Greenies Scale Mountains in Bearwallow Challenge
Adventure Sports Program's offering now in its second year
Like an elevator, there are only ups and downs to the Bearwallow Challenge.
Christ School's Adventure Sports team, also known as "The Frogmen," were midway through the Challenge as of Wednesday. It entails timed runs of about four or five miles. What makes the races unique is that they, more often than not, cover undulating terrain with elevation gains of more than 1,000 feet.
"I'd never done anything like this before, but I really like it. It definitely tests you," said Sheldon Clements '22 who was third in the Challenge's individual standings as an eighth grader. "You're either going up or down at all times."
Some of the Challenge's runs are Bearwallow Mountain (4.1 miles in length, 914 feet in elevation), Blue Ridge Meadows (5.2 miles, 1,309 feet), Beehive Latte Climb (4.5 miles, 1,014 feet), and Little Bearwallow Mountain (5.8 miles, 1,691 feet). The final race is the Ice Breaker 8-kilometer trail run on January 21 in Greenville, S.C.
Along with Sheldon, students who signed up for the Challenge are Finn Bridgeford '18, Sutton de Krafft '18, Jonathan Gooch, '18, Weller Kreimer '19, Aldo Mell '18, and Patrick Shea '20.
Casey Zager is the primary coach for the runners and gets assistance from Matt Chisholm. This is only the second year that the Challenge has been part of the Adventure Sports Program. Last year, patches were given to boys with the fastest combined times.
"What I love about this sport is that these guys have the mentality to work hard," Chisholm said. "Some of these guys might barely be JV runners on our cross country team. They're not natural runners, but they put their head down and do it."
