Deputy Matt Smith puts his Harley through its paces earlier this year at Mills Park.The Extreme Motor Officer Training Challenge returns this weekend.
The Carson City Sheriff’s Office, with the help of the Carson City Visitor’s Bureau, is hosting its 13th Extreme Motor Officer Training Challenge Friday and Saturday.
The Motor Challenge is a competition between motorcycle police officers from across the country to train and show off their motor skills. The officers will compete in a variety of courses testing different skills that they need to be successful as a motor officer such as tight turns, speed and obstacles.
“It is going to be a lot of fun to come out and see the officers and the skills they have,” said Motor Unit Sgt. Scott McDaniel. “It is just amazing to see what they can do with these bikes.”
This year, because of the construction on Carson Street, the competition will be held in Mills Park, though McDaniel said the new location is beneficial for the event. Because it is in the park instead of downtown, there is more shade for the audience to cool off in and more family friendly.
“I think for the spectators, this will be better,” McDaniel said.
Because the competition will be held in the park, the Motor Competition was able to partner with Rockabilly Riots, a classic car show based out of Reno. There also will be several vendor booths for motorcycle related products and services, food and drink vendors, live music and a .
There will be nearly 30 motor officers from all over Nevada and California attending the competition including Nevada Highway Patrol, Washoe County School District, Douglas, Las Vegas and for the first time in several years Reno Police Department will be participating. McDaniel said that it is fun for the officers to compete with the different departments because of the friendly competition it brings, especially the rivalry between the northern and southern agencies.
“Last year Vegas came and swept the competition so we want to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” McDaniel said. “But it is really just a friendly competition between the north and south and a chance for local law enforcement to come, relax and enjoy the competition.”
In honor of this being Carson City’s 13th year, the event is themed Black Cat 13, poking fun at different popular superstitions. Some of the courses are named or designed after different superstitions, such as broken mirrors and spilled salt shakers.
“We are poking fun at bad luck because a lot of people are superstitious with the number 13 and we want to show them that there is nothing to fear,” McDaniel said. “Though we do want to avoid the cracks still, because no one wants to break their mom’s back.”
Keeping with the cat theme, the motor unit decided adopt Catmandu as the charity for the event. Catmandu is a free-roam cat and kitten shelter and adoption center that depends completely on community support to operate.
The shelter nearly closed down recently due to lack of funds, which caught the attention of the Motor Unit, McDaniel said. Because the shelter shows compassion for pets and other animals, the Motor Unit wanted to help raise funds to keep it open. At the Motor Challenge, the unit will be selling T-shirts for $20 with $2 of each sale going to the shelter as well as putting out several donation jars.
The Extreme Motor Officer Training Challenge will be Thursday-Saturday, June 23-25, and is free to the public. Thursday will primarily be a practice day for the officers, with competitions starting Friday morning. Each day is expected to run from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, visit the Motor Unit’s Facebook page at CCSO Motor Unit.