Racers pick up their bibs and registration bags for the Rock/Creek StumpJump on Friday at Rock/Creek Outfitters in Chattanooga. Hundreds of runners are competing in the Rock/Creek StumpJump, which consists of either an 11 mile or a 50 kilometer trail race on Saturday.HIGHLIGHTSRiverRocks runs through October. A few highlights:• Oct. 11, 5 p.m. Swim the Suck, a 10-mile, open-water swim through the Tennessee River Gorge• Oct. 12, 9 a.m. Urban Adventure Race, a race designed for a child and adult that incorporates paddling, trail running, indoor rock climbing and biking• Oct. 19, 7 a.m.: 7 Bridges Marathon, Half-marathon (13.1 miles) and full-marathon (26.2 miles) races over Chattanooga's bridges and through its downtown• Oct. 26, 4 p.m.: High Point Speed Climb, a speed-climbing competition open to the public.Find out about all the events at riverrockschattanooga.com.
You don't have to be an elite athlete to roll with RiverRocks, but plenty of elite athletes will be part of it.
RiverRocks, also known as RVRROX, is all about adventure sports: trail running, open-water swimming, bouldering, mountain biking.
What began as a 10-day festival in 2010 has spread to more than a month of high-adrenaline weekend showdowns, starting this weekend, with music and socializing to temper the muscle-bound action. Many of the events, such as the Triple Crown bouldering series, predate RiverRocks' birth but are tagged as part of the festival.
It's hard to pin down RiverRocks' attendance, but a recent analysis from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga focusing on only five events (there are a couple of dozen) estimated 20,000 participants and spectators were involved last year.
Add a number in that ballpark to the estimated 15,000 in town a week before RiverRocks for Chattanooga's inaugural Ironman and the estimated 20,000 who will be there the week after for Head of the Hooch, and the Scenic City looks like it could be renamed Fit City.
Speaking of which, the whole point of RiverRocks upon its founding was to "try to motivate people to get healthy," said Randy Whorton, who is on RiverRocks' board of directors and organized today's Rock/Creek StumpJump 50k.
"What's been missing the past couple years is just the average events so people can come in and ... try a sport," said Whorton, who is also director of Wild Trails, the Chattanooga trail protection nonprofit organization.
"It's lost a little of the community aspect of it, but I think we're getting it back," he said.
A few examples: the child-friendly Urban Adventure Race on Oct. 12 and High Point climbing gym's speed climbing competition on Oct. 26. Other events, like the 50k StumpJump and the Swim the Suck 10-mile race in the Tennessee River, draw hundreds of athletes from across the nation who are in peak shape for their sports.
The sole act of including less-understood sports like rock climbing in the festival helps the general public better understand them, said Chad Wykle, who organized the Triple Crown with Jim Hornton, of Boone, N.C., where the first of the four-part bouldering competition takes place. On Oct. 25 it will be at Stone Fort/Little Rock City in Soddy-Daisy.
"I think for most folks, if you ask them, climbing would have been a very extreme sport," said Wykle, head of Rock/Creek outdoor store's buying department. "RiverRocks has helped; it's made folks believe it's an acceptable sport to just about everybody."
It has also helped people better understand the underpinnings of sports that need nature: being good stewards to the environment, securing outdoor access. To that end, most of the money raised from the festival (from entry fees, sponsors) goes to nonprofits focused on outdoor issues, including the Southeastern Climbers Coalition, Tennessee Land Trust and Wild Trails.
In some cases, that's no small sum: The Triple Crown typically raises about $200,000.
Contact staff writer Mitra Malek at mmalek@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6406.