Thank you for being a part of our Women of Fisheries community and participating in the THIRD annual fisHER Adventure Classic this month! Without you, we would not be able to grow and expand our services for all women in fisheries.
The fisHER Adventure Classic is our annual fundraising event to help support our initiatives such as future scholarships, awards, mentoring support, and planning for annual meetings. This third annual virtual event funds the Women of Fisheries Gives Back Award for early career professionals. We will be accepting applications until 12/18/22 and recipients will be announced in January 2023.
This year, the event took place virtually from October 1-15, 2022, and we encouraged registrants to participate in an outdoor adventure of their choosing and share their stories with us. In all, we had 25 participants checking in from Oregon to Florida and all together (including raffle ticket purchases) we raised approximately $330. From boating to hiking, here are a few of the adventures shared with us by our members. Maybe you will even catch a glimpse of your own.
The fisHER Adventure Classic also included a contest for Most Impressive Adventure, Most Interesting Location, and Best Adventure Story, with winners having the option to choose from personalized #fisHERAdventureClassic race swag. Thank you to everyone who submitted stories and shared your adventures with us on social media. We can’t wait for next year’s event to share even more adventures with all of you!
Below, we present our 2022 story winners and their winning entries. Congratulations Lynn, Christina, and Alex!
Most Impressive Adventure – Lynn Mattes
I ended up going for a very foggy morning hike at Yaquina Head Natural Area on the central Oregon Coast. A little over a 4 mile hike; some sections are at sea level and some are at over 400 feet of elevation. So some steep hills. I also found a little friend who was going at my pace (large slug).
Most Interesting Location – Christina Parker
I took advantage of temperatures finally cooling off to go for a hike around Folsom Lake, Folsom California. It wasn’t a particularly long hike but it was beautiful weather and I had wonderful company! Happy to support Women in Fisheries! Check out the Folsom Dam in the background! The lake is currently very low due to extended drought so you can see more of the dam than is visible most of the time.
Best Adventure Story – Alex Norelli
This year I continued exploring the unique parks of Florida at Biscayne National Park! Unlike our insane bike ride last year, my boyfriend and I peacefully walked the 0.6 mile boardwalk and admired the nature center. We did a lot of fish watching, the mullet run is in full swing in Florida so we saw a few pockets of them and a lot of schooling needlefish! The wildest part of the trip was the drive to the park. We almost gave up because the weather was terrible in Miami, but as we drove further south the dark clouds disappeared and it was a beautiful sunny day! We probably wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t sunny because the backroads to the park are so winding and bumpy it would have been difficult to navigate in a tropical downpour! Overall, we had a really fun, simple adventure this year!
Winners of the Gyotaku prints
We also held a live raffle on October 30, 2022 to determine the winners of our 3 fish prints graciously donated by Bruce Koike. Congratulations to Christina Parker (matted print, Moonfish), Christine Longjohn (Black Rockfish), and Tiffany Pasco (White Crappie) on your score!
And last but not least, for all of the participants, keep an eye on your mail for your Women of Fisheries sticker!