On October 4-5th, Washington D.C. hosted the nationwide Ragnar Relay Event for over 290 teams and 3000 runners. With two vans of 6 people per team (and some teams crazy enough to have 6 runners take on the entire thing as an Ultra team), teams alternated their runners for a total of three runs, all varying in distances and terrain, across the 190 mile course, spending almost 30 hours running, with very little time to sleep, eat, or focus on hygiene.
Ragnar Relay 2013 started in Cumberland, Maryland on Friday morning and ran straight through the night into Saturday until the teams made it to D.C.. Yes, this does in fact mean many of the runners ran through woods and winding roads in the wee hours of the morning and the pitch black of night. But nevertheless, 4 members of the EthoSource team decided that this was exactly how they wanted to spend their weekend. Director of IT and Marketing, Ian Gendreau, and Logistics Manager, George Zook, were veterans on the course, having run the past couple years, including last year where they tackled the Ultra. Project Manager, William McCanney, and Marketing Assistant, Nicolette Miller, were recruited for this years run as two rookies to the event, joining the Scrubs-N-Studs team.
Their team kicked off the run at 9 a.m. through the hills of Cumberland, Maryland with Van 1. After each of the 6 runners ran their legs, including Zook who tackled a 3.5 mile mountain on his 1st leg, they handed off the baton to Van 2, which started with Ian around 2.30 in the afternoon. More hills were on the horizon for Ian’s 8 mile run and it only got steeper when he handed off to Will for his trek up a 3 mile mountain. Nicolette enjoyed a flat 9 miles for her first run as the team then gave it back to Van 1 for their second round.
The race continued throughout the night, alternating when each van was able to rest and grab some food and delicious chocolate milk at a local creamery. Van 2 managed a long 6 hours shift from 12am to 6am, leaving little time to grab some shuteye before the morning runs. With Van 2 covering the legs of an injured runner in Van 1, the mileage only increased. However, the government shutdown threw some loop holes in the end of the race preventing runners from entering the State parks that were originally part of the course. But after some modifications to the mileage, the runners were each still able to get 3 legs of racing in for the weekend.
It wasn’t until about 11am on Saturday morning that the final runners from Van 2 approached the D.C. Harbor and the rest of the team joined them to cross the finish line together. After passing over 160 teams along the way, the Scrubs-N-Studs finished 191 miles in 25 hours and 28 minutes, placing 26th overall out of a field of 291, and finishing 8th out of 153 coed teams.
It was a long, tiring weekend, but an amazing experience and challenge for the EthoSource runners. The event concluded with a big celebration in D.C. harbor with food and drinks for the participants, and raised money for the two great charities (Girls On The Run & Back On My Feet). For more information on the race check out www.ragnarrelay.com.
