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This year’s Santa Barbara Triathlon is scheduled for the weekend of August 24-25.
Presidio Sports is a provider of local sports news and information for the Santa Barbara community. Founded in 2008, the small team at Presidio has covered hundreds of local sporting events and published thousands of articles connected to Santa Barbara’s athletic community. Please visit their website for more local sports news and information.
Sports Volunteer of the Month: Curtis Ridling by Barry Punzal
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urtis Ridling is confident he’ll be at his customary volunteer post at the intersection of Gobernador Canyon Road and Highway 192 for the cycling leg of the Santa Barbara Triathlon longcourse route on Saturday, August 24. Ridling has been a fixture at that site for years, making sure triathletes are safe from oncoming traffic as they cross the highway. For the important role he’s served with the Santa Barbara Triathlon, Presidio Sports is pleased to recognize Ridling as the Volunteer of the Month. The fact Ridling is talking about getting back on the course is nothing short of amazing. Not long ago there was uncertainty on whether he would be alive today. Last December, while on a ski trip to Colorado, the 76-year-old cyclist, runner, skier and tennis player contracted the illness Sepsis and nearly died. Sepsis is a toxic response to an infection, or a poisoning of the blood. The infection, which was caused by a hernia, was in his intestinal tract. He was so sick he couldn’t hold down any food or even stand. “I rolled off the bed and crawled to the bathroom in my hotel room,” he said from his Santa Barbara home. “The paramedics came to the room I was staying and there was this older guy who said, ‘There’s an ambulance out there. You can get in it and we’ll take you to the hospital. It’s your call. But I got to tell you, if you don’t go, you’re not going to make it.’ “He was so right. I would have died in that room.” He added: “Lots of people saved my life along the way. I’m grateful for that.” Ridling said he was in a coma for three weeks of a four-month stay in a Denver hospital. The illness affected his circulation. He had a blood clot removed
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from his right leg and later developed gangrene in his foot. Doctors amputated the toes on his right foot. “It was like I had a stroke,” he explained. “They took my toes, my right hand doesn’t work well. My right side got hammered, and it’s been a hard recovery. It’s been one step forward and a step back.” Nine months later, he is still fighting the illness. Recently, he developed an infection in his right foot, and he’s been on crutches. But he hopes to be off of them and back directing traffic on perhaps the toughest volunteer assignment on the course. “I told [race director Joe Coito] the other day I want to do it again. Hopefully, I’m well enough to do it,” said Ridling. As a long-time cyclist, Ridling feels the Gobernador Canyon-192 intersection is the best place for him. “I request it every year,” he said. On the 34-mile cycling route, outgoing riders make a left a turn off Hwy. 192 onto Gobernador Canyon, where they do a loop, exit onto Hwy 150 and head back onto Hwy 192 toward East Beach. “It’s a bit of a sketchy spot,” he said. “You’ve got to block traffic coming and block the bikers because they can’t make a left turn (when there’s oncoming car traffic), and they have to follow the rules of the road. Everybody wants to make that left turn onto Gobernador without stopping. “Sometimes I get yelled at by people because they think I’m a jerk because I’m making them stop.” Ridling has plenty of experience keeping people in line. “I taught high school for thirty years, I can be pretty bullish if I need to be,” he laughed. In his early years at the intersection, Ridling said volunteers stopped the cars so the triathletes could make their left turn. “We’d hold up the cars, but what went wrong with that was you’re holding up cars and behind them are [returning] bikers trying to get through who are ahead of the guys making a left by a good long ways. But they can’t go through because the cars are stopped. Sometimes they’d try and they’d go alongside the car. “The police got on us about how [the riders] have to obey the rules of the road. It’s actually safer for them to do what I did.”
For several triathlons, Ridling worked the intersection with his daughter, Natalie. Natalie has kept her father’s friends and family updated on his condition through the online site Caring Bridge (caringbridge.org). Ridling’s page has received thousands of hits on the site. “I’ve always been a stubborn, independent guy, but one of the lessons I learned from this is I needed people to help me,” he said, humbly. Ridling credits his fitness with helping him survive the life-threatening illness. Please visit PresidioSports.com to continue reading. Sports Volunteer Of The Month: Each Month, Presidio Sports recognizes a local sports volunteer for his/her extraordinary contribution to the Santa Barbara athletic community. It is our way to recognize those who selflessly donate their time to benefit others. A special thanks to award sponsor Pacific Western Bank for making the effort possible. Each award recipient receives a gift certificate to Paradise Café.
Sports Figure of the Month: Dave Odell is a Man With Many Hats by Barry Punzal
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ave Odell is a bridge builder. But he doesn’t make connections using spans of steel and concrete. He builds through developing relationships, using materials like trust, knowledge, teamwork and camaraderie. Those qualities have enabled Odell to become a mover and a shaker in the business and sports communities in Santa Barbara. As a businessman, he has started several successful companies, helped small business owners get started and provided them with support for accounting and technology issues by creating bridges to experts in those areas. In the athletic community, Odell has used the strength-in-team approach as a bridge to success. As a board chairman, he helped unify club soccer in town. That move has been instrumental to the Santa Barbara Soccer Club’s success at the state, regional and national levels. As the San Marcos boys’ basketball coach, he guided the Royals to the CIF 3AA quarterfinals in his first year at the helm. As the athletic director at Westmont College, he’s freed up coaches from
Dave Odell
fundraising work so they could devote more time to recruiting and coaching their teams. That move has translated to greater success on the field. He and his wife, DeAnna, also have worked to improve connections between their alma mater and the Santa Barbara community at large. They created the Westmonster 5k run. The August 15 event takes runners on a course through the idyllic Montecito campus, finishing up at the track stadium, where they’ll be treated to a dinner prepared by Eric Widmer, the chef at La Cumbre Country Club. “I wanted a way for Westmont to come back more with the community, especially the running community,” said Odell of the idea he and his wife hatched. DeAnna Odell is a former track and cross country standout for the Warriors. Dave played basketball for the legendary Chet Kammerer. “I’m a graduate of Westmont (class of 1989) but I see myself more as a Santa Barbaran,” Dave said. “The idea was to connect more with the community. The Westmonster is a great way to do that.” Presidio Sports is pleased to honor Odell as a local Sports Figure in the Month. Please visit PresidioSports.com to continue reading. Santa Barbara Sports Figure Of The Month: Each Month, Presidio Sports recognizes a local sports figure for his/her extraordinary contribution to the Santa Barbara athletic community. It is our way to recognize those who are making a lasting impact. A special thanks to award sponsor American Riviera Bank for making the effort possible. Each award recipient receives a gift certificate to Paradise Café.