Run Bear Paw Giant Downhill set for Saturday

by Alan Sorensen

For Havre Daily News

Recovered from the Bear Paw Marathon? Ready for another try at setting personal best times?

The Run Bear Paw Giant Downhill, which will feature 5-mile and 5K runs and a 1-mile Zombie Walk Saturday, Oct. 29, is the place to do it. 

Enjoy the fresh air and glorious beauty of the Chippewa Cree Recreation Area as you careen downhill from the Bear Paw Ski Bowl to the reservation line.

Entry forms are available at Master Sports, Down Under, Northstar Athletics and Havre Daily News in Havre, and at locations in Rocky Boy and Box Elder.

Same-day registration will begin at the recreation area entrance at 10:30 a.m. The runs and walk are slated to begin simultaneously at noon, weather permitting.

Parents or guardians of runners younger than 18 must sign the entry form and waiver.

A limited number of T-shirts will be available for the earliest people to register.

Runners are welcome to park their vehicles in any of the nearby campsites in Beaver Creek Park and on the reservation. Runners will then carpool to their respective starting lines prior to the shotgun start.

The runs are intended to spark a revival of competitive running throughout the year in the area. 

The principal goal is to jumpstart the Bear Paw Run from the corrals adjacent to Mount Baldy to Rotary Pond held every year from 1979 through 2005. The runs of 7.4 and 3.9 miles were among many held annually in the Havre and Hi-Line area every year, which attracted hundreds of runners from throughout Montana and southern Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Among the notable winners was Great Falls speedster Doug Darko. Darko set a sizzling 34 minute and 40 second record in the longer 7.4-mile Bear Paw Run in 1981 with an average pace of 4:40 per mile on the downhill course.

Havre's tween sensation Cathy Jarvis averaged 6 minutes per mile over the long course that same day. Jarvis returned the next year when her seventh-grade track meet was canceled and proceeded to eclipse her year-old 12K record.

In 1982, the shorter 3.9-mile finish was a classic hand-in-hand tie by Rocky Boy's Gordon Mitchell and Gerry RainingBird in a record time of 20:34. RainingBird eclipsed that record the next year in a near photo finish over Dave Johnson of Havre by one second.

Another extremely popular event of the past was the Amazing Media Fun Run, which included overlapping 5K and 10K runs.

This weekend's runs are sponsored by Tribal Natural Resources Department and Friends of the Bear Paw Marathon.