Full weekend of sports during Pioneer Days
by Rhett Sifford
Sports Editor
If you’re a sports competitor, the month of July is always a great time to be in San Juan County. From the Fourth of July Celebration in Blanding to the upcoming Pioneer Day Celebration in Monticello, there is plenty of annual opportunity for you to get your fix and win some great prizes along the way.
The 2024 Pioneer Day Celebration sports events get underway on Friday, July 19 with a brand new event – a pickleball tournament at 1 p.m. at the Monticello City Pool. The tourney is free to enter but it’s limited to the first 14 teams.
At 2:30 p.m. the teams participating in the 2024 Blue Mountain Invitational Fastpitch Softball Tournament will check in at Field #2 and the home run derby will begin shortly thereafter.
Anyone can enter the derby for $10. The first competitor for teams entered in the tournament is free with additional entries costing $10 each.
The opening ceremony for the tournament itself, which is the longest consecutively-running fastpitch tournament in the nation, is set for 4:30 p.m. and it will run both days of the celebration before a winner is decided on Saturday evening.
Three-time defending champion Ranlife Mortgage of Herriman, UT is looking for their fourth-straight title this year. As of July 16 the challengers include Bayles Exploration, Diamond C, Drillers, Fullmer Farms, Moab, Precision Construction, and Weekend Warriors.
Another brand new event – a disc golf tournament – gets underway at 5 p.m. at the newly-completed course at the mill site. This event will also serve as a grand opening for the course. Come play a round or enter the closest-to-the-basket tournament for free.
Families can have a fun time at a family and children cornhole tournament in Veterans Park with practice starting at 5 p.m. It’s free and you’ll have a chance to win some yard games if you’re the last teams standing. Tournament play begins at 6 p.m.
At 6:30 p.m. on Friday the Hideout Golf Course is hosting a Night Out at the Hideout. Golfers will play nine holes in the daylight and nine more in the dark with prizes for the top teams and a raffle event.
It’s a shotgun start and the registration fee is $280 per team. For more information or to register, contact Hideout Pro Jeff Simon at 435-298-8120 or jeffsimon@pga.com.
The Blue Mountain Pioneer Day 5K gets Saturday, July 20 started bright and early with a 7 a.m. start at Loyds Lake. Cost is $30 with a t-shirt, $15 without, and you can get registered at runnercard.com. The one-mile kids fun run will start at 7:45 a.m. and it’s $5.
The softball tournament gets back underway at 8 a.m. at the ballfields with teams that suffered day-one losses battling to keep their title hopes alive.
The Hideout gets back in the mix at 9 a.m. on Saturday with its third-annual long drive contest. This event features divisions for men, women, and juniors. The winners of each division receive a $100 golf shop credit.
In the 2023 event several golfers launched the golf ball over 320 yards. There will be morning and afternoon sessions at the Hideout driving range.
At noon players age 16 and older can mosey over to the ballfields and try their hand at competitive cornhole. There’s a cash prize for the winning team with the second- and third-place teams also winning prizes. It’s $40 per team to enter and space is limited, so get registered early.
The most unique and intriguing sports competition of the 2024 Pioneer Day celebration will surely be the belly flop and dive competition, set to get underway at the Monticello City Pool at 2 p.m. The champion will earn a gift card and maybe some medical attention.