Paper: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Title: OLD AND NEW, THEY ARE OFF
Date: August 25, 2001

Summary:  Whether teams are in the Hood to Coast for the last time or the first, the 197-mile race has a singular appeal


The 20th Hood to Coast Relay is a swan song of sorts for 12 men running today through the Coast Range on their way to Seaside.


The Super Seniors -- combined age 867 -- plan to make this their sixth and last Hood to Coast together. With an average age of 72 and no runner younger than 70, the group is the oldest team in the relay by more than a decade. The relay ends today at the Pacific Ocean.But, like the race they are running, the Super Seniors brim with vitality and energy.


"I find it very challenging, and it's a great way to assess how my aging is going," said the team's youngest, Jack Keener, just 70. "We get wiser with age, running smarter."


Keener paused and added with a laugh: "At least, that's the theory."


The Hood to Coast Relay, sponsored by Nationwide Insurance, began Friday morning at Timberline Lodge. An intense sun hadn't cut through the chill, and a crystal Mount Hood was the backdrop for team pictures, when the first runners set out on the 197-mile journey.


The relay includes 12,000 runners. The shorter Portland to Coast relay walk and high school challenge added 6,000, who challenged darkness, solitude, sore muscles and cramped vans.


At Timberline, the Chicowgo to Coast team -- a group from a small Chicago software firm, Telution -- tied inflatable cows to the tops of their vans and taped spots, Chicago Cubs stickers and paper Illinois license plates with their names.


"We just wanted to have something inflatable on top," said Curt Kendall, who wore a spotted bandana like his teammates. "We were going through a lot of animals and we settled on cows."


A van pulled in nearby, with an inflatable doll -- dressed demurely in jogging shorts and T-shirt -- on its bumper.


The owners of the jogger doll, the Weak Links in a Strong Chain, gathered near the starting line. The 12 women attend Summit View Church in Vancouver, Wash., and all but two were Hood to Coast rookies.


"We got the idea after the race last year," said Trina Kuntz, whose shirt read "I Am the Weakest Link" on the front and "Good Bye" on the back. "We should do this!"


Amy Hurt ran the first leg for the group, a six-mile, knee-pounding, quad-crunching descent that most concede is the toughest of the race.


"It's fun," said Hurt, who ran it last year. "I like the view, and my legs can handle it."


An hour later, the Super Seniors prepared to begin their final voyage together.


The team was put together as an over-65 group by Jack Saling, an avid runner and sports enthusiast from Troutdale. Eight of the runners have been on all six teams. Stan Rodkey of Eugene is running for the first time, a last-minute replacement for Saling, who pulled a hamstring in a softball tournament and is limited to driving a van.


"I'm not going to have done it this long and not go on the last one," Saling said. "In fact, in our finishing picture, we're going to have 13 runners, because I'm going to be there in uniform. And if they don't like it, that's tough."


The men share a love of running but don't all come from a running background. Keener, Sid Carlson, Ed Gustafson, Buz Masters, Ed Mighell and George Puterbaugh ran high school or college track. Saling, Bill Turley, Al Vernon, Bob Dolphin and Al Nakata, the oldest at 78, did not.


"If they were ever runners, there was a long time when they weren't runners," Saling said. "And then they came back to it."


In July 2000, the team's strongest runner, Jack McGoldrick of Imbler, died of a heart attack while cycling. The team wore a patch in his memory.


But there have been no major injuries or mishaps on the Hood to Coast route. Not that the race hasn't been a challenge at times.


"I've run a lot of marathons and this beats you up more than a marathon," said Masters, a wiry 72-year-old with a flowing stride who ran the first leg for the team and led his starting group by the middle of the leg.


The team finished 893rd last year, beating 107 other teams. It expects to finish late this afternoon.


And then it will be over.


Maybe.


"Promises, promises," Masters said, with a wink, of Saling's assertion that this was the last run for the Super Seniors.


And even Saling was backpedaling. Maybe in five years, when everyone is over 75, the team will charge again down Mount Hood to the sea.


You can reach Abby Haight at 503-221-8198 or by e-mail at


abbyhaight@news.oregonian.com