Spring Break
HBS Takes On Reach The Beach: Sign Up For Next Year
206 Miles + 28 Hours of Running = Fun
Jennifer Case (OG) & Craig Canton (OJ), Contributing Writers
Issue date: 2/4/08 Section: Sports
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On September 14 and 15th the HBS Triathlon club continued its yearly tradition of sponsoring the Reach the Beach relay race.
HBS fielded 5 teams, which joined the over 4200 amateur athletes who came out to take on this year's 206 miles course. Entering its 9th year the event has gained considerable media attention and draws teams from over 40 US states and 10 countries.
Six daring ECs decided to try to tackle the 206 mile course by themselves, competing in the Ultra division, also known as the suicide squad. After 26 hours and 52 minutes of non-stop running, lots of sweat and no sleep, Alex Alexandrov, Jon Bunt,
Jennifer Case, Ally Ip, Aman Khapoya, Brad Mak completed the race.
Despite a minor transition mishap that cost the team 40 minutes they placed 5th out of 12 teams in the Men's Ultra division and 60th out the 351 teams that finished the race.
As the HBS Ultra team destroyed the competition other dramas were unfolding all across the 206 mile course.
What began as a Section G team morphed into a gaggle made up of students from HBS, MIT and BU. Spurred on by the leadership of team Captain Matthias Osthoff, their strategy was to execute well-timed handoffs between two halves of the group. While half the team ran the other half rested. Superb New England weather served them well as Team HBS/MIT/BU got off to a solid start on Friday, exceeding their aggressive time goals. All was well until late Friday night, when the rain began. It was dark and stormy as the team slogged through some of the toughest legs of the race late Friday and early Saturday. Despite giving up some time over the last few legs, the team finished strong. Team HBS/MIT/BU, (Carolyn Clark, Gabe Wilmoth, Brendan McNamara, John Cannon, Dan Nash, Sasank Aleti, Matthias Osthoff, Florian Ederer, Jeremy Friese, Tiffany Taylor, Michelle Sung, and Kevin Mader) joined hands to cross the finish line. Despite having toiled up and down the relentless NH hills, despite the rain and the sweat-soaked reflective gear during night runs, despite riding in smelly vans and sleeping on concrete, they had "Reached the Beach", and everyone agreed that it was the best time they'd had running - EVER! The team hopes to reunite in late August for Oregon's "Hood to Coast".
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