Ultramarathon to raise money for high school cross country

Beau and Holly Wielkoszewski are bringing ultramarathon running to Bigfork.

Scheduled for June 27, the Flathead Monster Ultramarathon will be one of the first races of its kind in Northwest Montana and will feature a one-hour kids race as well as six and 12-hour races.

“There aren’t really a lot of races like this in Northwestern Montana or really in a lot of the Northwest in general,” Beau Wielkoszewski said. “We wanted to hold a longer race that could really draw people to the community. We want to bring people in from all over and really make this a community event.”

The Wielkoszewskis are no strangers to long distance running as Beau serves as the head coach for the Bigfork High School cross country team with Holly acting as assistant coach. Both are excited about bringing an ultramarathon race to Bigfork and see it as a way to help people get into the sport.

“People can be scared off by the six and 12 hour times, but they don’t have to run for that whole time,” Beau Wielkoszewski said “You can walk one lap, and then sit in a chair. They can walk another lap and then talk with friends and go get some food. The clock is always ticking, but you can do as many laps in the time period as you want. People are surprised that they can easily complete a marathon in that time period with that format. It takes away the stress of being miles from the finish if you start to get into trouble.”

While the pair are not expecting to make much of a profit from the race, any proceeds will be donated to the cross country team, which is one of five sports that are not funded by the school district.

Each year, the Bigfork High School cross country, soccer, wrestling, swimming and golf teams must raise roughly $9,000 to fund their sports for the season. The money raised each season goes to pay for things like bus fuel, drivers, meals, entry fees and even the coach’s salaries.

“The lack of funding definitely keeps us from doing some of the things we want to do and it can be tough on the teams,” Beau Wielkoszewski said. “One example is the tent that is shared by cross country and track. We have to keep it standing up by using duct tape. Any money the team gets from the race will help with things like that.”

According to Beau Wielkoszewski, raising money for his team would be nice, but what he really wants is to create a new event that will help Bigfork as a whole.

“We have the Spartan Race out here, but those people are bused through town and out to the event, so none of that business really comes to our community. We are really just trying to create a community event and a great race that people will want to come to in the future. We don’t expect our profit margin from the race to be huge. We just want to put on a good race and, if there is any money left over, then it will go towards the cross country budget,” he said.

The one-hour kids race is scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. June 27 at a cost of $30 per runner. Both the six and 12-hour races will begin at 9:30 a.m. The cost for the six-hour race is $40 per racer before May 1 and $50 after. The 12-hour race registration fee is $80 before May 1 and $100 after.

Beau and Holly Wielkoszewski will be speaking about the race and race nutrition from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Max’s Market.

For more information, visit the race’s website at www.flatheadmonsterultra.com.