Oak Ridge Today

Velo Classic on July 25, 26 to feature bike races, Wellness Fest, Kids Bike Rodeo

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Oak Ridge Criterium

A picture from a previous Criterium race in Oak Ridge. (Submitted photo)

 

A bicycle racing event in Oak Ridge on July 25 and 26 will feature three types of races, a Family Wellness Festival, and a Kids Bike Rodeo.

It’s the URS-CH2M Oak Ridge LLC (UCOR) Oak Ridge Velo Classic.

Three types of races that include 13 categories of competitors will be offered. The road races and time trials will be staged from the parking area of the East Tennessee Technology Park beginning at 9 a.m., Saturday, July 25, and the criterium races will be held at the Horizon Center beginning at 8:30 a.m., Sunday, July 26. This year’s criterium races—which are very much like “NASCAR on bikes”—have been designated the state championships by the Tennessee Bicycle Racing Association.

The race promoters expect almost 400 competitors for the two-day event. The Comfort Inn is the official race hotel and is offering special rates to out-of-town competitors. Early race packet pickup will be held at a reception on Friday evening, July 24, poolside at the Comfort Inn. [Read more…]

Norris Lake boating crash leaves operator in serious condition

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Norris Lake Boat Crash

TWRA Investigator Matt Majors stands at the engine’s lower unit, which was torn from the boat during an accident at Heatherly’s point on Norris Lake late Thursday night. The vessel traveled about 69 feet after striking the point. (Photo by TWRA)

 

LAFOLLETTE—A LaFollette boater remains in serious condition following a boating accident that happened on Norris Lake late Thursday night, authorities said.

Just before midnight, Jimmy Arnold, a 52-year-old white male from LaFollette, was operating an open bow 24-foot Chaparral boat on Norris Lake when the accident occurred just downstream of Shanghai Marina, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said.

According to witnesses on a nearby houseboat, Arnold, who was the vessel’s sole occupant, was headed to their location at Heatherly’s point when the vessel ran aground, sending it about 69 feet onto the point. Witnesses onboard the houseboat dialed 911. [Read more…]

Golf tournament to benefit Free Medical Clinic

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Free Medical Clinic

A golf tournament in August will benefit the Free Medical Clinic of Oak Ridge.

It’s the 16th Annual Summer Golf Challenge for the Free Medical Clinic, and it will be held on Saturday, August 15, at the Oak Ridge Country Club. The tournament has a 1:30 p.m. shotgun start, and it is hosted by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority of Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge Hoofers Golf Club, and the Oak Ridge Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

The Free Medical Clinic is a nonprofit medical group that provides medical care at no cost to residents of Anderson, Roane, and Morgan Counties who do not have insurance or cannot afford care because of low income. The clinic is staffed primarily by volunteers and relies on donations from individuals, churches, and local organizations for financial support. Although the number of patients seeking care has increased significantly in recent months and donations have not kept pace, the clinic continues to serve as many as possible with the resources at hand. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge Municipal Pool hosts swim challenge

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The Oak Ridge Municipal Swimming pool is having a swim challenge.

The pool is open 11 a.m.-12 p.m. Monday through Friday for lap swimming the 100-meter course only, a press release said. If you would like to participate, come swim the 100-meter course and post your mileage.

Last year Claudia and Tom Raudorf, Jim Brant, Christy Buzzard, and Anne Roush all completed the 50-mile-plus swim by posting their laps on the Swimming Down the Clinch poster at the pool.

For more information about this program and others, contact the Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department at (865) 425-3450 or orrecparks.oakridgetn.gov.

TWRA: Removing white-tailed fawns from wild does more harm than good

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White-tailed Deer Fawn

Safe and sound. While many people might consider it abandoned, the mother is nearby nourishing herself while the fawn rests in a safe place in thick cover. (Photo credit: TWRA/Sterling Daniels)

 

MORRISTOWN—Calls reporting abandoned white-tailed fawns are pouring in, and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is reminding people to think twice before removing them from the wild in an attempt to rescue them, even when it seems like they’ve been abandoned.

TWRA Wildlife Biologist Sterling Daniels offers this information to those who may be considering “rescuing” a fawn that in most cases, would have been better left alone: “White-tailed deer have a very effective survival strategy for their offspring that may be misinterpreted by many people and it is very rare for a doe to ever abandon a fawn. Fawns are typically born May through July, with June being the most common month. For the first weeks of a fawn’s life, the mother will keep her distance from the bedded newborn only returning for just a few hours each day for nursing. This survival strategy reduces the chance of leading predators to their location. If someone encounters a fawn, the best thing to do is leave it alone.” [Read more…]

Boys, Girls Club releases football, cheerleading sign-up info

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Boys and Girls Club of Oak Ridge

The Boys and Girls Club of Oak Ridge have released fall sports sign-up information for youth tackle football, youth cheerleading, and Oak Ridge High School Football Camp.

See this PDF for more information: Boys and Girls Club Fall Sports Sign Up 2015.

Ninja 5K returns to Oak Ridge on Friday

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Ninja 5K Start in 2014

The start of the Ninja 5K at Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge in June 2014. (Photo courtesy Ninja 5K via Facebook)

 

The Second Annual Ninja 5K is at the Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge on Friday, June 19.

Registration and martial arts demonstrations start at 7 p.m. The race begins at 8 p.m.

The 3.1-mile Horizon Center race course is very flat and accessible for wheelchairs and strollers, according to race organizers.

Participants may register online at www.ninja5k.com or on site at the Horizon Center Conference Building on Novus Drive. Registration is $35 for adults and $20 for youth ages 17 and under. Participants are encouraged to dress like a ninja and run with a group of friends. [Read more…]

Soccer Club of Oak Ridge has tryouts June 8-10

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Soccer Club of Oak Ridge has tryouts next week for the U13 and U14 competitive team for the upcoming soccer season.

The tryouts will be held at Katie Hunter Field in Oak Ridge from 5:30-7:30 p.m. June 8, 9, and 10. All players must attend either June 8 or June 9 for skills testing and attend June 10 for play testing.

The make-up dates are June 16 and 17. [Read more…]

North Ridge Trail maintenance scheduled for Saturday, June 6

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Ray and Jo Ann Garrett appointed trail stewards

New North Ridge Trail Stewards Ray and JoAnn Garrett have announced that the annual North Ridge Trail/National Trails Day maintenance event will focus on the west portion of the trail, west of Illinois Avenue.

Volunteers should meet at the Garretts’ home at 101 Windham (just off West Outer Drive) at 9 a.m. on Saturday, June 6, a press release said.

Oak Ridge leaders JoAnn and Ray Garrett, who are longtime members of Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning, agreed last month to co-steward the North Ridge Trail.

“They are filling the big shoes of out-going Trail Steward Susan Donnelly, who is stepping down due to increased work and life commitments,” the TCWP press release said. [Read more…]

Photos, results: Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival

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2015 Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival Entrance

Photo by D. Ray Smith

 

The second annual Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Festival on Friday and Saturday included dragon boat races, music, vendors, food trucks, a youth area for kids, Drummers’ Parade, and Lanterns on the Lake ceremony. Here are pictures by D. Ray Smith and Rob Welton.

The Dragon Boat Festival raises money for local charities. As many as 32 dragon boat teams had registered this year. Each team has 20 paddlers and a drummer to ensure that the paddlers are propelling the boat in synchrony.

This year, the festival started on Friday evening with the Dragon Boat Beer Garden Bash at Melton Lake Park followed by a full day of boat racing on Saturday.

The festival is organized and sponsored by the three Rotary clubs of Oak Ridge.

Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson and Fire Chief Darryl Kerley estimated that the new event on Friday had about 1,500 participants, and there were approximately 4,000 who attended throughout the day on Saturday.

The winners this year were:

  • Gold—Parkway Cardiology-Paddle Attack, from the Health and Wellness Division, with a time of 01:07.301;
  • Silver—Charlotte Dragon Boat Association-Charlotte Fury (the defending champions), from the Crazy about Dragon Boats Division, with a time of 01:08.278; and
  • Bronze—Glenwood Elementary School-Glenwood Gliders, from the Education Division, with a time of 01:08.759.

See the results of this year’s races here: 2015 Oak Ridge Dragon Boat Race Results. [Read more…]

Updated: Two found after going missing on off-road ride near Windrock

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Note: This story was updated at 1:15 a.m. May 27.

WINDROCK PARK—The two off-road riders who went missing Saturday evening were found at about noon Sunday. Their sister, Kara Ferguson, said the riders were her brothers, Travis Lampkin, 27, of Knoxville, and Austin Turner, 11, of Andersonville.

Ferguson said the two left her home near Windrock Park north of Oliver Springs at about 6:30 p.m. Saturday. She started to worry at about 8 p.m. because the Polaris RZR side-by-side vehicle the two were riding had a half-tank of gas.

Unable to get help from authorities, Ferguson said, she and others spent Saturday night looking for her brothers.

They later learned that the Polaris RZR had flipped on a trail known as Trail 9. Ferguson’s brother Travis Lampkin managed to get it upright again, but then a tire went flat and it ran out of gas. It also got dark, and Lampkin and Austin Turner weren’t sure where they were, Kara said. [Read more…]

Photos: Tennessee Para Cycling Open in Oak Ridge on Saturday

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Tennessee Para Cycling Open in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on Saturday, May 16, 2015

Tennessee Para Cycling Open in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on Saturday, May 16, 2015 (Photo by Julio Culiat)

 

The Tennessee Para Cycling Open is in Oak Ridge this weekend. It’s a racing event featuring competitors who are paraplegics, amputees, or otherwise physically challenged.

Here are photos by Julio Culiat from the Saturday morning races.

The event features different categories of racers competing on conventional or adapted race bikes or hand cycles.

More than half of the competitors are wounded warriors who were injured while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, some of whom race for the Paralyzed Veterans Racing, which is affiliated with Paralyzed Veterans of America, a major sponsor of the event. There are two racers from Cuba and Colombia. [Read more…]