Thanks for helping the success of the marathon

We at the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who participated in the inaugural Bear Paw Marathon this last weekend. With both in-person and virtual events we had a combined 306 registrants! We could not have put this amazing event together without the help of our supporters.

Thank you to our sponsors that gave both monetarily and in the form of donations: Enell, Havre/Hill County Tourism Business Improvement District, BNSF, Treasure State Title Company, NorthWestern Energy, Pacific Steel and Recycling, Triangle Communications, Duchscher Kapperud Insurance, Parenting Montana, Triple Dog Brewing, Loch Electric, Havre Optometric Clinic, Independence Bank, Down Under Fitness Center, Lewis Heating & A/C, Bear Paw Development, Hill County Electric Co., Office Equipment Co., Assembly of God Church, Havre Chiropractic, Hi-Line Law, Tilleman Motors, Bear Paw Credit Union, The Zoo Health Club, Scharfe, Kato & Company, American Solutions for Business- Kimberly Bengtson, Timber Creek, US Bank, Flynn Realty, Northern Montana Health Care, Walmart, Coca-Cola, NorthStar Athletics, GU Gels, Hammer Nutrition, Northern Montana Health Care, Bear Paw Meats, Gary & Leo’s Fresh Foods, Clausen and Sons, Hill County Fairgrounds and Robert Hanson.

Thank you to our volunteers who set up and manned the water stations along the 26.2 mile route: Hansen Family Campground, D.A Davidson, Bear Paw Credit Union, MT Army National Guard, Havre High School Key Club, Bear Paw Development Corp., Crystal Manuel, Triangle Communication, Property West, Havre Lions, Independence Bank, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

A huge thank you to our volunteers who helped keep our runners safe: Bear Paw Fire Department for monitoring traffic and piloting cars; Hill County Search and Rescue for providing communication radios and helping with first aid at the water stations; Rudyard Ambulance and Fire Department along with Kayleen Hocket and Kathleen Swenson for bicycling the entire route in order to lead runners and administer first aid; Hill County Sheriff’s Office for keeping Butte Road closed and safe; Havre Police Department for directing traffic in town and at our finish line; Our plywood masters, Alan Sorenson, Ryan Sorenson, Ned Malone and Pete Vanderven, for keeping the cattle guards covered for runners to safely cross.

Our route was safe a clear because of the hard work that these groups and individuals put in.

Thank you to our finish line medical team including Amy Jones, Paul Schuschke and Arlee Cormany. Thanks for volunteering your time and knowledge to help our injured runners.

Shout out to the vendors and came to our after party: Vic’s Place, Streatery, Parkers BBQ, 406 Roasting Coffee Camper, And Company, Bounce On In, Havre Eagles Club and Holden’s Hot Wheels. Thank you to our entertainment, Crawford Brothers Band and Milk River Band. Thank you to Dave Martens for your help finding a band. Also a big thank you to Chris Preputin for the use of the sound system, Mike Atkinson for managing the sound system and Grant Olson for sound and stage set up and breakdown.

Thank you to all of the entities that allowed us the use of their facilities and roads: Montana State University-Northern, Beaver Creek Park, city of Havre, Havre Public Schools Bus Garage, Hill County Fairgrounds, Holiday Village Mall, Montana Department of Transportation. Thank you to the Hill County commissioners and Hill County Health Department for your permissions and suggestions regarding the race.

Thank you to Patrick Construction for the use and set up of the porta potties.

Thank you to Brooke James for our logo design and Tom Metcalf for the map design. Thank you to KRTV, New Media Broadcasters, Havre Daily News and Colin Thompson for your promotion and coverage before, during and after the race.

We also want to thank all of the businesses that produced our runners’ swag and signage for the race: American Solutions for Business-Kimberly Bengtson, Pratt & Company, Spartan Promotional, Master Sports and Hill County Printing.

Our pub crawl could not have been a success without the participating businesses: Crawford Distillery, Triple Dog Brewing, Old Station Brewery, Vizsla Brewing, Vic’s Place, The Gallery, The Oxford and The Palace.

Thank you to Competitive Timing for not only the timing services that they offered but also for answering any questions and giving advice on how best to organize our events.

Thank you to all other notable volunteers who gave their time, expertise and efforts to help get this race off the ground: Courtney Helmers, Jessica White, Adam Michaelis, Christina VaLue, Tiffany Castillion, Lory Takawira, Keri Pike, Bridget, Cadence and Tia Kallenberger, Casey Pratt, Alyssa LaSalle, Simone Brisco, Carol Pleninger, Delona Malone, Amanda Solomon, Karston Donovan, Paulette Preeshl, Matt Wertheimer and Chris Durward.

Lastly, thank you to all those who helped organize this race: Marla Shulund, assistant race director; Pam Wilson, assistant race director #2 and safety plan co-creator; Dave Wilson, route master and safety plan co-creator; Todd Solomon, safety and medical coordinator; Mark Peterson, route and safety help; Rachel Hutchison, organization and after party coordinator; Melissa Kapperud, pub crawl coordinator; Kim Bengtson, pub crawl coordinator; Maia LaSalle, finish line and after party coordinator; Bethany Chinadle, organization and assembly coordinator.

We can’t wait to see how much this event grows next year! We cannot express how thankful we are to the Havre community for the outpouring of support that we have seen. We hope that the success for this event has resounding effects on our local businesses and economy. Thank you!

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Julea Robbins, Havre Area Chamber of Commerce executive director, Bear Paw Marathon race director