This weekend’s Big Bear Paddlefest, hosted by the North Shore Trading Company at Captain John’s Marina, was two days of fun in Fawnskin and plenty of paddlers in this, the event’s second year and first as part of the Conquer the Bear multi-event series. Saturday’s festivities included a bustling lakeside expo and paddling clinics taught by locals Scott Cordner and Cathleen Calkins. On Sunday morning, participants paddled their way through Grout Bay in a number of events, including a 10K. Top three in each division of the 10K included top canoers Mindy Clark, Scott Cordner and Dominque Banse; top men’s kayak to Slater Fletcher, Ted Devito and Danny Hough; top women’s kayak to Kim Williams, Heather Devito and Tiffany Meyers; top tandem teams Grayson McNeill and Brianna Findlay, Kevin Anderson and Jay Alfano, and teen brothers Casey and Evan Williams (before they participated in the Team Big Bear mountain bike race). Top 5K racers in the Paddlefest were George Crezee, Matt Kilgore and Dylan Lichti and women Mindy Clark, Lara Gish and Tametha Dubuque. The top overall winner in the paddleboard event was Matt Johnson, an employee at Captain John’s who entered the race at the last minute. With the completion of Paddlefest, those athletes competing for the Conquer the Bear title are now three-fifths through the series; given scores for snowshoeing, mountain biking and paddling, the top three male contenders are Ted Devito, Slater Fletcher and Grayson McNeill; top female athletes in the series are Tiffany Meyers, Heather Devito and Diane Bradley. The Paddlefest after-party was held at La Montaña, the longtime home of Team Big Bear events; in fact, athletes from both events gathered for awards ceremonies and reggae on Sunday afternoon. Top finishers in Team Big Bear’s Shoot-Out #2 mountain bike race were John Nobil and Romolo Forcino, both racing for Bear Valley Bikes, and Miguel Valadez; Natasha Hernday took top honors in the women’s pro division. Sunday’s race also marked the final stop on the SoCal Series, so it was fun for Bear Valley Bikes to celebrate their second place finish at home. For more racing action, this Saturday’s MultiSport competition launching from the Discovery Center will include running and biking, and athletes competing for the Conquer the Bear title; the fifth event in this series is the Run the Bear Marathon on September 12.
