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by Jamie Kempton
The distance-running alumni unit from Bucknell University, sponsored by Adidas, captured the 17th annual event Saturday, in a year when five-time defending champion Nike opted not to enter a team in the elite men's division. "In the past we've always competed against Nike but I'm not sure we had a very good chance with that lineup of Olympians and American record-holders that they have," said Brian Fullem, the team captain for Lewisburg, Pa.-based Bucknell. "We don't have one All-American on our team." Just a bunch of dedicated competitive athletes who work their running around full-time jobs in fields such as medicine, law enforcement, banking, engineering, education and journalism. The Hood to Coast - which bills itself as the largest participatory relay event in the world - runs 196 miles through northwest Oregon, from a 6,000-foot elevation on Mount Hood to the coastal resort town of Seaside. One thousand teams, each consisting of 12 members who run three legs apiece in rotation, made the overnight Friday-Saturday trek through mountain passes and valley hollows, along busy highways and bucolic rural byways, past old-growth forests and scenic vistas. After a third-place finish in their inaugural attempt and two straight runner-up showings, Bucknell was first elite team to the beach this year with a clocking of 16 hours, 52 minutes, 46 seconds, an average of 5 minutes 12 seconds per mile over the equivalent of seven and a half continuous marathons. Bucknell won a three-team showdown with the Runnin' Woodies, a group of runners from Oregon, Washington and Canada, and a team of Penn State graduates called the Haakin' Smackin' PSU Alumni. The Woodies finished just more than 15 minutes behind Bucknell in 17:08:07, while Penn State was third in 17:21:59. The Penn State alums had the fastest seed time, but the race figured to be a down-to-the-wire nail-biter among three evenly matched teams. Bucknell leadoff man Norbert Berenyi bolted to a 50-second lead on the first leg, which drops a precipitous 2,000 feet over 5.6 free-wheeling miles. His badly blistered and bloody feet - the product of a poor choice of racing flats - were sacrificed in his headlong dash down the mountain. Penn State assumed the lead when Bucknell's Steve Clarke suffered an untimely asthma attack and dropped back on the 5.9-mile second leg. Fullem, the Bison captain, got Bucknell to within 40 seconds of the lead on Leg 3. Then disaster struck Penn State when its fourth leg, Mark Wimmer, sustained a thigh injury midway through the 6.9-mile leg and struggled to finish. Jamie Kempton, Bucknell's oldest alumnus at six weeks shy of 40, swept past Wimmer and gave his team a three-minute lead, one they would inexorably lengthen through the darkness of the Pacific Northwest evening, into the wee hours of Saturday morning, It culminated early Saturday afternoon with anchor leg Mike Sgambelluri churning through the sand under the finish-line banner at Seaside with a phalanx of jubilant Bison mates in his wake. Bucknell prevailed by winning the war of attrition: Penn State lost two runners to injury, meaning three of their members had to run an extra leg, and the Woodies had one ill and injured runner who soldiered on despite his ailments. Bucknell had its share of adversity, too, but none of it disabling - Clarke's asthma flare-up; dehydration and dizzy spells on Fullem's final leg; Berenyi's tender tootsies; a calf injury to inspirational leader Brian Harshman; and assorted other physical maladies that an event of this duration engenders. "We knew our guys would run as hard as they could no matter what happened," Fullem said. "We had 12 guys with physical and mental toughness who, as long as they were uninjured, would compete until they dropped." In analyzing the team's victory, Fullem cited the rock-solid performances of the team's three bulwarks - Harshman, Rich Stark and Jeff Morganti - as well as the "phenomenal" efforts of such less-heralded runners as Kempton, Joe Cresko and Dave Granger, the youngest Bison alumnus at 23. Fullem also invoked longtime Bucknell coach Art Gulden's philosophy of preparing for competition before you get to the competition. Berenyi, for example, trained on downhills to get ready for his mountain leg. Stark ran 100 miles per week to prepare for his combined 19 miles of racing. Depth is another key factor. Fullem has a pool of some 18 runners available for Hood to Coast duty to compensate for the inevitable injuries, personal commitments and other conflicts that arise as the event approaches. "We have a continuous supply of guys that are ready to step in," he said. The other less-noticed but supremely important reason for Bucknell's success is its support staff and leadership provided by team manager Ray Sullivan. Sullivan is the behind-the-scenes guru who handles all the logistical details such as hotels, airline flights, van procurement (and driving during the race) and food preparation, as well as lining up sponsors and keeping the operation running smoothly. The support crew of Bucknell graduates and friends have refined their routine through four years of experience, so they know their roles well. "You can't underestimate the value and importance of knowing what's supposed to happen and when it's supposed to happen," Sullivan said. "It takes the stress and pressure away from the runners. All we want to do is take the details away from the guys so they can concentrate on running." Sullivan also said he was happy to reward the Bucknell Alumni's sponsors for their loyalty and hopes that the team's victory will deepen those benefactors' commitment and strengthen Bucknell's future chances. "Success breeds success," he said. "This is a tremendous breakthrough for us. We hope all the publicity will help us take it to another level." Have you got a Hood to Coast story to share ? ontherunevents.com is happy to share stories like this with our readers. Send us your stories, your expierences!
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