Paper: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Title: HOOD TO COAST A CALL OF THE WILD
Date: August 23, 2003

Many of the 1,000 teams that will finish today in Seaside interject


fun into the relay with their choice of names and attire


Why would anybody want to run in the Nationwide Insurance Hood to Coast Relay wearing a fuzzy pink hat, a multicolored tunic and black tights?


"People are just too serious about this," said Amy Lang of Bend, who was dressed that way outside Timberline Lodge on Friday morning.Too serious? Friday morning, it was hard to find anybody who was serious about much of anything.


That's the way it is every year at the Hood to Coast, which sent off its 22nd field in the general direction of Seaside in 20-team chunks from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday. Race organizers wait until the last flights to launch the runners who are there to -- imagine this -- win.


But if you rise with the roosters and hang out in front of Timberline's Wy'east Lodge on the first day, you can savor the real flavor of the world-famous "race."


On Friday, that meant hearing John Hammerly, the unrepentant ham ("I've got to have the spotlight") who announces each starting group from on top of a white van, intone the names of the teams:


Pendleton A Sheep At The Wheel. Dudes & Divas. Golfers Go Super Far. The Chicks That Cruise. Wakimbizi. Angels and Insects.


And that's just from the 10:15 a.m. starting time. Every starting group has similarly creative names. Some of them are even fit to print.


This is far from what Bob Foote imagined when he started the relay in 1982.


"I thought only the hard-cores like me would be attracted to it," he said, looking out of place in walking shorts, a plain jacket and sandals. "That first year, we got eight teams. I figured if it ever grew to 20 teams, it would be supremely successful."


On Friday, 1,000 teams, 12 runners in each, took off from Timberline Lodge for the 197-mile, 36-leg run. One thousand is the limit, and it's been that way for about 10 years.


Organizers fill the field, Foote said, on the first day of postmarked entries. And turn away twice as many.


This year, the number of foreign teams was down, but entries did make it from Belgium, Brazil and Mexico. There were no fewer than seven teams from The Netherlands, including no fewer than four from Hilversum, population 83,096.


The most colorful of the pre-noon teams? Undoubtedly "The Ladies Men," a team split evenly between the Portland area and the Riverdale section of the Bronx.


It was Matty Bryant's idea. He came to Portland from the Bronx ("I have dual citizenship") and thought it would be fun to get some of his old friends out west to run.


Brendan Hunt brought his bagpipes and warmed up in a purple satin jumpsuit. Bryant wore a silver Mad Hatter's hat about 15 inches tall. Before the run, they got together in a huddle and chanted "Here we go!"


None of the New Yorkers confessed to being runners. Besides, how do you train for a distance race in New York City?


"Running for my life through the subway," Jay Minchilli said.


For all the frivolity of the early morning times, heartfelt gestures were everywhere. Such as the team that called itself "A Run For Kathy."


The Kathy in question is Kathy Starostka of suburban Denver.


"She ran with us last year," said Karin Cooper-Scott of Neskowin. "We called ourselves 'Kinnuku.' Back in April, Kathy was diagnosed with breast cancer.


"We all had the idea of changing the name of the team at about the same time."


Then there's the cross country team of the Spartanburg (S.C.) High School Vikings, which came to the run because of four successful men with long memories.


This was the 1976 2-mile relay team from Lyons Township High School in suburban Chicago, perhaps the best in the country that year. They were coached by Jim Kilbreth, who moved to Spartanburg two years later.


"The four of us were pretty successful after high school," said Bob Nicolls of Denver, who is driving the van for the South Carolina kids this weekend. "I ran this race in 1995 as a substitute and had a lot of fun. I thought it would be a great idea if (Kilbreth's) team could run it, too.


"He put a lot of time into us, and we all learned a lot from him. Teamwork. Hard work. Focus. So we thought we should get them up here."


So they did. And paid for all 16 of them.


The walking teams, which started from Portland, are expected to finish in Seaside ahead of the first running groups this morning. The fastest running teams will start arriving roughly at noon.


The Oregon Department of Transportation issued a reminder that two highways -- U.S. 30 and Oregon 47 -- will have runners on the shoulders and slow-moving support vans in the traffic pattern.


Norm Maves Jr.: 503-221-8204; normmaves@news.oregonian.com