About 250 bicyclists braved poor ferry service and smoky air on Saturday, Sept. 10, to take on the island’s steepest hills in the Vashon Island Rowing Club’s (VIRC) 11th annual Passport2Pain (P2P) community fundraiser.
The event netted more than $28,000.
VIRC will split $9,000 of that amount among Vashon Food Bank, Vashon Youth & Family Services, and the Interfaith Council to Prevent Homelessness. Donations earmarked to the four organizations during the rider registration process brought the total amount raised to almost $32,000.
P2P is supported by the Vashon community in many ways, so sharing the proceeds feels appropriate,” said event co-producer Zabette Macomber.
On Sept. 10, bicyclists began leaving Jensen Point Park, on the Burton Peninsula, at 6:45 a.m. and spread out onto four marked courses, ranging from 80 miles and 10,000 feet of climbing, down to 12 miles with less than 1,000 vertical feet.
The final pair of riders returned to the event’s catered barbecue shortly after 5:00 p.m., sporting the handlebar streamers they earned at the final checkpoint of the 80-mile “Idiot” course and their paper passports with stamps from 19 movie-themed checkpoints along the way.
The course was altered to accommodate the washout on Burma Road, the steepest hill on the long course, which circumnavigates both Vashon and Maury Islands, taking riders down – and back up – many of the smaller roads leading to the water.
A total of 303 riders, from eight states, registered for the ride. Almost three-quarters were from off-island, and more than half were riding P2P for the first time.
The median age was 48, and 22 percent were women. Vern Trevellyan, age 78, garnered the coveted bib number 001 as the oldest P2P rider, as well as another pair of handlebar streamers to add to his collection. The youngest rider was Juniper Lee, who tackled the 12-mile Tourist course. Both are from Vashon.
Attendance was lower than in previous years, according to P2P co-producer Colby Atwood.
“We’d hoped to have more riders, but the smoke forecast deterred a lot of people, and ferry cancellations on Saturday wiped out our walk-up registrations,” Atwood said. Results from a post-ride survey were generally positive — but included tales of three-hour waits to leave the island.
Finishing riders were greeted by a 50-foot red carpet borrowed from Open Space for Arts & Community, and a photo op with Vashon’s Famous Filson Sisters, otherwise known as Tami Brockway Joyce and Jennifer Potter.
