Mouth to Mouth Wild Run & Ride – Letting Go to Look Forward

Mouth to Mouth Wild Run & Ride – Letting Go to Look Forward

After 11 years, Cook Inletkeeper is bidding farewell to its annual community beach race

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb 12, 2024

MORE INFORMATION: David Knight, Race Coordinator (907) 252-3480

Soldotna, AK – A beloved springtime staple for the Kenai Peninsula fat bike and beach running community is coming to a close. Kaitlin Vadla, Cook Inletkeeper Regional Director and race creator, says, “In order to make room for greater focus on implementing in-river salmon habitat solutions, we have made the difficult decision to end Cook Inletkeeper’s Mouth to Mouth Wild Run & Ride.”

The race started small as a cheeky pun: “Mouth to Mouth” was a reference to the race’s route between the Kasilof and Kenai river mouths. It grew into a well-loved community event in the spirit of clean water, healthy watersheds, and healthy people, bringing together outdoor enthusiasts, local businesses, and the healthcare community. Participants could enter the 10 mile run, 10 mile fat bike, or 3 mile run/walk category. The 10 mile race started at the Kasilof River Mouth and ended at Dunes Rd beach access off Cannery Road. The 10 mile finish line served as the start and finish for the 3 mile race, in which participants ran or walked out and back to touch the Kenai River Mouth.

People got creative when it came to race categories. In 2015, the Kobylarz family biked the race on regular mountain bikes with toddlers on tagalongs (afterwards vowing to NEVER to do the race with skinny tires again). The race has seen all forms of participants, from runners pushing strollers to people biking with their dogs, from horseback riders to kayakers, and even a canoe team who came in dead last and had to slog through calf deep Cook Inlet mud to get to the finish line amid wild applause and loud cowbell encouragement from the finish line crowd. “It’s been a beautiful ride,” reflects Vadla.

The impetus for creating the event was to connect people to the Cook Inlet landscape in a fun and meaningful way. Vadla said, “The event deepens our connection to our community and to the amazing place we live and the waters that sustain us.” David Knight, who began coordinating the race in 2020 when he joined Inletkeeper as its Community Engagement Coordinator commented, “We grow to love the places we connect to, creating a special relationship and a strong bond. It is our hope that our community will experience this relationship building through the Mouth to Mouth Wild Run & Ride.”

Inletkeeper coordinated the race for the past eleven years in partnership with many groups, including Tsalteshi Trails, Kenaitze Indian Tribe, Kenai Watershed Forum, Kenai Peninsula Trout Unlimited, and Biking in Kenai & Soldotna (BIK&S). For the past five years, all participants were entered to win a new fat bike from Cyclelogical in Homer or from Beemuns’ Bike Loft in Soldota. Giving away a fat bike definitely added an element of excitement for participants and generated new sponsors for the race. Major support over the years came from Urgent Care of Soldotna, Upstream Family Medicine, Central Peninsula Hospital, Katie Ostrom M.D. LLC, Peninsula Health Center, Alaska Advanced Care Chiropractic, and Bobbie Behrens M.D. OB/GYN LLC. In addition, countless small businesses supported the race with in-kind donations of food, drink, and prizes, including Kenai River Brewing, Where It’s At! Mindful Food & Drink, Lucy’s Market, Odie’s Deli, Raven Earth & Glass Works, Sweeney’s Clothing, Wilderness Way, Rivercity Books, Kenai Peninsula Massage Therapy, and the Yoga Yurt. Funds raised through the race supported Inletkeeper’s work to protect the Cook Inlet watershed and the life it sustains.

In 2020 and 2021, the race, like many others due to the pandemic, was held as a month-long virtual/in-person hybrid. When the race came back fully in person in 2022, race coordinator David Knight said, “We’ve all felt the weight of missing out on the social element of this event the past two years. Connecting with our community and this special watershed and all its natural surroundings is so much more impactful when we can be in person and experience it together.”

Knight, who worked as an education coordinator at the Kenaitze Indian Tribe prior to working at Cook Inletkeeper says, “We also want to recognize that the lands the race takes place on have been culturally shaped by the Dena’ina people, their stewardship, knowledge and traditional practices before time immemorial. Since the impact of colonial settlement, they have faced many challenges, including loss of traditional Dena’ina ways of living, hunting, fishing, land, language and culture. However, the Dena’ina are extraordinarily resilient and have combated the challenges valiantly. The work of reclaiming Dena’ina culture continues to this day in so many admirable ways, including Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s educational fishery located on Tribal land right next to the finish line of the Mouth to Mouth Wild Run & Ride.”

It may be the end of an era for Inletkeeper’s Wild Run & Ride, but there’s no need to mourn. When something ends, it always makes room for something new. There’s a great quote by author Julieanne O’Connor, “The sooner we let go of holding on, the sooner we can hold on to the beauty of what’s unfolding before us.”

If any community members or groups are interested in carrying the race forward, Inletkeeper is more than happy to share their race-coordinating details and would love to see the event continue and evolve.

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Formed in 1995, Cook Inletkeeper is a community-based organization dedicated to protecting the Cook Inlet watershed and all the life it sustains. Inletkeeper has coordinated the Mouth to Mouth Wild Run & Ride for the past eleven years in partnership with many local businesses and organizations through the years, including Tsalteshi Trails, Kenaitze Indian Tribe, Kenai Watershed Forum, Kenai Peninsula Trout Unlimited, and Biking in Kenai & Soldotna (BIK&S).