Paper: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Title: HOOD TO COAST RECORD COULD BE UP FOR GRABS 
Date: August 25, 1993

What started with a few beers during a Super Bowl party promises to  become the fastest Hood to Coast Relay yet.


Organizers predict the first sub-16-hour finish in the 192.7-mile race as  four ``super teams'' race for bragging rights to the 12-year-old granddaddy of relays. It sends off its first wave of 750 teams Friday from Timberline Lodge  and finishes Saturday at Seaside.``I find a lot of satisfaction that teams of elite runners would consider  this an important enough race to enter, even though they don't get prize  money,'' said race director Bob Foote. ``They're giving up a weekend where  they could race somewhere else for money.''


Elite teams make up only a fraction of the 750 squads that will be on the  road for an average of 24.25 hours this weekend. The 12 team members each  complete three legs for a total of about 16 miles. About 9,000 competitors,  from power walkers to corporate runners to athletes with asthma to Special  Olympians, will get little sleep and a lot of exercise before crossing the  sand at the finish line at Seaside's beach turnaround.


An additional 102 teams will walk or run the Portland to Coast Relay, a  123-mile jaunt from the Salmon Street Fountain to Seaside.


In past years, the race has been ruled by the men's elite Killer B's,  sponsored by Athletics East and In Sport, and the women's elite Girls Just  Want to Have Fun. This weekend, several teams look to stage coups, and the  men's winner could do it in record time.


The men's record of 16 hours, 3 minutes, 54 seconds was set in 1990 by  Black Flag, another ringer team whose aim was to bust the Killer B's hold on  the race. To break the 16-hour barrier, the winning team would have to average 5 minutes per mile.


The Rocky Mountain Oysters, a band of Boulder, Colo.-based runners  sponsored by Trio Bar/Volkswagen, plans to ``have fun'' while wrecking the  record books with a squad that features Mark Plaatjes, 1993 world marathon  champion; Steve Jones, former marathon world record holder; Mark Coogan, world cross country team member, and Don Janicki, half-marathon national champion.


The team came together during a Super Bowl party at the Boulder home of  Brent Friesth, a two-time Olympic marathon trials qualifer. ``We always said  we should do the Hood to Coast and of course never did anything about it,''  Friesth said Monday.


Friesth knew he had the names for a team just in his training partners in  running-crazy Boulder. But he didn't know if he could work the Hood to Coast  into schedules built around racing for money. By May, the Rocky Mountain  Oysters were born.


Coincidently, Nike sponsored its first elite level team for the relay. Nike Portland Mambu Baddu -- Swahili for ``The best is yet to come'' -- includes  Alberto Salazar, former marathon world record holder, national road champion  Jon Sinclair and Shannon Butler, an NCAA 10,000 champion and one of the  nation's best distance runners.


``It's important matching up the right legs to the right people,'' said  Rick Wilheld, team captain of Seattle-based Asics/Super Jock N Jill. His squad fell behind the Killer B's early in the race last year. ``We were 3 minutes  behind from the get-go, and that didn't help us mentally.''


The challengers haven't changed the Killer B's plans to win an eighth Hood  to Coast title, captain Greg Gustafson said.


The B's roster isn't as flashy as its challengers -- the team is composed  primarily of strong local runners -- but it has the prime ingredient of  experience. ``We take everything in stride,'' Gustafson said. ``We're experts  in running the course. We know how and when to eat. We know when to warm up  and cool down.''


The women's field shows at least four teams capable of winning, with Girls  Just Want to Have Fun a favorite for its third consecutive championship. The  Portland-based team will be chased by the local Bookin Babes, Seattle's  Disciples of Atalanta and a team from the Los Angeles Police Department, which won the corporate division last year.


``It's easier to run hard and fast if you have someone chasing you,'' said  Penny Brower, a co-captain of Girls Just Want to Have Fun.


The top women's teams will start together at 6 p.m. Friday. The men's  squads will go off at 9:40 p.m. The first team is expected to cross the finish line after 1:30 p.m. Saturday.