PORT ANGELES — Teams and individuals can sign up for Saturday’s Big Hurt as late as noon Friday.
The Big Hurt, put on by Peninsula Adventure Sports, is an annual four-discipline endurance relay event that goes on much of the day in and around the hills, town and waters of Port Angeles. The race entails a 15-mile mountain bike race in the hills above Port Angeles, a 2.6-mile kayaking leg through Port Angeles Harbor, a 30-mile road cycling leg on roads west of the city and a 10K run on the Olympic Discovery Trail east of the city.
To sign up, teams or individuals need to go to www.bighurtpa.com/registration.
For spectators, the event up in the hills begins with the mountain bikes at 9 a.m., which means bikers should start arriving at the Port Angeles waterfront around 9:50 a.m. to make the exchange to kayaking. Kayakers will pass off to road cyclists and cyclists to runners pretty much all morning and early afternoon. Rain is forecast Friday but Saturday is supposed to be mostly sunny with temperatures in the 60s.
People can sign up as a two- to four-person team or as an individual in the Ironman division. The cost is $100 for the Ironman, $70 per person for teams and $40 per person for high school teams.
One change this year is a slightly different route for the kayaking leg. Kayakers will follow a route from the Port Angeles Pier area along the shore of Hollywood Beach Bay out to a turnaround buoy near the old Rayonier Mill site.
Event coordinator Lorrie Mittmann said the event has a full slate of volunteers. She said the beer garden this year will be hosted by local nonprofit 4PA (www.4pa.org) and sponsored by Angeles Brewing and Taproom, Barhop Brewing and Finnriver Cider. The beer garden will raise funds for 4PA.
There will be live music and cowbells will be handed out to cheer on the racers. About 200 racers have signed up so far.
Peninsula Adventure Sports is also teaming up with the Lincoln Park BMX and the Olympic Peninsula Rowing Association to put on the Little Hurt on Sunday for kids in and around Lincoln Park. This runs from 10 a.m. to about 1:45 p.m. Kids will ride five to 10 laps at the BMX track, row certain distances on rowing machines, then run between 0.4 miles to 2.7 miles depending on their ages.
There will be loaner BMX bikes for kids who do not have bikes. For more information or to sign up, people can go to www.bighurtpa.com/little-hurt.
The events are put on with support from North Olympic Healthcare Networks, title sponsor Sound Bikes and Kayaks, presenting sponsor Angeles Millworks/Hartnagels and Little Hurt title sponsor Bike Garage. Mittmann also thanked Lincoln Park BMX and OPRA volunteers.
