First Annual Lake Games Slated For July 29-30
July 20, 2017 at 3:26 p.m.
By Mark [email protected]
Participants can choose as many or as few of the events, or go in all five for an ultimate challenge.
The first event on July 29 is called Crossfit Games, and the challenge “is not meant to be super, super crazy, but it’ll be intense and push you physically,” said event organizer Lindsay Anderson. “All the movements are things the average person can do, but we want to see who can keep up.”
The next event is an off-road bike race and will be a hybrid of a mountain bike and cyclo-cross races, with numerous obstacles over the 3-1/2 mile course. Some might call it a “Psycho-Cross” race, according to Anderson.
The fina event on the first day is a night time 5K run/walk along the Winona Lake Greenway. While there will be those who are racing seriously, there’s a lot of fun to be had along the way, said Anderson.
“The 5K is more open to the community, where you’re going to have one group that will speed through it to post a low time, and another that’s just out having fun, taking a lot of pictures and creating a lot of memories,” she said.
“It’s at night, and they’ll be a black-light tunnel at the end, neon paint that’s splashed on the runners as they go, and it’ll show up in the black-light tunnel.
“We’ll have glow in the dark elements, and we have an 80s theme; we’re encouraging people to wear that style of clothes and we think people will have a lot of fun with it.”
July 30, a Sunday, features a pair of events to wrap up the weekend. An obstacle course prepared by the experts at Metzger Outdoors will be full of challenges over the route.
Paddlers for Conservation will organize the final event, a canoe race over portions of the canals of and onto Winona Lake.
Anderson said what helps separate the Lake Games from other events are the expert people coordinating the individual events. Ryan Hill is in charge of the Crossfit Games, Matt Metzger has the obstacle course, Paula Deming is handling the 5K, Greg Demopoulos the bike race and Ed Roberts the canoe race.
“We have five awesome event organizers that are coming together for one weekend and making it a full event for all of them,” Anderson said. “We wanted to challenge athletes in such a way that they’ll want to do it year after year, and include the community as well. By letting people pick and choose which events they do, or be an ultimate challenger where you do all five, we want everyone to feel like they can get something good from the weekend.”
Proceeds from the event will go to support Anderson’s missionary work in Haiti through Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength, her non-profit organization. She spends 10 months a year with a ministry in the Caribbean country, and comes back to the area for a couple of months in the summer and a quick stay around Christmas.
Anderson said it was on her heart to have a fundraiser where the benefits weren’t flowing just one way.
“I didn’t want to come back to the United States and give a bunch of presentations to convince people to give money to finance a school or whatever in Haiti,” she said. “The question was ‘how can we raise funds for what we’re doing in Haiti, because it’s a really awesome work, and come back here and benefit people in the Warsaw/Winona Lake community as well?
“This is an awesome community with awesome businesses, and we’re blessed by Grace College to be able to use some of their facilities. We want to put on a quality event that people will come to, enjoy themselves and spread the word for years to come. Then in the future other athletes and other people will come, stay in hotels, eat at restaurants, shop and bless our community.”
For registration or additional information visit lakegames.org.
Participants can choose as many or as few of the events, or go in all five for an ultimate challenge.
The first event on July 29 is called Crossfit Games, and the challenge “is not meant to be super, super crazy, but it’ll be intense and push you physically,” said event organizer Lindsay Anderson. “All the movements are things the average person can do, but we want to see who can keep up.”
The next event is an off-road bike race and will be a hybrid of a mountain bike and cyclo-cross races, with numerous obstacles over the 3-1/2 mile course. Some might call it a “Psycho-Cross” race, according to Anderson.
The fina event on the first day is a night time 5K run/walk along the Winona Lake Greenway. While there will be those who are racing seriously, there’s a lot of fun to be had along the way, said Anderson.
“The 5K is more open to the community, where you’re going to have one group that will speed through it to post a low time, and another that’s just out having fun, taking a lot of pictures and creating a lot of memories,” she said.
“It’s at night, and they’ll be a black-light tunnel at the end, neon paint that’s splashed on the runners as they go, and it’ll show up in the black-light tunnel.
“We’ll have glow in the dark elements, and we have an 80s theme; we’re encouraging people to wear that style of clothes and we think people will have a lot of fun with it.”
July 30, a Sunday, features a pair of events to wrap up the weekend. An obstacle course prepared by the experts at Metzger Outdoors will be full of challenges over the route.
Paddlers for Conservation will organize the final event, a canoe race over portions of the canals of and onto Winona Lake.
Anderson said what helps separate the Lake Games from other events are the expert people coordinating the individual events. Ryan Hill is in charge of the Crossfit Games, Matt Metzger has the obstacle course, Paula Deming is handling the 5K, Greg Demopoulos the bike race and Ed Roberts the canoe race.
“We have five awesome event organizers that are coming together for one weekend and making it a full event for all of them,” Anderson said. “We wanted to challenge athletes in such a way that they’ll want to do it year after year, and include the community as well. By letting people pick and choose which events they do, or be an ultimate challenger where you do all five, we want everyone to feel like they can get something good from the weekend.”
Proceeds from the event will go to support Anderson’s missionary work in Haiti through Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength, her non-profit organization. She spends 10 months a year with a ministry in the Caribbean country, and comes back to the area for a couple of months in the summer and a quick stay around Christmas.
Anderson said it was on her heart to have a fundraiser where the benefits weren’t flowing just one way.
“I didn’t want to come back to the United States and give a bunch of presentations to convince people to give money to finance a school or whatever in Haiti,” she said. “The question was ‘how can we raise funds for what we’re doing in Haiti, because it’s a really awesome work, and come back here and benefit people in the Warsaw/Winona Lake community as well?
“This is an awesome community with awesome businesses, and we’re blessed by Grace College to be able to use some of their facilities. We want to put on a quality event that people will come to, enjoy themselves and spread the word for years to come. Then in the future other athletes and other people will come, stay in hotels, eat at restaurants, shop and bless our community.”
For registration or additional information visit lakegames.org.
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092