Hood to Coast, 365 style?

Jack_Scaff wrote:What does possibly interested mean? I've had girls possibly interested in me, and that didn't end well.

No, no, no Jack. This isn't "interested" that sort of hypothetical, what if, alternate universe, last guy on earth sort of way.

It just means they'd like to participate but can't say "Boy, howdy! Sign me up!" quite yet.

Jack_Scaff wrote:And I assume you need to rent 2 vans, one is on and the other is off depending on who is running?

Yes, two vans. They have a fairly elaborate system of alternating run legs. If I understand it correctly, Van #1 starts at Mt. Hood and continues until all its runners have done their first leg. Then Van #2 starts, and Van #1 goes off to get some rest. Then, six runners later, Van #1 goes back in service, etc. Each runner goes three legs total.

I'm not positive if each van needs its own separate driver, of if the runners can trade off driving duties (do you know, Michele?). I do know, however, that we'd need to supply at least three race volunteers. The volunteers would need to be 18 or over and able to work a 4- to 5-hour shift. Jobs range from calling out race numbers of incoming participants, to directing traffic in the parking areas, to helping put up signs, according to the HtC website. Also, it notes: Absolutely no young children, dogs, headphones or alcohol are allowed.

Okay, here's another crack at a list - at the moment, we'd have just enough for a team if all the "maybe" folks became definitely!


Definitely Yes
Mark
Glenn
Jack
Gene
Jeff
Mike

Maybe Yes
Tim (and Wendy?)
Joel
Gobbles
Nick
Michele

I will try and find a volunteer if this happens, too.

Looks like fun but I'm too slow I'll cheer from afar!

If you're serious I think I can drum up to 7 people. Me, my son, my daughter, my brother, my two sisters and my best running buddy. Could probably get anywhere from 3 to all 7 of them depending upon the need. We have already talked about doing this race and were trying to figure out how to get the other 5 or 6. So possibly we could field two teams!!

I could possibly get 2 other runners, as well. Neither would be extremely speedy, but I think we're doing this more for fun, right?

Hm! Nice to see there's still some interest.

When we get closer to the application day, I'll check again. Whoever signs up needs to be able to put their money where their mouth is - you have to send a check for $1,200+ with your application. (It gets refunded if you aren't selected.) We'll also need to secure vans (2) and drivers, and three volunteers for ritual sacrifice, er, service to the Hood to Coast effort.

Fair warning: There's a decent chance that if we do make a bid for a team, we quite possibly won't be selected. It's tough to get in on your first try anyway, and they'll be cutting the number of teams down next year because of problems they had with traffic jams along the course. There were places where the runners were going faster than the vans.

Mark B wrote:Hm! Nice to see there's still some interest.

When we get closer to the application day, I'll check again. Whoever signs up needs to be able to put their money where their mouth is - you have to send a check for $1,200+ with your application. (It gets refunded if you aren't selected.) We'll also need to secure vans (2) and drivers, and three volunteers for ritual sacrifice, er, service to the Hood to Coast effort.

Fair warning: There's a decent chance that if we do make a bid for a team, we quite possibly won't be selected. It's tough to get in on your first try anyway, and they'll be cutting the number of teams down next year because of problems they had with traffic jams along the course. There were places where the runners were going faster than the vans.

How mny teams participate??

Nick Morris wrote:

Mark B wrote:Hm! Nice to see there's still some interest.

When we get closer to the application day, I'll check again. Whoever signs up needs to be able to put their money where their mouth is - you have to send a check for $1,200+ with your application. (It gets refunded if you aren't selected.) We'll also need to secure vans (2) and drivers, and three volunteers for ritual sacrifice, er, service to the Hood to Coast effort.

Fair warning: There's a decent chance that if we do make a bid for a team, we quite possibly won't be selected. It's tough to get in on your first try anyway, and they'll be cutting the number of teams down next year because of problems they had with traffic jams along the course. There were places where the runners were going faster than the vans.

How mny teams participate??

1,250 teams this past year, or 15,000 runners.

I think it used to be 1,000 teams, but they allowed 250 more teams this year. That turned out to be a bad idea, so I'm guessing they'll be back at 1,000 teams again next year.

If I remember correctly, teams that are from a certain distance away do not have to volunteer their service. It's worth double checking, because the team captain furthest away could register.

mountandog wrote:If I remember correctly, teams that are from a certain distance away do not have to volunteer their service. It's worth double checking, because the team captain furthest away could register.

Nice try, but the rules say that if ANY member of the team comes from the local area, they have to cough up volunteers.

It's probably not that big a deal, I suspect. A few people would likely be accompanied by bored non-running spouses who probably wouldn't mind spending four hours volunteering while their S.O. beats themselves to a pulp over 28 hours. We could probably recruit 3 volunteers and 2 van drivers out of that bunch.

Here is a newspaper article talking about the horror show this past event was, thanks to too many runners and vans.

Mark B wrote:

mountandog wrote:If I remember correctly, teams that are from a certain distance away do not have to volunteer their service. It's worth double checking, because the team captain furthest away could register.

Nice try, but the rules say that if ANY member of the team comes from the local area, they have to cough up volunteers.

It's probably not that big a deal, I suspect. A few people would likely be accompanied by bored non-running spouses who probably wouldn't mind spending four hours volunteering while their S.O. beats themselves to a pulp over 28 hours. We could probably recruit 3 volunteers and 2 van drivers out of that bunch.

Van drivers, huh? We drove ourselves around at Ragnar...

Nick Morris wrote:

Mark B wrote:

mountandog wrote:If I remember correctly, teams that are from a certain distance away do not have to volunteer their service. It's worth double checking, because the team captain furthest away could register.

Nice try, but the rules say that if ANY member of the team comes from the local area, they have to cough up volunteers.

It's probably not that big a deal, I suspect. A few people would likely be accompanied by bored non-running spouses who probably wouldn't mind spending four hours volunteering while their S.O. beats themselves to a pulp over 28 hours. We could probably recruit 3 volunteers and 2 van drivers out of that bunch.

Van drivers, huh? We drove ourselves around at Ragnar...

Hm. You know what, Nick? I just quickly looked at the rules, and I didn't see a specific requirement that a non-runner drive the van. I'll look again, but that would reduce the impact on our loved ones by... uh... two fifths! Thanks for bringing up that point.

(Edit to add: Just looked again, and I still couldn't find any specific rule that said teams needed drivers who aren't runners. Cool.)

BTW, here is a link to the H2C's volunteers page.

Nick Morris wrote:

Mark B wrote:

mountandog wrote:If I remember correctly, teams that are from a certain distance away do not have to volunteer their service. It's worth double checking, because the team captain furthest away could register.

Nice try, but the rules say that if ANY member of the team comes from the local area, they have to cough up volunteers.

It's probably not that big a deal, I suspect. A few people would likely be accompanied by bored non-running spouses who probably wouldn't mind spending four hours volunteering while their S.O. beats themselves to a pulp over 28 hours. We could probably recruit 3 volunteers and 2 van drivers out of that bunch.

Van drivers, huh? We drove ourselves around at Ragnar...

I agree. Who wants our spouses around anyway? Thought this was supposed to be fun!!

Hey Mark == coming to Seattle, WA and Victoria/Vancouver BC in mid Sept

anything happening on this. deadline is tomorrow for application.

Doesn't look like it, which is probably for the best. They had such a huge problem with crowding this year, with massive traffic jams, so the word is they're going to cut back on the number of teams this year. It would have been very unlikely for us as a first-time team to have made it in even without race organizers scaling it back.

Is there any kind of system like New York or St. George, that if you apply, are rejected, you move up on the probability list in future years? After so many tries, 3 yrs, 4yrs, whatever, are you automatically in? Or do you just go back into the pot along with everyone else?

mountandog wrote:Is there any kind of system like New York or St. George, that if you apply, are rejected, you move up on the probability list in future years? After so many tries, 3 yrs, 4yrs, whatever, are you automatically in? Or do you just go back into the pot along with everyone else?

I think your chances improve, but I don't think it's ever an automatic "in."

I would next year....