Boyz ‘n Girlz in the Hood (to Coast)

August 26th, 2006

If you’re new to Portland and you’re out and about this Friday night, especially around the inner eastside or Waterfront Park, and you run across a large number of sweaty individuals in reflective vests huffing and puffing through the darkness, don’t worry.

They’re competitors in the uniquely Oregonian Hood-to-Coast Relay–a one-of-a-kind road-running event comprising 1,000 teams of 12 runners, tracing a route from Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood to Seaside at the coast. Elite runners and couch potatoes alike join the fray and the event fills out on the first day of registration each spring. In total, as the largest relay event in North America, it features 12,000 runners and 4,800 walkers.

It’s nearly 200 miles of porta-potties, 700 vans festooned with posters and blow-up dolls, and 36 legs of mileage between 4 and 7 miles each. With severe downhill legs from Mt. Hood and a mix of brutal uphill stints in the Coast Range, the race culminates in a 12-man sprint to the finish through the sand in Seaside.

Every 5 to 6 miles, traffic comes to a major slowdown on main thoroughfares like Highway 26 between Government Camp and Sandy as runners make their exchanges. You may run into some of these congestion zones if you are using Highway 30 or some of the back roads from St. Helens to the coast this weekend.

Due to a change in team organization (and my relative inactivity this year), I will be missing the 25th anniversary of the event that started in 1981 as a bunch of guys riding in the backs of pickup trucks running legs of 5-mile lengths all the way to Pacific City.

As most participants have experienced, it is a grueling event, but the soreness and sleep deprivation is offset by the wealth of stories of lost runners, busted vans, and ultimately, the conquering of 197 miles across mountains, valleys, and coastlines by 12 teammates.

I know this, however, I will sleep (and smell) better tonight than 99% of the HTC participants cramped into mini-vans or in sleeping bags in the fields of Mist, Oregon.

Links:

Blograstinator

UrbanMamas

Technorati Tags: running, relay, Hood to Coast, race

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Entry Filed under: Diversions