Inaugural Bear Paw Marathon open for registration

Editor's note: This version corrects the online registration URL.

The Bear Paw Marathon opened for registration Tuesday for the race set for Saturday, June 6, 2020.

Registration is available online at https://runsignup.com/Race/MT/Havre/BearPawMarathon .

Bear Paw Marathon Director Rachel Dean said people can also access the registration at the marathon website at https://www.bearpawmarathon.com .

"We have a Facebook page, you can check out the route, and we will be posting updates throughout the months till June," Dean added.

https://runsignup.com/Race/MT/Havre/BearPawMarathon

Dean said the Bear Paw marathon is a brainchild of hers and her friend Sarah McKinney.

"Sarah and I have run several half marathons in the state together, and we would train out in the Bear Paws, and on one of those runs we came up with the idea that if we can train out we can run out here and we could have a race right here in Havre," she said.

Dean said that her friend and she have been working toward this goal for a couple of years and added that previous Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jody Olson, now retired, had been instrumental in making the race happen.

"She caught the vision, helped us find the grant funding we needed, and she is actually staying on as our fundraising director, so that we are very excited that she is still involved," Dean said. "Really, the whole city caught the vision 'cause as we started talking about and looking for letters of support they flooded in."

Dean said she has received letters of support from Bear Paw Development Corp., Havre City Council, Montana State University-Northern and various businesses around town.

"The Chamber is here to facilitate and make it happen," Havre Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Julea Robbins said.

Bare Pa-dma Yoga & SUP owner Courtney Filler was the first one to register for the marathon Tuesday.

Filler said this is going to be her first marathon and that she is excited mainly for the experience since she hasn't done one.

"It's going to be a good go get em and something to accomplish," Filler said. "My grandma passed away a few months ago, so I'm dedicating this run to her." 

"This could be a really good thing for us, we expect to bring in a lot of tourist traffic," Dean said. "It's over Living History weekend and there is a lot of good energy behind this race."

"It's going to be good for Havre," Robbins said.

Dean added that the next thing needed is a huge number of volunteers to pull off race day.

"Coming soon, we are going to have volunteer sign-up on bearpawmarathon.com, so in case people want to sign-up that is an easy way to do it," Robbins said.