Harbus

Issue date: 9/22/08 Section: News

The OC Relay Team

34 HBS students participated in the Reach the Beach relay last weekend. They drove up to New Hampshire and practically footed it back to Massachusetts.

Across the tri-state area, car rental companies were sold out of their eight-seater passenger vans last weekend. A white-van convention took place at Cannon Mountain in conjunction with the annual Reach the Beach Relay (Sep 12-13). Over 700 vans brought with them 355 teams for the 209-mile relay that began at Franconia Notch and ended on Hampton Beach. Naturally, HBS runners were present, decked out in battle paint, and ready to meet the competition.

Three teams, six vans, 34 runners. 600 miles in just over 24 hours. The Hampton Beach Squad (OC), Dazzling Dinos (OD) and Pegasus 1 Road Warriors (OH) did us proud by each completing the entire race in spite of various setbacks.

For the OC team alone, the damage came up to: 200 frantic text messages ("Runner ETA 12 min! Where R u guys??"), 128 granola bars (John Van Sickle set the record for going from zero to four in twenty seconds), 96 bottles of G2, 48 peanut butter & jelly sandwiches in lieu of meals (but we may have discovered the secret to making the best PB&J ever), 24 wasted meal tickets, 12 bungled transitions, four hours of rain, three hours of sleep, two sweat-soaked reflector vests, and one twisted ankle too many. Lisa Tran aptly summarized the phenomenon when she said "we are gluttons for punishment."

But getting in 36 gorgeous runs, crossing a dozen NH towns by van and foot, finding good Samaritans camped out in schools offering cookies and soup and above all a dry place to sleep, seeing the sun rise through clear skies hours after it set behind rainclouds, watching Sam Hillard ham it up for the camera, and having one hell of a good time… absolutely priceless.

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