by Craig O. Olsen
Originally Published in the IAMC Newsletter, January 2016
For 2015 year 32 club members participated in the 2015 IAMC Challenge. Of these 19 participants posted photos at one or more sites. There were some who visited sites but did not post any photos. For 2015, the 6th year of the IAMC Challenge, 44 sites were selected corresponding to the 44 counties in Idaho. Within each site (county) there were three options:
(a) Visit the county courthouse in the given county seat. In some counties the historic county courthouse was selected rather than the currently functioning one.
(b) Visit the selected off-road site within the given county. There was considerable diversity in these sites from mountain fire lookouts, caves, and bodies of water to picturesque views and historic buildings. The ride levels varied from easy to hard (level 1 through level 4).
(c)Pick your own site within the given county. You needed to identify the site by its proper name and photo along with the Benchmark Map coordinates as to its location and/or your GPS tracks (or GPS coordinates) getting there.
What constituted a site visit was a photo of the participant and/or the participant’s bike displaying this year’s purple Challenge bandana at one of the op&ons above for each county. Credit for a site visit was only given to those participants who uploaded their photos to the appropriate 2015 Challenge site at motoidaho.org on or before December 31, 2015.
Of the 19 club members who participated during 2014, three who achieved the bronze &re level (10-19 sites visited) are Larry Belisle, Tom Serine, and Mike Hardy. The five who reached the silver &re level (20-29 sites visited) include Dan Driscoll, Chuck Scheer, Ed Torrey, Ron Schinnerer, and Doug Patchin. The two club members who aPained the gold &re level (30-39 sites visited) are Gary Upland and Jim Jorgensen. There are three club members who achieved platinum &re level (40-45 sites visited) – Wayne Smith, Matt Spurlock, and Craig Olsen.
We recognize all who participated in visiting last year’s Challenge sites. Three of the articles in this issue of the newsletter highlight the 2014 Challenge journey for our two platinum &re level winners and one of our gold &re level winners. Jim Jorgensen declined to write a summary of his gold level challenge win.