Paper: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Title: WINNERS HIT BEACH RUNNING 
Date: August 28, 1994

Summary: Fast Twitch Women and Team Nike International set records in the 191-mile Hood to Coast Relay, which ends in a flurry at Seaside


Fast Twitch Women were just that, slicing more than 33 minutes from the  course record, while Team Nike International set a men's record Saturday in  the 13th running of the Nationwide Insurance Hood to Coast Relay.


The two teams, stocked with the cream of Portland-area runners, held off  out-of-state challengers in the race from Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood to  the sun-warmed sand of Seaside.The beach was a kaleidoscope of color as 750 teams of 12 runners each  reached the end of their 191-mile overnight trek to Seaside. Another 150 teams completed the Portland to Coast Relay.


Exhaustion from a night spent with little sleep turned into the euphoria of finishing, whether it took 16 or 26 hours.


``It's always fun when you run well,'' said Mark Mohen of Team Nike  International.


Five-time winner Coastline Cruisers, reunited for a 10th anniversary and to raise money for a breast cancer recovery program, finished third in the open  women's division. The team, which already had raised $6,000 for the American  Cancer Society's Reach to Recovery, found a $500 donation waiting in Seaside.


Runners on the team handed out cookies, water and breast cancer self-exam  cards along the route. Team member Liz Wilson, a national-class distance  runner from Eugene, even hit up other runners on the road.


``She was so fast and people would ask if they could draft off her,'' said  Mary Peterson, an original Cruiser and a breast cancer survivor in her first  Hood to Coast since 1989. ``She'd say, `Yes, but there's a price.' ''


The women's open title appeared destined for Fast Twitch Women -- but a  tenacious Chicks That Crank team did its best as spoiler.


The Seattle-area team, which set the old record of 20 hours, 40 minutes and 26 seconds in 1990 with different runners, started in high gear and built a  six-minute lead heading toward Sandy. Fast Twitch Women narrowed the gap,  helped by runners like Laurie Binder, who owns all U.S. masters' records from  5 kilometers to the marathon, and Laura Edmark, the 1994 Portland Marathon  winner and second U.S. finisher in the Boston Marathon.


By the 11th leg, the teams were neck-and-neck. Slowly, Fast Twitch Women  pulled away, finishing in 20:07:10. Chicks That Crank followed in 20:18:09.


``Everybody ran well,'' said Mary Holleman, one of the team captains for  Chicks That Crank. ``They just ran better.''


Fast Twitch Women ran conservatively in the first three downhill legs,  known for destroying the thigh muscles of runners who go full speed, and then  capitalized on the long distance experience of its runners.


``We had a lot of marathon strength,'' said Bernadette Miller of Fast  Twitch Women. ``Chicks That Crank kind of motivated us through the whole  thing.''


The team, which formed in the spring, planned to break the record.


``We wanted a record that will stand for 20 years,'' team captain Ruth  O'Hara said.


Team member Janet Jordan, a nationally ranked masters racer, added: ``So  we'll come in and set it again next year if we have to.''


That also is the plan for Team Nike International, which held off Rolling  Thunder, a band of Adidas-sponsored runners, to defend its 1993 title in  15:56:54, breaking the 1990 record of 16:03:54 set by Black Flag.


In a duel that wasn't settled until the last legs, Rolling Thunder was  second in 16:00:51 -- the closest finish in the race's history.


``In a nutshell, it was a dogfight,'' said Nike team leader Alberto  Salazar, the nation's top marathoner of the early 1980s. ``They probably led  as many legs as we did.''


Salazar's team was expected to narrowly trail Rolling Thunder, which  included John Gregorek, a two-time Olympic steeplechaser, and Todd Williams, a U.S. cross country and 10,000 meter champion. Instead, rival runners ran  side-by-side through much of the race.


They averaged a sub-5-minute-per-mile pace all 191 miles.


``Guys literally were throwing up after their legs,'' Salazar said. ``We  had to just throw them in the van.''


The race almost had a different ending, when a Nike van got lost in the  Coast Range and narrowly missed a hand-off.


Tom Ansberry, the 1994 U.S. 10,000 champion from Portland, finally gave his team the edge on the 33rd of 36 legs, when he made up a minute deficit and  grabbed a 10-second advantage.


Chad Benion, a marathoner who ran at University of Oregon, added more  seconds, but it was Dan Held, a former All-American, who built a cushion of  more than two minutes.


Salazar, running the final leg against Williams, was confident the lead was enough as he began running to the sea.


``At that point, I knew that unless I really fell apart, he couldn't catch  me,'' Salazar said.


With only 2 1/2  miles left, Williams eased off.


``They probably said, `Hey, we're not going to get them,' '' Salazar said.  ``It took 189 miles before the race was decided.''