Community members in Lodi Township host an annual motorcycle race to benefit the community.
Dressed in a pink jumpsuit and helmet, Amber Davis sped past Heidi Marty on her Enduro motorcycle.
“That one’s a girl!” Marty said. “There’s our girl!”
Davis, a Steubenville resident, has only been riding for a year. This year’s “Lost in Lodi” race — which occurred Sunday at 10 a.m. — was her first Enduro race. The race stretched more than 70 miles, including a short section of Meigs County.
Sixty property owners in the community, including the Martys, agreed to let their land in Lodi Township be used to form the track. The event drew 165 participants, who each had to pay a $50 fee.
Marty said a large portion of the funds go toward the Richland Area Volunteer Fire Department, while some the rest goes toward helping others in the community. In previous years, the event raised $13,000 to $14,000.
“We have a slush fund in case someone gets into trouble,” he said.
Last year, some of the funds were used to create a wheelchair accessible walkway in one Lodi Township resident’s home.
“We get riders from all over the place,” he said. “And here you’ll get families coming out to watch.”
Kevin Brown, the president of the Athens Motorcycle Association, said Enduro racing requires that racers reach certain checkpoints throughout the course within a certain time frame, without going too fast or too slow. The objective was to maintain a pace of approximately 24 miles per hour throughout the course.
This year, the race was the first in the Appalachian Championship Enduro Series, which hosts off-road motorcycle races throughout Appalachian Ohio, Indiana and parts of Pennsylvania.
The race in Lodi Township was unique, Marvin Marty, an organizer, said, because it’s organized by a group of community members.
“We’re a unique group,” Marty said. “All the rest are put on by organized motorcycle clubs.”
Steven Olona, who had previously lived in New Mexico, said this was his first time racing in a wooded area, and that early on in the race he had ended up upside-down in a ditch along the track.
“It was extremely, extremely slippery,” he said. “After that I learned to take it slow.”
He said for him, Enduro racing is an escape.
“It’s just riding,” he said. “Your mind is clear of everything else.”
Candice Birch, who has been involved in setting up the event for four years, said racers in the past have told her that the residents in Lodi are the most receptive to the sport.
Many people who live near the track set up chairs to watch the race, and the track also had three spectator spots set up for people to watch. Most years, children will wait by the finish line and have racers sign their shirts as they complete the race.
“Everybody just seems so excited and happy to be out,” Birch said. “And it’s not just young people racing. It’s older people and heavy middle aged guys.”
In addition to those who organize the event, Birch said they require sponsors, cleanup crews and property owners’ help in order to function smoothly.
“It ends up involving the whole community,” she said. “It takes a whole lot of people to make it happen.”
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