Spuddy Recovery Triathlon is Thursday

12 years ago

Spuddy Recovery Triathlon is Thursday

    PRESQUE ISLE — Plans for a golf tournament during this year’s Crown of Maine Balloon Fest have been cancelled due to a low number of golfers registering for the event. Instead, organizers with The Aroostook Medical Center are planning to host a “light version” of the Spuddy Recovery Triathlon on Main Street in downtown Presque Isle during the Street Fair Thursday, Aug. 23.

Photo courtesy of The Aroostook Medical Center

    SPUDDY RECOVERY TRIATHLON participants Megan Miller of Washburn, left, and Steve Thibodeau of Caribou navigate through the obstacles at the Spuddy Recovery Triathlon event held in Fort Fairfield during this year’s Potato Blossom Festival. COMBF-SPUDDY RECOVERY-DCX-SH-34 TAMC is planning to host Spuddy Recovery II during the Crown of Maine Balloon Fest Street Fair Thursday, Aug. 23.

    The Spuddy Recovery event was a hit earlier this summer when it was first introduced at the Maine Potato Blossom Festival in Fort Fairfield. The contest is more fun than sport. The entire activity will take place on the section of Main Street between Academy Street and Blake Street, where the Street Fair is held. As with the Fort Fairfield event, it will involve some common medical equipment used to assist with mobility and incorporate The County’s most famous crop in a variety of ways.

    Participants will navigate through a light obstacle course first pushing a wheelchair loaded with a bag of potatoes, then transition to pushing a medical rolling walker ensuring a potato stays steady on board, before finally using a crutch like a golf putter to get a potato into a potato barrel.

    Acadia Medical Supply, which provides a full line of medical supplies to local health care organizations and to individuals, as well as clothing for workers in the health care industry, will supply the wheelchairs, walkers and crutches. TAMC is again working with Cavendish Farms — sponsors of the TAMC Centennial Potato Plot — to provide the potatoes for the event.

    The field is limited to only 16 participants. Four competitors will take part in the obstacle course at a time. The winner of each of the four rounds will compete in a championship round at the end.

    Applicants of all ages are encouraged to show up at the Street Fair and complete a registration form to take part. Interested individuals should look for the TAMC Birthday Buggy at the Street Fair as the location to sign up. The Spuddy Recovery Triathlon will get under way around 6 p.m.

    For more information, contact Joel Johndro, event coordinator, at 768-4033.