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FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT A5 S PORTS THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2022 bendbulletin.com/sports LOCAL CYCLING TRACK AND FIELD | WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS Gravel Grinder reaches final stage in the Ochocos Frerichs balances training, school ahead of championships Having already held races in Dufur, Bend and Sisters over the past three months, the final stage of the Gravel Grinder series will take place this week- end in Prineville. The Ochoco Gravel Grinder will kick off the final of the four races on both Saturday and Sun- day at 9 a.m. starting at Walton Sno Park in the Ochoco National Forest. Close to 200 bikers are set to compete in the races over the weekend, almost doubling the total from the previous year. “Conditions are so much better than they were last year,” said race director Chad Sperry, who’s company Break- away Promotions is in its second of coordinating the races. “Most impor- tantly the roads and the scenery in the area is better because we didn’t have the extreme heat in June like we did last year. “The heat never shut off, so it was super dusty,” Sperry added. “It was just a struggle for the riders to go through those dusty roads.” Improved weather conditions might make for easier races, but the courses will still be a chal- lenge. There are two days of races, with each day hav- ing three separate races — the Small, Big Grinder and E-Bike Grinder — which range from 61.5 miles to 82.2 miles. “It is going to feel and look a lot different be- cause the road quality is so much better,” Sperry said. Close to 75% of the riders will compete in both Saturday and Sun- day’s races. During the two days of racing, they will eclipse 100 miles and 2,988 feet of elevation for the small and e-bike grinder races and 140 miles and 8,968 feet of elevation gain for the big grinder race. “This year we kept Saturday a big faster, smoother, not as techni- cal,” Sperry said. “Sunday will be our more difficult day.” Saturday’s Big Grinder is the longest race of the event in terms of miles, spanning 82.2 miles, while gaining 5,718 feet of elevation. Both the Small and E-Bike Grinder riders will cover 61.5 miles and gain 4,293 feet of elevation during the Saturday race. Exploring the west side of the Ochocos on the race’s second day, the Big Grinder, while still exceeding 70 miles, is shorter than the first day, yet the elevation gain will be more than 2,000 feet (7,997 in total) than the first day’s race. Like the Big Grinder, the second day of racing in the Small and E-Bike Grinder will see a steady increase in elevation gain — 6,801 feet of elevation (up from 4,293 on the first day) — but will also be just short of two miles longer at 63.4 miles. — Bulletin staff report INSIDE NHL — Less than a week after his draft-night slide, Shane Wright has moved on and is looking to prove teams wrong as a key young player for the Seat- tle Kraken as the franchise looks to grow following a somewhat disappointing first season. Story on A7. BY LUKE NORTON The Oregonian Sean Meagher/The Oregonian via TNS Emma Coburn (left), Courtney Frerichs (center) and Courtney Way- ment clear the hurdle during the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase final during the USA Track and Field championships at Hayward Field in Eugene June 26. Try a Google search for Courtney Frerichs, and the phrase “American record” pops up in the suggested box. Frerichs is the first Amer- ican woman to break 9 min- utes in the 3,000-meter stee- plechase, with a time of 8 minutes, 57.77 seconds, a feat she accomplished at the 2021 Prefontaine Classic. The time set the U.S. record and ranks Frerichs fifth on the world all-time list. The pre- vious American record also belonged to Frerichs, 29, who trains with the Portland-based Bowerman Track Club. Before she set the American record twice, she set the collegiate re- cord during her time compet- ing at the University of New Mexico in 2016. Frerichs also earned the silver medal at the 2017 world championships in London and at last year’s To- kyo Olympics. Frerichs has spent her ca- reer chasing, and earning, titles such as All-American, national champion and Olym- pian. She’ll be seeking to do the same this month at the 2022 World Athletics Cham- pionships in Eugene. Off the track, she’s spent the past two years chasing a differ- ent accolade: a master’s degree in nutrition. “It’s really helped me feel like I also have a purpose and goals outside of running, since being an elite athlete can be so singu- larly focused,” Frerichs said. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics presented an opportunity for Frerichs to take advantage of the prime of her career, she said. Through fall 2019 and winter 2020 she completely devoted herself mentally and physically to her training. Suddenly, in the wake of COVID-19, the games were postponed and the future was uncertain. Frerichs was left without a goal to pursue, something tangible to achieve. Frerichs has always been driven by a desire to give back to younger athletes, she said, and the lack of any immediate competition opened up an op- portunity to do so. She wanted something to strive for and achieve outside of running. See Frerichs / A6 TRACK AND FIELD Fostering hope Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP file Britain’s Mo Farah celebrates winning the gold medal in the men’s 10,000-meter final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The four-time Olympic champion has disclosed he was brought into Britain illegally from Djibouti under the name of another child. He made the revelation in a BBC documentary. U.K. Olympic great Mo Farah reveals he was trafficked as a child BY DANICA KIRKA Associated Press LONDON — Olympic great Mo Farah — the winner of four gold medals and one of Britain’s greatest and best-loved athletes — has been carrying a secret burden all these years: He was illegally brought to the U.K. as a youth and forced to care for other children before he escaped a life of servitude through running. In a new documentary, Farah says his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin and that he was taken from the East African nation of Djibouti when he was about 8 or 9. He says a woman he didn’t know brought him to Britain using fake travel documents that in- cluded his picture alongside the name Moham- med Farah. The revelations come as Britain struggles to deal with a surge of people fleeing conflict and hunger in Africa, the Middle East and Asia on flimsy boats organized by human traffickers who assist the desperate to cross the English Channel. Criminal gangs are also smuggling people into the country and forcing them into sex work, criminal activities and unpaid labor. See Farah / A6 GOLF COMMENTARY Tiger has big voice, just not as much visibility BY DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Tiger Woods has a voice that can be as a big as his golf game. What he lacks is enough visibility. Woods left little room for interpretation Tuesday when the 15-time major champion hammered away at Greg Nor- man’s new Saudi-funded LIV Golf series as not being in golf’s best interests. He said players who couldn’t resist the money — some received more than Woods has earned in his en- tire PGA Tour career — had “turned their back” on the very tour that made them fa- mous. None is as famous as Woods. He is not just the en- gine that drives the train. For the modern game, he’s the en- tire railroad. “What these players are doing for guaranteed money, what is the incentive to prac- tice? What is the incentive to go out there and earn it in the dirt?” Woods said. “You’re just getting paid a lot of money up front, and playing a few events and playing 54 holes.” They were his strongest comments to date, one of the lengthiest and most passionate answers from Woods, who for so many years preferred that his clubs delivered the mes- sage. What the PGA Tour wouldn’t give to have Woods at full strength, playing a full schedule, in the midst of one of the most disruptive mo- ments in golf. The British Open is only the third tournament Woods has played his year — four in- cluding the two-day charity pro-am in Ireland last week — and probably will be his last until he gets to the Bahamas at the end of the year for a holi- day event he hosts. While Norman was laying the ground work last fall and figuring out how to spend all that money from Saudi Ara- Peter Morrison/AP Tiger Woods prepares to tee off on the 7th hole during a practice round at the British Open on the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, on Monday. bia’s sovereign wealth fund, Woods was out of the public eye from February to the end of November recovering from his car crash outside Los An- geles. He spoke for the first time in the Bahamas and said his allegiance was to the PGA Tour and “that’s where my leg- acy is.” See Tiger / A7
