Heather Renner and Tasha Reynolds run and fat bike to the finish during 2019 Mouth to Mouth Wild Run & Ride. (Courtesy photo)

Heather Renner and Tasha Reynolds run and fat bike to the finish during 2019 Mouth to Mouth Wild Run & Ride. (Courtesy photo)

Mouth to Mouth up and running

The monthlong run and fat bike challenge kicked off in person on Tuesday at South Kenai Beach.

The Cook Inletkeeper’s Mouth to Mouth Run & Ride is in full swing this month.

The run and ride, which is a monthlong run and fat bike challenge, kicked off in person on Tuesday at South Kenai Beach. The three categories are a 10-mile run or walk, a 10-mile bike ride and a 3-mile run or walk between the mouths of the Kenai and Kasilof rivers.

“We miss everyone and would love to see folks,” Kaitlin Vadla, the director of Cook Inletkeeper’s community action studio, said in a May 25 release. The event promotes healthy water, watershed and people, according to the release.

Last year, Cook Inletkeeper made the run and ride a virtual event in an effort to comply with COVID-19 mitigation protocols.

This year, participants are encouraged to register for the event at inletkeeper.org/m2m and then record running or biking times between the mouths of the Kasilof and Kenai Rivers. Times can be uploaded to the virtual race coordinator, and the leaderboard is updated daily.

Participants who finish the challenges, which can be completed multiple times throughout the month, are eligible to enter a prize raffle. They can also choose to start a fundraiser in conjunction with their run or ride to help raise funds to protect the Cook Inlet natural habitat.

Reach reporter Camille Botello at camille.botello@peninsulaclarion.com.

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