Many dash around Bend for sports festival

Many dashed around the Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend on Sunday, taking part in an annual sports festival, the Deschutes Dash.

The Deschutes Dash sports festival included a full weekend of activities including the COPA Kid’s Splash and Dash on Saturday and a youth triathlon on Sunday.

It’s deemed an event for everyone, especially for those swimmers, cyclists and runners who love to compete.

On Sunday, there was a sprint triathlon, duathlon, aquabike and a 5K run.

All of the events had one of the best backdrops in Bend: the Deschutes River.

“This is a great event for families,” said Cindy King, volunteer coordinator. “It’s a wonderful thing to do in the summer, because the sun is out and its warm. The Deschutes Dash is typically very cold. The Deschutes River was 64 degrees this year, so it made it a lot of fun for the racers, as well as the spectators.”

The goal of the event was for everyone to have a good race experience — and from the looks on the faces of the competitors, they did.

After the race, people could dine on some food and get free beer from Deschutes Brewery and cocktails from Bendistillery.