The Pole Pedal Paddle is Bend’s signature sporting event. Marshall Greene has won the last four, as far as Central Oregon Athlete is concerned, that makes him a BIG deal! But Greene is more than just a dominating PPP champion. He recently took third @ the Boulder Mountain Tour and is an elite level endurance athlete. Greene was kind enough to answer a few questions for COA:

Central Oregon Athlete – Where did you grow up?
Marshall Greene – Grew up in Spokane. Ran xc for Lewis and Clark HS and skied with the club
team there, Spokane Nordic.

COA – How long have you lived in Bend?
MG – I moved to Bend shortly after graduating from Middlebury College in VT in
2004.

COA – What brought you to Bend?
MG – I came to Bend to pursue cross-country ski racing full time. For
“professional” nordic ski racers, there are only a few places in the country
with post-collegiate club teams that provide the support (financially and
technically) necessary to be succesful as a ski racer. Many of these places
are in the middle of nowhere and don’t really have anything to offer besides
the ski team. I knew that I wouldn’t be ski training all 24 hours of the
day and I wanted a place where I could live happily the rest of the day.
Bend was the obvious choice.

COA – What’s next on your racing schedule?
MG – I’m leaving for Madison, WI for a Super Tour event this weekend. After that
I’ll be heading to Europe for three weekends of racing. First weekend will
be in a Swiss national level race, 2nd weekend is a Europa Cup (the World
Cup qualifying races for Central Europe), and then the last weekend I’ll
race the Engadin Ski Marathon with 12,000 others.

COA – What’s something that most people don’t know about you?
MG – I’m incredibly forgetful. I lose and leave things everywhere –on my
honeymoon I left my passport in a taxi at the Thai/Cambodia border.

COA – As the winner of multiple PPPs you are clearly a multifaceted racer/athlete,
what other sports do you enjoy?
MG – I love participating in pretty much every sport. I still run all the time
and do some road bike racing. Mt. biking is tons of fun but a little
dangerous for me — I crash hard and often. I played baseball and
basketball growing up so I even enjoy team sports from time to time.

COA – What makes the PPP special?
MG – I would love to say that the PPP distinguishes the best all-around endurance
athlete in the area but that’s really not true. Cross-country skiing
requires so much technique that if you haven’t been doing it for a long
time, it’s very difficult to make the podium. That said, the PPP is unique
in that it challenges people to become proficient at so mnay different
sports.

What REALLY makes the PPP special is how many people all over Central Oregon
get into it. Whether they are volunteering, being a team member in an event
they’ve never tried before, or racing alone, the whole community gets into
the race. That’s pretty cool for sure.

COA – What is your favorite workout in Central Oregon?
MG – It’s hard to beat some of the trail running that is so accessible around
here. One of my favorite loops starts at the Tumalo Falls parking lot, goes
up the Bridge Creek trail up to Trail 99, and then down North Fork. It goes
through the watershed and stays green much longer into the summer than many
of the trails that start to turn to dust by June. Also Bridge Creek is a
pretty infrequently used trail and bikes aren’t allowed on it so you really
feel like you’re out there all alone. Obviously I’ve got nothing against
mt. bikers — I am one, after all — but sometimes, it’s pretty cool to have
real solitude even without having to be too far from a trailhead. I’m not
sure if I’ve ever met another group of people on it in all the times of run
it.

The Pole Pedal Paddle is Bend’s most famous race. But it’s also popular in Salida Colorado and in Jackson Hole Wyoming.

• HERE is the link to Bend’s event.
• HERE is the link to the Jackson Hole, Wyoming event, which is in 35th year.
• HERE is the link to the Salida, Colorado event.

4-time reigning Pole Pedal Paddle champion Marshall Greene has a site to help you excel in the PPP. Checkout PPP Coach. Greene of Bend, has been dominating the massively popular multi sport event and is willing to share of that inside knowledge on his site. Even better, he can set you up with a personal training program to get you or your team ready for the Pole Pedal Paddle.

A decade worth of past Individual Champions at the US Bank Pole Pedal Paddle:
MEN
2009 – Marshall Greene
2008 – Marshall Greene
2007 – Marshall Greene
2006 – Marshall Greene
2005 – Jan Spurkland
2004 – Ben Husaby
2003 – Ben Husaby
2002 – Ben Husaby
2001 – Ben Husaby
2000 – Ben Husaby

WOMEN
2009 – Sarah Max
2008 – Sarah Max
2007 – Suzanne King
2006 – Suzanne King
2005 – Suzanne King
2004 – Suzanne King
2003 – Muffy Roy
2002 – Mary Schultz
2001 – Suzanne King
2000 – Evelyn Hamann

Bend’s premier multi-sport race is coming up once again. The US. Band Pole Pedal Paddle is scheduled for Saturday May, 15th in Bend. Registration is available online. For more info click HERE.

Check out the COA links page for lots of links having to do with the PPP.

A standout runner and alpine ski racer at Mountain View high school, Andrew Boone is an elite athlete. If there is any question about that, just look at his second-place overall finish at this year’s Pole Pedal Paddle behind four-time champion Marshall Greene. Boone, who refers to himself as a “weekend warrior” when it comes to racing, answered a few questions for COA. Most people can only dream of being this kind of weekend warrior!

COA – What is your favorite workout in Central Oregon?
Andrew Boone – This is a tough one because we have so many amazing venues to get the heart rate up in central Oregon. I would have to say that my absolute favorite is riding up and over McKenzie Pass. When you come back up from the west side, the road seems to twist and climb forever. The views of the mountains are spectacular and it just makes you feel blessed to live in such an amazing place. It helps that I like to go up hill on a bike! A little tip is to ride the route in late June, after the snow melts, but before the road is open to traffic.

COA – Did you surprise yourself with how well you finished @ the PPP?
AB – I was a little shocked. I knew that if things came together and I had a good day, I could finish on the podium. My bike training had been going very well, so that is where I tried to make up the most time. I was 8th coming out of the XC ski and I used the bike to move up into 2nd place. 2009 was a fun year, with a lot of hype built up around the US ski team guys that were racing for the first time. All the attention on those guys allowed me to slip completely under the radar and that was fun. I was pretty scared during the paddle though, as I was in a pretty new (to me) boat. I had paddled it only 6 or 7 times prior to race day and I ended up flipping it in all but one training session. I was very glad make it to the boat take out without taking a swim.

COA – What is your racing focus these days?
AB – Right now I am a little ADD with my training and racing focus. Cycling is still my priority and where I spend the majority of my time. I am coming out of a break from training on the bike, but I will race Cyclocross nationals for fun. This winter I am going to stay fit and explore XC ski racing a bit with the XC Oregon team, and spend a lot of time preparing for the 2010 road season. I have joined a new elite cycling team based in Bend for the 2010 season, Sagebrush Cycles/CycleSoles. I am very excited about the roster and team leadership for this upcoming season and I am looking forward to a full season of racing on the road. Goal events for 2010 will be the US Elite National Championships as well as the Cascade Cycling Classic. I am thrilled with the opportunity to be a part of such amazing teams here in Central Oregon. Both XC Oregon and Sagebrush Cycles/CycleSoles are world class programs located right here in Central Oregon and both help Bend maintain its reputation as an elite athlete Mecca! I am very lucky to have such tremendous support.

COA – What’s more fun, racing bikes or skis?
AB – Nordic skiing and cycling are very different activities. I have so much respect for Nordic skiers, because the technique required to be good can take a lifetime to learn. I am so new to the sport and I have so much to learn before I can really call myself a Nordic skier. Cycling on the other hand is pretty linear. You just pedal in circles and you move forward. So an uncoordinated guy like me can get on a bike and go fast. Right now I would say I enjoy training for XC skiing more, because every training session I make huge progress. Working with J.D. Downing (XC Oregon Coach) this season is going to do wonders for my technique and I am excited to see the gains I make this year.

COA – What’s been your best bike racing result so far?
AB – Probably my 9th place finish in the Prologue at the Tour of Virginia in 2007. This is my highest finish in a National Race Calendar (NRC) event to date and one that really stands out in my mind.