After all the controversy surrounding the Hoka Hey cross-country motorcycle race (see previous post here), Will Barclay was announced – to shouts of “Hoka Hey! Hoka Hey!” – as the $500,000 winner during this week’s rally in Sturgis, S.D.

Ruth Brown of the Rapid City Journal writes here that:

The Hoka Hey Challenge was organized by Beth Durham and Jim “Red Cloud” Durham, who are from Hot Springs. The challenge to ride from Key West, Fla., to Homer, Alaska, on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle began on June 20 and lasted through July 4.

Entry fees were $1,000 per rider, and the first person to reach Homer without breaking any challenge rules would receive $500,000 in prize money.

And yes, the prize money actually was forthcoming.

“Maybe it wasn’t all neat and tidy, but we did it and it was one of the best experiences of my life,” Barclay tells Brown. “After I finished the polygraph … the next day the money was transferred into my account.”

The matter of whether any money went to the Red Cloud Humanitarian Fund, to get water into homes on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, seemed somewhat fuzzy, though.

Durham tells Brown that at least one home got water.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Gwen Florio, Harley-Davidson, Hoka Hey Challenge, Homer Alaska, Jim Red Cloud Durham, Key West, motorcycle race, Native American news, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Red Cloud Humanitarian Fund, Sturgis, Will Barclay