Hit the Trail Challenge another success
The Whitefish Legacy Partners’ fourth annual Hit the Trail Challenge returned this May. The challenge’s health and wellness sponsors High Stakes Foundation, Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation, Logan Health Whitefish and BlueCross BlueShield of Montana promised to match every 1 mile logged on the trail during May with $1 donated. Over the course of the month, Whitefish Trail users hiked, biked, ran and rode a total of 29,083 miles on the trail. This means that over $29,000 was raised to support the Whitefish Trail and our local protected lands. WLP extends a big thank you to the sponsors and everyone who enjoyed themselves and logged miles on the Trail.
Over 600 individuals participated in this effort, including 12 local businesses and organizations in the Workplace Teams competition and over 75 Whitefish Middle Schoolers competing to see which grade could log the most miles. The back and forth competition for the winner of the Workplace Teams competition came down to Glacier Nordic Club and HeartStone Advisors. HeartStone Advisors took a commanding lead towards the end of the month, with Glacier Nordic Club, Whitefish Legacy Partners, The Wave, and Glacier Nordic & Cyclery rounding out the rest of the top five. Meanwhile, in the Middle School competition, the fifth and sixth-grade classes were in a tight race all month. Though the sixth grade (605 miles) pulled out the win, the fifth graders (587 miles) should all be proud of themselves.
Check out all the final mileage totals at www.whitefishlegacy.org/hitthetrail.
“The Hit the Trail Challenge is one of our favorite annual community events. This year we worried that the wet and cool weather over the course of May would slow people down but we should have known better. The final mileage total is a testament to the community’s dedication to helping us further our conservation and recreation goals,” says Jedd Sankar-Gorton, WLP Program Manager.
The Whitefish Trail is the anchor project of Whitefish Legacy Partners and the result of collaborative partnerships providing public access and recreation while protecting clean water, thriving forests, and prime wildlife habitat on open lands in Whitefish's urban interface Montana. Hiking Mileage Leaders
Female
Chris Holt – 122.5 miles
Vicki Bernstein – 120 miles
Nancy Persons – 113.16 miles
Male
Chris Crumal – 178.7 miles
Noel Huettich – 171.3 miles
Jerry Ingraham – 122 miles
Biking Mileage Leaders
Female
Stella Hobbs – 107.29 miles
Dusty Hosek – 88 miles
Rose Grant – 74.68 miles
Male
Geoff Gibb – 716.85 miles
Aaron Roberts – 315 miles
Joel Shehan – 205.23 miles
Running Mileage Leaders
Female
Audra Tasa – 187 miles
Katie French – 158.53 miles
Brooke Koperski – 129.01 miles
Male
Tristan Scott – 130.65 miles
Benedict Delahunty – 92.21 miles
Harris Montanye – 84.07 miles