The Scent of 12 team of Tonasket women at the Second Annual Spokane to Sandpoint Relay finish line. The team came in second place with a time of 28 hours and 27 minutes and was composed of 12 women with connections to Tonasket and one driver: Bobbi Catone
SPOKANE – A team of 12 women, all connected to Tonasket in some way, either personally or through a relative, participated in the Second Annual Spokane to Sandpoint Relay, touted as “The Funnest Race in the West” from Aug. 14-15.
“Second behind Missoulapalooza was the wildly fun team of ladies (who even sung a song at the race start) who call themselves The Scent of 12 Women,” the Spokane to Sandpoint Race director said. “Their time was 28:27.”
Coming in second place in our division was an unsought after joy. Participation for us was about breaking down self imposing barriers, doing something different, challenging and fun. It became so much more. It was humbling and impressive to watch this amazing collaborative effort, each women allowing her “inner-athlete” to emerge and challenging herself physically. It took: commitment, character, determination and hard-work.
The event goes like this: two vans, 36 legs, 28 hours, a roller coaster ride and 185 miles to the finish. The runners move in leap-frog fashion, making their way from Mount Spokane to Sandpoint. Each runner completes three of 36 legs, a total of 13-18 miles each in a 24 hour period. As part of the relay, all teams had to ride Tremors, a roller coaster at Silverwood, in the middle of the night, allowing their next runner to continue on the journey.
The Relay was filled with fantastic contests, such as: Wild Wig, Awesome Costume, Brightest Outfit, Van-A-Rama, Best Light Show, Tattoo Contest and Team Spirit Award. As fat would have it, one of our vans had both an artist and tattoo contest runner: this created an award winning human art piece, also known as runner number 12 Tattoo Contest Winner, Pam Leslie. Congratulations to you and Lisa Spear our resident artist.
The greatest thing about this event was watching each woman reach her potential: personally, physically and as a team member. We all participated for different reasons, with varied abilities and running experience. Our common purpose: each achieving our individual best. It was amazing to watch the whole event unfold. The cheers, the encouragement, the fun, easy and tough miles and victory as we all crossed the finish line together, 28 hours and 27 minutes after we started. Congratulations to the incredible, positive, health-seeking, women of The Scent of 12 Women and our extraordinary driver: Bobbi Catone, Jackie Gliddon, Jamie Jones, Janeen Swett, Jenny Martin, Jody Terris, Johanna Root, Julie Goyette, Lisa Spear, Pam Leslie, Sarah Pratt, Shannon Larson and Stephanie Vassar.
Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to our volunteers, who participated on our behalf. Jack Goyette and Sol Jones cheerfully managed Exchange Zone number 22 from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m., checking off each team as they came through north of Coeur D’Alene.
I hope this article will inspire other individuals to find their “inner-athlete” – this will look different for each person, yet it is within your reach, given: drive, encouragement and a determination to be your best.
