SLE PTC flies high at Run With The Wild

SEELEY LAKE - Despite temperatures in the 90s, more than 70 runners took to the Seeley Creek Trails for the Seeley Lake Elementary Parent Teacher Club's (SLE PTC) inaugural Run With The Wild 10K, 5K and 1K Fun Runs July 22. The family-friendly event, with live music by "Keeping The Day Jobs" and a barbecue, encouraged local families to enjoy where they live and brought in racers from across the state and Florida, Colorado, Oregon and Iowa.

Seeley Lake Elementary has not had a parent teacher group in over 10 years. Michelle Dunn started the group in the fall of 2022 to support and encourage the SLE teachers and staff. After becoming an official non-profit at the end of 2022, the idea for the Run With The Wild Fun Run was born.

"Seeley Lake is such a unique community," said Kayla Binder, SLE PTC vice chair.

"We really wanted to find a way we could celebrate the beauty of the outdoors and the importance of family time while raising money for our new organization."

More than 15 students submitted logo designs for the t-shirts. Fifth-grader Zenaya Lopez's design was chosen by popular vote to appear on the t-shirts and sixth-grader David Gibson's design was used on the medals.

Local businesses also jumped onboard to financially support the event.

"We quickly found out how giving our community is," Binder said.

The PTC wanted to encourage people of all ages to participate so they offered the 1K, 5K and 10K races.

Nine hearty racers took to the 10K course Saturday morning knowing there was a chance to see Sasquatch. Seeley Lake racers swept the men's division. Nick Blank was the first to cross the finish line in 48:37 followed by Casey Ford in 53:03 and Kyle Huestis hot on his heels in 53:10.

For the women's 10K, Elaine Dahl of Helena took the gold with a 59:05 finish. Heather Doran, of Lafayette, Colorado, took the silver in 1:05:44 followed by Jess Vlasie of Great Falls in 1:13:26.

The 5K sported 34 runners ranging in age from 11 to 80. Patrick Judge of Helena set a blistering pace of 22:20:16. Two minutes and 15 seconds later Sawyer Pule of St. Ignatius crossed the finish line. Seeley Lake's Ben Kesterke finished in third with a time of 28:53.

For the 5K women, Rhonda Jellison of Bigfork took the gold finishing in 30:45. A photo finish between Seeley Lakers Kieu Snow and Laura Devins left Snow in second at 32:55 and Devins in third at 32:57. Dennis Hawver, 80 of Condon, was the oldest racer finishing in 59:44.

The 1K drew 29 racers as young as five-years-old. Greenough's Tyler Stevenson was the first across the finish line in 5:08. He was followed by Seeley Lake brothers Malakai Homen, 5:26, and Ezra Homen, 6:01. Hailey Voss of Cascade finished first for the girls in 5:12 followed by Seeley Lake's Olivia Bourne, 5:35, and Seeley Lake's Noa Arteaga, 6:38, in third.

"Being our first year we of course had small hiccups in the event planning and execution but we learned so much and are looking forward to making this a yearly event," Dunn said. "We are so thankful for our Gold, Silver and Bronze sponsors as well as those who donated prizes. With their help we can do more for the SLE community this upcoming school year."