Man: I want to 'be a model to my kids'

COEUR d’ALENE — Competitors churned up sand on City Beach, running through a grueling exercise drill, urging each other on. Then they ran 1.9 miles, starting and finishing in City Park.

Saturday’s Biggest Loser team challenge was as much competition as it was an opportunity to make sure everyone — no matter what color their team shirt — ran their best.

A total of 100 competitors on five different teams battled for points for both team victory and a shot at the individual title as the Biggest Loser when the competition ends in early April.

Organizer Lindsay Herbert, who is the fitness director at Peak Health & Wellness Center in Coeur d’Alene, said this is Peak’s second Biggest Loser, following one in the fall.

“It was a huge success,” said Herbert, 29.

The previous competition had 80 participants, and 75 people finished, she said.

“The whole challenge is a point system, and the team with the most points at the end wins it,” Herbert said. “(Saturday) is an opportunity for your team to earn more points.”

Another team challenge is scheduled to take place in three weeks. The current competition started earlier this year.

Herbert and other trainers from Peak keep track of the participants’ weight loss, body fat dropped, and inches trimmed.

The participants each week get points for completing assignments and burning a certain amount of calories. They weigh in each week, too.

Biggest Loser competitor Bekah Gay of Coeur d’Alene is working to get back in shape following knee injury. She’s got other goals, too, though her husband Charlie Gay might not know it yet.

“I want to be able to compete with him,” she said. Gay said in the past she’s run in the Coeur d’Alene Triathlon and a half marathon in Sandpoint.

Scott White, 40, of Coeur d’Alene, enjoys the competitive spirit of the contest, and being challenged by fellow contestants. But he said he’s got something even more important motivating him.

“I want to get healthy so I can be a model to my kids,” White said.

He sprinted toward the finish line of the nearly two-mile run, motivated by his three sons.

“That’s what I was thinking about as I came in for that final push — my boys,” White said.