13 Competitors Conquer the Bear, 21 Conquer the Cub

Big Bear, Ca, September 12, 2011, 8:00am –

On Saturday, September 10th the Conquer the Bear series, part of Open Air Big Bear wrapped up with the Endure the Bear trail run.  The Conquer the Bear and Conquer the Cub series is a four event series that started this year in February with a snowshoe race, followed by a mountain bike race in June, Paddlefest in July, ending with the trail run in September.  Eighteen men and women competed in the Conquer the Cub series this year, which requires participants to take part in the shortest course of each challenge, with Janet Maxwell of Big Bear and Jimmy Johnson of Yucapia taking the top spots for the Conquer the Cub series.  The Conquer the Bear series required participants to compete in the long courses of each event, and Big Bear’s own athletic power couple Heather and Ted Devito took the top spots of the 13 competitors, with Heather taking the series win for the second time.  Heather and Ted both won $500 each for winning the entire series, and as Ted was on the podium accepting his check he yelled out to the crowd “Hey Mountain Fitness Members, this money is going to two new rowing machines at the gym,”  which was followed by the gym members cheers.  New this year was a king of the mountain competition, which gave $50 to the man and woman who made it to the top of the ridgeline first.  Heather Devito won for the ladies, and Jessie Haynes who took 2nd overall in the series took the king of the mountain win for the trail run.  Three juniors completed all four events with Big Bear’s own 9 year old Alec Burton winning the series.  Next year’s Conquer the Bear challenge will start in February, and more information can be found online at www.OpenAirBigBear.com