Outdoor Fitness Festival grows to two weekends

The Bass Pro Shops-sponsored event, scheduled this year for Oct. 25–26 and Oct. 31–Nov. 2, brought in more than 1,500 participants from 17 states and Canada during its three-day debut in 2007, according to Director of Conservation Martin MacDonald. He noted that marketing for the 2007 event began just six months prior to the event. Marketing for the 2008 festival essentially began at the close of the 2007 event, he said.

The 2008 Outdoor Fitness Festival is a series of events over two weekends focusing on four areas: fitness, health and wellness, outdoor adventure, and wildlife conservation.

Bass Pro officials cite the festival’s family focus as the key to its growth.

“In visiting with other event organizers, we learned that marathoners may go to an event by themselves and leave the family at home, but they’d love an event that had something … for the whole family to participate in and look forward to,” said Carol Hodson, festival coordinator. “That’s what we learned from last year.”

New to the schedule for 2008 is the 50K/25K Dogwood Canyon Trail Run in Dogwood Canyon nature park in Lampe. Outdoor gear manufacturer The North Face is sponsoring the event.

Outdoor products manufacturer Coleman and shoemaker New Balance have also thrown their corporate support behind the event.

Raw cost of the festival, not including volunteer or staff time, is about $150,000, Hodson said.

The Dogwood Canyon race joins the Bass Pro Conservation Marathon, Marathon Corporate Relay, the Maynard Cohick Half Marathon and the Ozark Greenways 10K/5K Run on the list of fitness events.

New events such as the trail run and an expanded fitness and health fair in the Bass Pro Shops showroom are part of the reason MacDonald expects attendance at the 2008 event to at least double, and possibly triple, the 2007 total.

Of particular draw for visitors from across the country is the Bass Pro Conservation Marathon, which MacDonald hopes will eventually reach the same level as national annual runs such as those in Chicago.

Also on the schedule are a global positioning system geocaching event, a kind of high-tech scavenger hunt where participants find items hidden at a given set of coordinates using their own GPS systems, and a series of biking events including a 100-mile race sponsored by St. John’s Health System and dubbed the “Tour de Bass.”

St. John’s spokeswoman Cora Scott said the health system is involved with the festival in numerous ways. In addition to the cycling event, St. John’s sports medicine physician Dr. Chris Farmer is medical director for the festival, and Dr. Roger Huckfeldt, medical director of St. John’s Medical Research Institute, will conduct several research projects on topics such as hydration and muscle fatigue.

Returning to the schedule is the Ollis & Co. Corporate Wellness Conference. The theme for the one-day conference, scheduled for Oct. 31, is Wellness as a Business Strategy.

“We’re focusing on using wellness as a tool for businesses to increase productivity and create savings and a return on investment,” said Ollis & Co. Wellness Director Anthum Deal, who added that Chris Crowley, author of aging book “Younger Next Year,” is the keynote speaker for the conference.

All of the various events combine to make the festival into something that MacDonald hopes will draw visitors from all over the country for years to come.

“One of the special things we wanted to do is to highlight Springfield and the Ozarks,” he said. “It’s a destination event.”

Outdoor Fitness Festival Schedule of Events

All events are open for registration; for more information, visit www.basspro.com/fitness.

Oct. 25

Canoeing Competition

GPS Geocaching Competition, through Nov. 1

Kayak Competition

Outdoor Skills Village

St. John’s Tour de Bass Cycling Rides

Oct. 26

Dogwood Canyon 50K/25K Trail Run

Oct. 31

Fitness and Health Fair, through Nov. 2

Ollis & Co. Corporate Wellness Conference

Nov. 1

Canoeing Classes

CoxHealth Wellness Walk

Kayak Classes

Kids and Youth Cross Country Meet and Fun Run

Ozark Greenways 10K/5K Run

Specialty Fishing Classes

Nov. 2

Bass Pro Shops Conservation Marathon

Corporate Relay Marathon

Maynard Cohick Half Marathon