Christian, PA’s ’Bama Slammer, wins HR Derby
BEND, Ore. — Matthew Christian triumphed Monday night as the Port Angeles Lefties retained the West Coast League All-Star Game Home Run Derby Contest title.
Christian, who belted a three-run homer Sunday for Port Angeles to head into the all-star break with the WCL home run lead with nine dingers, edged out Bend’s Gabe Gonzalez in the finals by a 3-2 home run margin.
The Alabama native is a returning Lefties player from the 2018 team who played his junior season at Campbell University in North Carolina, helping the Camels advance to the NCAA Division I Tournament.
He and left-handed Lefties reliever A.C. Chavez represented Port Angeles as part of the North Division squad in Tuesday’s WCL All-Star Game (late.)
Port Angeles’ Ron Brown won last year’s derby, held on the harbor off City Pier.
Tour de Lavender
SEQUIM — The Tour de Lavender, a cycling event that visits the lavender farms of the Dungeness Valley, is set Saturday, Aug. 3.
Riders can choose from a metric century ride (62 miles) on a loop route that visits 10 lavender farms and includes stretches of the Olympic Discovery Trail.
The metric century course opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 4 p.m.
A shorter, “Fun Ride” course travels a 35-mile loop that visits nine farms in total. Riders also can opt for shorter out-and-back visits to farms on the course.
All riders depart and finish their rides at Sequim High School, 601 N. Sequim Ave.
Registration is $60 for adults, $15 for children 12 and younger at tourdelavender.com.
An after-ride party at Purple Haze Lavender Farm is $25 and includes a classic Pacific Northwest dinner and live music by The Works.
Ride the Hurricane
PORT ANGELES — The 11th annual Ride the Hurricane recreational bike climb up Olympic National Park’s Hurricane Ridge Road will be held Sunday, Aug. 4.
Registration is available at www.chambersignups.com and the race fee is $50 per person.
As a safety precaution, motor vehicle traffic on Hurricane Ridge Road — from the toll booth to the ridge, a distance of 12.4 miles — will be closed in both directions from 6 a.m. to noon the day of the event.
Olympic National Park will waive entrance fees at the Heart o’ the Hills’ entrance station that day.
Access to the Lake Angeles-Heather Park trailhead and Heart o’ the Hills campground will remain open.
Registration and packet pickup will be at the Port Angeles Visitor Center, 121 E. Railroad Ave., from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Aug. 2-3.
Previously registered riders can drop off waivers, and pick up information materials, wrist bands and order jerseys during these times.
The day of the event at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., registration will open at 6 a.m. For those who have already registered, the event’s official wrist band can be picked up at the college at this time.
At 7 a.m., the access booth will open to cyclists. All cyclists must show their wrist bands to proceed past the booth.
Until noon, cyclists can pedal the 37-mile round-trip path through Olympic National Park up to the ridge.
Cyclists seeking more of a challenge can attempt the 101.4-mile “Ride the Hurricane Century Route” and 62.7-mile “Ride the Hurricane Metric Century Route.”
The Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce is organizing the ride, with sponsorship from area businesses.
For more information, email www.portangeles.org/pages/RideTheHurricane.
Peninsula Daily News
