2A Wednesday, April 26, 2017 Appeal Tribune
Relay
Race route
Continued from Page 1A
dertaken individually or
as a team. The race is
scheduled for Sept. 17 and
cost is $100 per individual,
or $180 per three-person
team, before July 1.
The race builds on a
growing trend of outdoor
recreation events in the
capital city, especially
downtown. The first
triathlon in downtown Sa-
lem‘s history is scheduled
for Oct. 1, and will high-
light the city’s three soon-
to-be-connected
parks:
Minto-Brown Island, Riv-
erfront and Wallace Ma-
rine.
This event looks to cap-
ture the popularity of
multi-discipline
relay
events, such as Central
Oregon’s Pole Pedal Pad-
dle (ski, bike, kayak and
run from Mount Bachelor
to Bend).
“I do believe it’s a
growing trend,” Morris
said. “This region is well-
positioned for multi-disci-
plinary events. The new
(Peter Courtney Minto Is-
land Bridge) will create
mileage for marathons
and open a lot of options.
We’re aggressively perus-
ing more of these.”
The River 2 Ridge —
which will return in 2018
and 2019 as well — is an
ambitious undertaking.
Its genesis can be traced
to a trip former Salem
Mayor Anna Peterson and
Morris took to Japan in
2015. The two took part in
the country’s famed Sea to
Summit events, which
» Run from Riverfront Park
to Wallace Marine Park, 0.5
mile
» Kayak or boat from
Wallace Marine Park to
Spong’s Landing, 6.2 miles
» Bicycle paved roads from
Spong’s Landing to Silver Falls
State Park, 47.8 miles
» Hike or run segment of
Silver Falls State Park trails,
5.8 miles
features kayaking across
the sea, biking through
the countryside and hik-
ing up a mountain.
“We wanted to learn
how we’d replicate it
here,” Morris said.
The Salem edition will
replace the sea with the
Willamette River, and the
mountain with waterfalls,
but the idea remains the
same.
Redmond-based
Breakaway Promotions is
running the event and de-
signed the course. They
received $20,000 in seed
money this year and
$10,000 for next year to
put on the event. That
money came from Sa-
lem’s transient occupancy
tax on hotels, which is
typically used for tour-
ism, promotion and heri-
tage events, Morris said.
“The primary focus of
this event is to give people
a reason to come to Salem,
not just to visit, but to tru-
ly engross themselves in
an area they might have
only seen from I-5,” said
Chad Sperry, co-owner of
Breakaway Promotions.
“A lot of people — myself
This map shows the route of the “Salem River 2 Ridge” race,
which will take place Sept. 17.
included — might come to
Salem for a meeting but
don’t necessarily take the
time to experience the
area. We want, through
this event, to almost force
people to see these beauti-
ful farm roads, this amaz-
ing stretch of river and
the world-class hiking at
Silver Falls.”
From Riverfront Park
to Silver Falls
The atmosphere of the
race will be laid-back,
said Morris and Sperry.
While teams will be timed,
and there will be prizes
for the top places, the idea
is more about having fun.
There’s a post-race party
at Silver Falls.
“We’re expecting some
people to be highly com-
petitive, and others to just
have fun and be dressed
up in costumes,” Sperry
said.
The route starts at Riv-
erfront Park, with partici-
pants running a half mile
across the Union Street
Railroad
Pedestrian
Bridge to the kayak stag-
ing area at Wallace Ma-
rine Park.
From that point, the
river section gets under-
way with 6.2 miles of pad-
dling down part of the riv-
er buffered largely by
greenways, with a few mi-
nor riffles.
“Honestly, I expected
the Willamette to be going
through residential, com-
mercial and industrial
areas,” Sperry said. “But
it’s one long greenway al-
most the whole way. It
feels like you’re out in the
wilderness. I remember
being really excited about
putting the course togeth-
er after experiencing it
for the first time.”
The paddle section
ends at Spongs Landing
County Park north of
Keizer. That’s when the
toughest section begins.
The bike ride is by far
the longest and most chal-
lenging part of the race,
covering 47.8 miles and
climbing over 2,000 feet
to Silver Falls. It follows
low-traffic farm roads for
the most part.
“Finding the right net-
PHOTOS COURTESY OF BREAKAWAY PROMOTIONS
The “Salem River 2 Ridge Relay” will take racers from
downtown Salem to Silver Falls State Park.
work of roads — and find-
ing the right place to cross
I-5 — was the biggest
challenge by far,” Sperry
said. “The real gem was
the discovery of Drift
Creek Road, which brings
you fairly close to the en-
trance to Silver Falls but
also has little to no traffic
and amazing views of
Mount Hood, St. Helens
and sweeping views of the
valley and Coast Range.”
The third and final leg
is a run or hike of 5.8 miles
at Silver Falls State Park.
Because it’s still a popular
time of year, the route will
feature the less-traveled
section of waterfalls in
the North Falls area.
“This is definitely a
challenging course and
anyone that does it indi-
vidually will take a beat-
ing,” Sperry said.
Environmental
symposium
On the day before the
race, event organizers
will host an environmen-
tal symposium from noon
to 4 p.m. at Salem’s River-
front Park Amphitheatre.
The symposium will
highlight some of the en-
vironmental, agricultural
and cultural aspects of the
River to Ridge route, in-
cluding the Willamette
River and Silver Falls
State
Park.
Keynote
speakers will be Jim Ber-
nau, founder of Willam-
ette Valley Vineyards;
Travis Williams, execu-
tive director of Willam-
ette Riverkeeper; and
Matt Palmquist, interpre-
tive park ranger with Sil-
ver Falls State Park.The
symposium is free and
open to the public.
Knodel
Continued from Page 1A
fessionals, said Josh’s
dad, Bob. The college
needed proof that he has
real skill and interest in
rebuilding cars.
There’s proof in Josh’s
ongoing “resto-mod” of a
1963 Chevy Nova Wagon.
He’s transforming it from
a shabby original into an
upgraded street ride. At
the age of 16, he followed
his father and grandfa-
ther into the business of
breathing new life into old
cars.
“It’s been a project, for
sure,” Josh said. He’s
spent hours restoring the
Nova, and right now, he’s
concentrating on its front
end.
Silverton High School senior Josh Knodel’s 1963 Nova Wagon.
Classes he’s taken at
Silverton High, especially
Advanced Welding, have
helped. Others include
Mechanical Technology 1,
2 and 3, as well as Intro-
duction to Engineering.
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He credits his advisory
group teacher, Kirsten
Barnes, with helping him
turn his personal car pro-
ject into his senior pro-
ject. For high school sen-
iors, such a specialized
project is called the “De-
sign Your Own Extended
Application Project,” and
it requires extra steps and
advocacy from a student
to gain approval from ad-
ministrators, Barnes said.
Josh and his parents
saw the process through,
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE KNODEL FAMILY
Josh Knodel transforms his 1963 Chevy Nova Wagon into an upgraded street ride.
not knowing it would
eventually be the key to
unlocking the door at
McPherson.
“Josh wants to work,”
Barnes said. “He has
made himself sit in class
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and do the book learning,
but he loves doing the
hands-on work and trying
things and taking things
apart to see how it works.
He isn’t afraid to try
something.
I
think
McPherson could see his
interest and passion to
build, create, and re-
store.”
Josh’s
father
and
grandfather can take
much of the credit for
lighting Josh’s passion for
cars in the first place. His
grandpa, Tom Larson,
opened Silver Creek Au-
tobody, a collision repair
shop on Jefferson Street,
in 1993. While that’s been
the “bread and butter”
side of the business, Lar-
son and his son-in-law,
Bob, who came on in 2001,
have built a restoration
business on the side.
“When I was a kid, they
were restoring a 1930 Pon-
tiac,” Josh said. “I can viv-
idly remember going and
sitting in it.”
By the time Josh was 12
or 13, he was working for
Silver Creek Autobody,
detailing cars. As he’s
grown up, he’s worked in
the shop while attending
school, playing in band
and, sometimes, like a
normal teenager, escap-
ing into the gaming world
of Halo.
“We tried to instill a
work ethic in him young,”
Bob said.
Bob’s purchase of his
own project – a 1970 Che-
vy C10 Suburban – got the
wheels turning in Josh’s
head. He watched his dad
fabricate parts to bring
his design ideas to life and
realized he wanted a pro-
ject of his own. He had a
6-liter motor from his own
wrecked 2000 Chevy Sil-
verado pickup and want-
ed a place to put it.
At first, he planned to
restore a 1953 Chevy Step-
side but eventually opted
for the Nova that he and
his dad found in Califor-
nia on Craigslist. Since
then, the work’s been on-
going, with three genera-
tions contributing ideas to
the project.
In fact, Sundays have
become instruction days
for Josh, with his dad and
his grandpa passing along
the skills they think he
needs. Some are obscure;
for
instance,
lately
they’ve focused on wood-
working, as joinery skills
are required to work on an
old car with wooden body-
work and panels.
“To succeed in this, you
need to get involved in the
culture of it,” Bob said.
“Then you’re constantly
seeing things that you
could do.”
In college, Josh will
further explore the de-
sign side of auto restora-
tion. He’ll take drawing
and watercolor classes
that will augment his ex-
isting CAD skills. Art in-
struction is something for
which McPherson College
is as famous, as it is for its
13-to-1 student-to-teacher
ratio and its Christian
roots from being founded
by the Church of the
Brethren nearly 130 years
ago.
“We were very con-
cerned that we would not
find a school that would fit
both Josh’s academic
needs and teach him the
restoration skills he needs
to succeed in this busi-
ness,” Bob said. “Once we
found
McPherson,
though, our worries were
lifted and our family has
been extremely happy.”
Josh’s teacher, Kirsten
Barnes, is watching her
student’s “learning jour-
ney” with anticipation too.
“I like to find out what stu-
dents are interested in
and what gets them excit-
ed about life,” she said. “If
we can find things they
are curious about, they
are more likely to keep ex-
ploring and attach them-
selves to a focus of study.”