Paper: Oregonian, The (Portland, OR)
Title: FIRST LEGS WIN HOOD TO COAST 
Date: August 30, 1992

Summary: Fast starts propel a new team, Girls Just Want to Have Fun,  and some old pros, the Killer B's, to victory in the 192-mile relay


First-year team Girls Just Want to Have Fun ran over the competition  Saturday to win the women's open division of the 11th annual Hood to Coast  Relay, sponsored by The Oregonian.


``The Girls'' completed the 192-mile course from Timberline Lodge to  Seaside in 21 hours, 25 minutes and 20 seconds. The race was over after the  first leg with The Girls' take-no-prisoners attitude.Ginnie Turner burned the starting steep leg from Timberline Lodge with a  time of 5:56 for the first mile and left any would-be contenders in the Mount  Hood dust.


Team captain Penny Brower said she had heard the Disciples of Atalanta,  from Seattle, might push The Girls for the title.


The challenge never materialized.


``We blew them away on the first leg,'' Brower said. ``After that, we never saw them again.''


The lack of competition did have a downside for The Girls. Their time was  well off the course record of 20:40.26, set by Chicks That Crank in 1990.


``You don't push yourself quite as hard when you're running by yourself,''  Brower said.


In the men's open competition, the Killer B's won their second consecutive  title and their sixth championship overall.


The Killer B's pre-race strategy of forcing the competition to try to keep  up worked to perfection as they won in a time of 16:31.18. Super Jocks and  Jills (Asics Tiger) finished second in 16:58.14


``We wanted to take them out hard from the very beginning,'' team captain  Greg Gustafson said. ``That way, they would have to make a decision. They had  to try and stay with us or lay back and chase us throughout the race.''


With all the pre-race strategies going on, Gustafson didn't know what to  expect. Gustafson said Team Wildwood and the Boho Bee Killers, both out of  California, tried to conceal the names of their members until the last  minute.


``They were trying to throw us off, and I was worried,'' Gustafson said.  ``We heard a lot of rumors about the competition. I didn't find out about the  other teams until we started the race.''


Through it all, Gustafson still viewed the Asics team as the primary threat to the B's title. From the first leg on, however, the B's were in control.


The B's first runner, Kevin Cathcart, immediately set the tone of the race. He ran a scorching 3:48 for the first mile of the extreme downhill leg, giving the B's an early advantage.


``I knew I had to go out fast,'' Cathcart said. ``We wanted to put some  distance between us and the others and make it difficult for them to catch  up.''


Cathcart's pace had the Asics team concerned.


``We were behind a minute-thirty after the very first leg,'' said Greg  Metcalf of Asics.


The blistering pace set by the B's gave them a three-minute cushion going  into the fourth leg. Deciding the team couldn't afford to fall further behind, Asics team captain Terry Schalow ordered his team to step it up on legs five,  six and seven. They did and closed to within two minutes.


``They were running scared,'' Gustafson said. ``They had to pick it up.''


But so did the B's and by the end of the first 12 legs, the B's had built  their lead back up to five minutes.


``I felt pretty good after the first rotation,'' Gustafon said. ``I figured Asics would decide not to kill themselves and settle for second.''


By the time the B's reached exchange point 33 at Youngs River Falls, they  were a full five miles ahead.


``Our pace for each mile was well under 5:10,'' Gustafson said. ``If we ran our race I knew we would win.''


Along with their speed, the B's consistency impressed members of Asics.


``They never broke down,'' Buck Jones said. ``There were no weak links in  their team.''


How much longer will Gustafson continue to lead the B's? After all, winning the Hood to Coast has become habit.


``Once you win, there's a lot of pressure to keep winning,'' Gustafson  said. ``Either you don't run or you run on a winning team.''


Sounds as though Gustafson and the B's will be back in 1993.


There were repeat winners in other divisions of the relay. In the men's  sub-masters, the 1515 Flyers defended its title, while the Pace Setter-To Be  Old team won its second consecutive men's masters championship.