Flyfishing and exercise are strange bedmates. Waving a 3-oz. rod, for instance, doesn’t require Arnold’s biceps or Lindsey Vonn’s glutes. And that fried-chicken-case-of-Miller combo from last weekend’s drift-boat session negates rock hard abs. But if you like to run and hanker for craft beer and good fishing, Andrew Todd’s Rocky Mountain Flyathlon is a Colorado-based calorie burner you can count on.
Since Todd began promoting his Flyathlon concept back in 2012, more than 60 fellow “Flyathletes” have come on board. “People who never knew they were runners now run. People who only noodled previously have caught fish on the fly. And people who thought that Rolling Rock was a high quality craft beer now know better,” he says.
Flyathlon courses skirt creeks and streams, a choice of either 7- or 12-mile distances. After crossing the finish-line, a competitor’s time is adjusted by “fish factor”, aka a time bonus awarded for every inch of trout caught, photographed, and released. Get skunked, however, and get slapped with a crippling time penalty. Finally, delicious Colorado craft beers are served the night before and after the race.
Flyathlon-Saguache, on Aug. 15, is sold out. But these multi-sport races will be back in 2016. That means plenty of time to hit the trail, river, and local tavern for some intensive training.
Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.