Paper: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Title: CRUISING FOR THE COAST 
Date: August 24, 1990

Summary: First wheelchair team confident it can beat four-time  champions


They call themselves ``Wheelmen Eat Bees     Film at Eleven.'' And they  mean it. Saturday afternoon the first wheelchair team to compete in The  Oregonian Hood-to-Coast Relay plans to roll across the finish line first.


Eating their dust, they predict, will be the Killer Bees of Portland -- the running team that has taken the top trophy at this annual event the past four  years.Or at least that's the plan.


``Our goal is to beat those guys,'' says Dave Moore, leader and organizer  of the nine-member wheelchair team. ``We've kind of taken them on.''


Which is all pretty ambitious for a group of guys who have never competed  in Hood-to-Coast, the country's longest road-running relay. This year's race  includes 750 teams of 12 runners -- which adds up to more than 9,000  participants.


True, the Wheelmen will have the advantage of wheels over legs to move them from mountain to coast.


But wheels don't work that well on steep mountain inclines, or in rutted  gravel roads -- all of which exist on the 187.2-mile Timberline to Seaside  course.


Moore isn't worried. He's traveled the course and is convinced his  all-men's team can handle any obstacle, steep or gravelly.


Maybe he's confident because he's the one who hand-picked his team. All are Northwest wheelchair athletes who regularly compete in athletic *events.


Best known among the group is Craig Blanchette of Eugene, who holds the  world record in the wheelchair mile. Jim Martinson of Kent, Wash., is a former winner of the Boston Marathon; Rob Ogle of Olympia, Wash., is the 1989  champion of the Capitol City Marathon; and Leroy Monson of Spokane, Wash., is  a 1990 silver medalist in the National Disabled Water Ski Championships.


Pat Holly of Tualatin has competed in the Boston Marathon seven times, and  placed sixth in the 1980 race. Holly trains year-round, logging 70 to 100  miles a week, and regularly enters road races nationwide.


Now, he's facing Hood-to-Coast -- and the Killer Bees.


``A couple of my legs look pretty difficult,'' Holly says, referring to the four stretches of road he'll cover between Friday night and Saturday  afternoon. Because they have only nine members on their team, each wheelchair  participant is responsible for four legs, ranging in length from 4.9 to 5.9  miles. The runners on teams of 12 run three legs.


``One stretch, from Dodge Park across the Sandy River, climbs 400 feet in  less than half a mile,'' the 40-year-old wood-worker continues. ``That sounds  like it's straight up to me.''


Maybe so, but there are plenty of other places on the course where the  Wheelmen will be able to fly at a fairly fast pace. Dave Moore says he  recently hit 53 mph in a training run from Timberline Lodge.


That was just before a wheelchair tire blew.


``I'm not a God-fearing man, but it was pretty scary,'' says the  Rhododendron resident. He sells exercise equipment for people in wheelchairs.  ``I just held on tight, and prayed I wouldn't tip over.''


Moore, 29, has been a paraplegic since a 1980 automobile accident left him  paralyzed from midchest down. A former avid surfer, he now kayaks, white river rafts and snow skis to fulfill his quota of personal thrills.


Wheelchair racing is more a hobby than a passion for Moore. He has competed in one wheelchair marathon and several 10-kilometer runs, but he doesn't  consider himself a serious competitor.


Last year, though, he followed friends racing in Hood-to-Coast and later  wondered why wheelchair athletes weren't competing. He talked to a couple of  his wheelchair buddies, convinced race officials to let them enter -- and the  Wheelmen were off and racing.


Bob Foote, founder and president of Hood-to-Coast, couldn't be more  supportive of the idea. Individual wheelchair athletes have competed in the  past, but never as a team.


``I fully expect they will win against the runners,'' says Foote, who  started Hood-to-Coast in 1982 with just eight teams. ``Three or four of their  team members are the best in the whole country.''


Because of the number of entrants, Hood-to-Coast start times are staggered  according to projected speed. Slowest teams will begin at 2:20 p.m. on Friday  at Timberline Lodge, with subsequent teams starting at 20-minute intervals.  Elite teams -- and the Wheelmen -- will take off at 9:40 p.m.


By 1:30 p.m. the next day the winners should be in Seaside.


Cheering at the finish line.


``We're going to win,'' Moore says confidently. ``Then, I'm probably going  to have a nice Bud light.''


And remember: Film at Eleven.