Thanks to the Whiteville Fire Department for hanging our banner on the Powell and Powell Attorneys building in Whiteville. New firefighter Heath Porter, right got some training on the ladder truck from firefighter Chris Evans, left.
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This article appeared in the Aug. 7 edition of The News Reporter For the third year in a row, organizers of the largest fitness event in the county will modify two of their four participation routes over Labor Day weekend due to recent heavy rains. The two land-based events usually circumnavigate Lake Waccamaw, taking a route that includes three miles of nature trails in Lake Waccamaw State Park and crossing of a concrete dam at the Waccamaw River. Park Superintendent Toby Hall advised the event committee earlier this week that water will likely be flowing over the dam, closing the Whether you enjoy the Paddle Challenge really depends on the quality (and length) of your kayak, so some people like to rent a nice one.
The folks at Waccamaw Canoe and Kayak have plenty of nice kayaks, and they make a trip up here each Labor Day weekend to rent to our participants. Contact them for more information. It's getting hard to travel the county these days without seeing the Take the Lake logo somewhere, thanks to a diligent crew who have been hanging posters and banners everywhere. That's how it should be, to get us all in the mood for fitness!
The field for the 2014 Take the Lake X-TREME! is heating up, with a dozen solo competitors and three teams for one of the largest competitions in our (brief) history. For those of you who don't know, the X-TREME! is an insane day of torture for people with serious goal-reaching issues. We complete all four TTL Personal Endurance Challenges in one day in what competitors call; "48 miles of 'I can do this.'" Visit our X-TREME! page. We start out at 6:30 a.m., swimming across the lake, and then cycle, kayak and walk or run around it. There are many more rigorous endurance events, but none quite like our X-TREME! Thanks again to the McNeill family, we have hundreds of beautiful John A. McNeill Awards to present to everyone who completes the Walk / Run, the Paddle or the Bike & Hike Personal Endurance Challenges. We also have the award for our X-TREME!ists and we have CREW tokens you can buy ($2) for people who helped you reach your goal.
Also, don't forget the Collier's Jewelers Lee J. Greer gold medallion for completing the Swim Personal Endurance Challenge! I should apologize – but I won't – for plastering a 30-foot-long cow on the front of a seafood restaurant (Eat more Seefud!). Julie Monroe has sure been patient with me over the years, with a school bus and a jail house, but now this?
Anyway, I want to thank Seattle fine art photographer Steven Whiston who donated the background image for our 2014 banner on Dale's Restaurant. He worked much harder than I expected to ensure we had a beautiful presentation (if not a tacky one, thanks to you-know-whom.) Thanks Steven and Julie and everyone else for humoring me and my sense of humor over the years! You can see more of Steven's work at Fallenlog.com, and you should see the banner in the next few weeks! Want to spread the Take-the-Lake word but don't have brochures or posters? Download them from our Media Page and be the source of free fitness fun for all your friends!
I have opened the registration page for Take the Lake X-TREME!, so you no longer have an excuse – sign up today, train tomorrow, and take home the RED SHOE award August 23! We can't take registration fee payments yet, but we're working on that. (They are the same as last year: $35 single and $65 team before August 8, with an expected $8 per person insurance.) That's right, folks, we only have about two months until Take the Lake, and we're all pretty well into our training programs. Today I delivered TTL brochures around the lake, a tradition of ours that many residents seem to look forward to. We'll do the same with door hangers in mid-August to ask residents to be nice to you and cheer you on during the Walk / Run and the Bike & Hike, among other things. You should be seeing our posters around the county - let us know if there is any place we've missed! The water is just barely over the dam, and we're pretty dam confident that we will be able to truly "take the lake" this year, with complete routes around the lake for the Walk / Run and the Bike & Hike. Thanks to Nubby Tebay and our committee, we have our 2014 shirts in very early, and they and other TTL gear are already for sale at Body Shapers in Whiteville. That's it - Hey, Keep Calm and Take-the-Lake On... We have long wanted some kind of "gala" or opening party Friday night to kick off the big Labor Day weekend, but couldn't find a way to make it fit in, until we connected with carbs.
We prepare for our X-TREME! event by eating plenty of pasta the day before, and we're not alone; triathletes and marathon runners do the same. Can't believe it took us so long, but we put the word out earlier this year that we'd love for a group at the Lake to offer a pasta plate dinner fundraiser Friday night (Aug. 29), and once again, the Lake Waccamaw United Methodist Church has come through for us. You might remember this wonderful group from the lunches they have served both at the church and at the Paddle and Bike & Hike venue in years past. They have offered to cook and serve for us, so you can expect a delicious meal that will fuel you up for the weekend. In coming years we hope this will turn into an exciting event, with live music, a silent auction - maybe even a swap shop for used bikes, kayaks and whatever - all to benefit the church. But this year it will be just a pickup plate affair, with some dining tables available, as the church will still be under construction with its expansion project. They won't set a price for the meal but will take donations, and you can bet it will be delicious and healthful! What a beautiful day it was at Lake Waccamaw State Park and around the lake Saturday! More than two dozen riders took off from the visitors center at 9 a.m. Most rode the entire route to the dam and back, with a few riding the short route through the park and then to downtown and back. With trophies to the top finishers and a free lunch for all, the event raised money for the Friends of Lake Waccamaw State Park.
Rachel Smith and Columbus County Parks and Recreation put together another fine run Saturday with their annual 5k to benefit the Columbus County Community Farmers Market. It all started with a kids run and then the big "race" with runners and walkers alike.
We started The Red Shoe is Columbus County Fitness campaign last year, and we plan to continue following its inspiration in 2014. Watch for the red shoes, watch for the cameras and watch yourself succeed like never before!
Many of our sponsors and partners have been with us from the start, and we are thrilled to join them in building the largest fitness event around. Many slots are filled, but some are still available so please contact us for the health of Columbus County - Thank you sponsors!
Melody Callihan and the folks at Southeastern Community organized a wonderful 5K Color Run Saturday and had a blast with dozens of participants. Watch this time-lapse coverage of the race and all the colorful shenanigans.
Don't miss these fun fitness events in May!
- Farmers Market Fun Run – Saturday, May 17 This 5K run starts at the farmers market in Whiteville, and awards certificates for age-group leaders. Click here - Mayfly Bike Ride – Saturday, May 31 This 21-mile ride is the answer for all those people who love the "Bike" part of our Bike & Hike Personal Endurance Challenge, but hate the "Hike." It starts at Lake Waccamaw State Park in Lake Waccamaw and rides to the dam and back. This is a fun ride for the whole family. Click here Marjorie Hope Hilbourn organized a great 5K run in Chadbourn Saturday, with several dozen participants. Everything started at the gazebo near Our Park and runners and walkers toured the town on what has been deemed the hilliest race route in the county. Great job Marjorie!
Southeastern Community College students can now see themselves and others on a Take the Lake banner in the Nesmith Student Center. We provided the banner and SCC did the work. Thanks Joe Biebl, Dr. Kevin Bratton and all the other Rams who motivate us every day with their enthusiastic support!
This article first appeared in the April 21 edition of The News Reporter. Take the Lake announces 2014 theme
The blossoms of spring herald the start of the Take the Lake training season, appropriate for the event’s 2014 theme of “Agriculture.” The largest fitness project in Columbus County, Take the Lake is actually four events, called “Personal Endurance Challenges.” Participants walk or run 15 miles around Lake Waccamaw, cycle and walk 15 miles, kayak 14 miles or swim four miles. Held over Labor Day weekend, the free event grew out of a |
Take the Lake would not be possible without our generous sponsors. Thank you for supporting fitness and good health in our community! Thank you to our sponsors! Event Sponsors Columbus Regional Healthcare System The John A. McNeill Family Liberty Healthcare T-Shirt Sponsors ATMC Carolina Sports Medicine Council Tool Company Friends of Rube McCrae Memorial Library Hill's Food Stores International Paper Joe’s Barbecue Lake Waccamaw Lion's Club Southeastern Community College Poster Sponsors BB&T Baldwin Woods Pharmacy Dale's Seafood Restaurant Powell and Powell Law Sam’s Pit Stop Special Service Sponsors Body Shapers Fitness Center Collier’s Jewelers Lake Time Vintiques The News Reporter Theme Time!Take a few minutes and reel through the years of Take the Lake, as we review the many themes and posters that have helped make fitness more fun in Columbus County! Click here
DID YOU KNOW...
that the second-most-popular Boy Scout merit badge in the U.S. is for Swimming? And the ninth-most-popular is Personal Fitness? Yes! Source: Scoutingmagazine.org
SPONSORS
Visit our Sponsor Page, or Contact us if you would like to be a part of the largest community fitness event in Columbus County! |