiced all the time," Cox said.

"He got real good at road biking."

Cox said he enjoyed his part of the race.

"As far as the competition went, I got smoked," he said.

"I had a recreational sea kayak. The hard core (racers) had racing kayaks."

Cox said the idea of competing in this event was hatched during a FCA meeting. The group meets every Tuesday.

"A FCA leader, Seth, was doing it with a team every year," Cox said.

"He basically talked to a group of us and said we should get a high school team together."

Cox, the team captain, then did all the paperwork to get the team registered.

"Honestly, I was just hoping we would finish this thing," said Cox of the expectations going in.

"It wasn't about winning, just looking good. We were serious, but we knew how to have fun. Right after it was done, we were figuring out ways how to do it again next year. "

That might be difficult to do next spring since all eight Flathead graduates are college bound. Brenneman will attend Seattle Pacific University, Cox is going to Pepperdine, Windauer will be at Gonzaga and Lane heads to Texas for Abilene Christian.

Thies and Hash are both going to Carroll while Herset and Doyle will be at Montana State.