Pole Pedal Paddle Canceled | The Source Weekly - Bend, Oregon

Pole Pedal Paddle Canceled

Multi-sport event is a highlight of Central Oregon spring... but it will have to wait til 2021

Event organizers for the Pole Pedal Paddle announced Friday that the 2020 event is canceled. With PPP scheduled to happen on May 16 and no clear picture of when the COVID-19 pandemic will be behind us—nor when Gov. Kate Brown's "Stay Home Save Lives" order will be lifted—organizers made the tough call that many event companies have had to make in recent weeks.

Typically drawing around 2,500 participants, the PPP typically brings thousands of athletes and their families to Central Oregon—where currently, Bend's city manager has advised people not to visit unless necessary. In unincorporated Deschutes County—outside its cities—the county this week began barring people from renting short-term rentals, unless for reasons of health, safety or employment during the COVID-19 crisis.


Pole Pedal Paddle Canceled
D Boswell Photography
In 2019, we told the story of Josh Hancock, an adaptive athlete who competes in the PPP.
"Over half our participants come from outside of Central Oregon, and traveling to Bend is just not an option right now," wrote PPP Race Director Molly Cogswell-Kelley in Thursday's release, saying that not having the event, now in its 44th year, was "beyond devastating."

Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation, which puts on the race, announced today that people who had already pre-registered for 2020 could choose to roll their registration into 2021, or to donate the funds to MBSEF.

As for the SELCO Kid's Mini PPP, which would have taken place May 17, that's off too—though organizers said they may decide to hold the kids' event in September.

Catch all our COVID-19 coverage at our Coronavirus HQ.

Nicole Vulcan

Nicole Vulcan has been editor of the Source since 2016. You can mostly find her raising chickens, walking dogs, riding all the bikes and attempting to turn a high desert scrap of land into a permaculture oasis.
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