PENINSULA ADVENTURE SPORTS: Summer perfect time to register for the Big Hurt

Published 4:15 pm Wednesday, July 1, 2026

PORT ANGELES — The summer is peak training season for the Big Hurt, put on by Peninsula Adventure Sports, so it is also a great time for athletes and teams to get signed up and make training plans.

Athletes can sign up for the multiple-discipline event at BigHurtPA.com.

“My strategy is to try to spread the hurt out all summer in training, so race day hurts a little less,” said last year’s Iron Women’s Master’s Division Ironman winner.

The Big Hurt will be held in and around Port Angeles on Sept. 26 and will coincide with the Banff Mountain Film Festival at Field Arts & Events Hall.. This endurance event includes mountain biking, kayaking, road biking, and running — all based out of Pebble Beach Park in downtown Port Angeles.

There is a remote start line at Foothills Trails for the 16-mile mountain bike leg with 10 miles on mountain trails, ending via a road ride down to Pebble Beach Park, then a 2.6-mile long kayak leg along the Port Angeles Harbor shoreline to old Rayonier mill and back, followed by a 30-mile road bike leg west of town, and finally a 10K run on the Waterfront Trail east of town.

The “hurt” in Big Hurt is especially reserved for the iron division, where one competitor does all four legs individually.

“There must be some appreciation for this ‘Type 2 fun’ because this year it is anticipated that the iron division will sell out at the cap of 75 individuals. Over half of the spots are already filled,” said Race Director Lorrie Mittmann.

Michael Finley of Bellingham and Joey Gish of Sequim battled it out for first place in the iron open division in both 2024 and 2025, finishing within minutes of each other. In 2025, Finley finished at 3 hours, 26 minutes and Gish at 3 hours, 28 minutes.

Port Angeles athlete Erin Fredrickson took first in the iron women’s division in 2025, while first place in the iron men’s masters division was Scott Harrington of Kingston.

The title sponsor this year is Bike Garage of Port Angeles. Bike Garage has also been sponsor of the transition zone of the race for the last 10 years and the title sponsor of Little Hurt, the kids’ version of the Big Hurt, since it started in 2021.

“I personally like watching the athletes come together for such a challenging and amazing event,” said Bike Garage owner Tom Michowski.

Less painful is the team division, which includes teams of two to four persons.

“The distances for each of the individual race legs are pretty reasonable, making the team relay a great way to go for many athletes — it is challenging, but not over the top. Plus all of the transitions between legs take place at Pebble Beach Park, making for a fun party atmosphere for teammates waiting for their leg, with plenty of camaraderie with other teams and cheering each other on,” Mittman said. “The Big Hurt is different from other multi-sport races in this regard. Most of these types of races have transitions scattered in all different areas, making logistics and spectating more difficult.”

New for teams for 2026 is the addition of the first responder category. This division is for teams of 3-4 members, where all members need to be active or retired EMS, fire, police or military. Other team categories include the open division (any combination of ages and gender), masters division (all members age 50 and over), the high school division (which can have one adult member), and tandem division, which is two-person teams. The race is limited to 75 teams.

The Big Hurt has a long history in Port Angeles dating back to 1997. From 1997-2004, it was organized by the Olympic Peninsula Visitor Bureau and then the Hurricane Ridge Public Development Authority. In 2004, the event ended for a decade, before being resurrected by Peninsula Adventure Sports. Lorrie Mittmann, Tim Tucker and Scott Tucker contacted previous organizers for their blessing, then brought the event back in 2015.

The current organizing team is made of Mittmann, Michowski, Scott Tucker (who is also involved in the NW Cup at Dry Hill), Steve Bentley (Norpoint Medical, also a race sponsor), Vicki Heckman, Kirsty Massingham and Bruce Munro.

There are a number of local athletes who have raced Big Hurt since the original iteration in the 1990s. Some of those athletes have been recognized as Big Hurt Legends and spotlighted on the legends page of the Big Hurt website. They include Gay Hunter, Dave Lasorsa, Tom Wahl, Wayne Fitzwater and Mike VanDoren.

The Big Hurt has always had a base in community support and is a team effort. The community team includes the Big Hurt organizing committee, a large number of volunteers, local non-profit organizations, municipalities and tourism organizations, as well as sponsors. This year’s race sponsors, all of which have been with the race for years, are Sound Bikes and Kayaks, Norpoint Medical, Bike Garage, Swains, North Olympic Healthcare Network, Angeles Millworks / Harnagels and Olympic Lodge.

Registration is not open yet for Little Hurt, which is on Sept. 27. The Little Hurt is for kids pre-K to eighth grade and includes biking and running at and around the Peninsula College campus, as well as rowing on rowing machines for the first- through eighth-grade ages. More info can be found at PeninsulaAdventureSports.com/Events/little-hurt.

Little Hurt registration will open soon and the schools will receive information to share with parents when schools start back this fall.