In the Summer of 1976, our 24-hour relay team was truly impressive. Spoon ran some legs so fast that he was actually accused of cheating, the suggestion being made that he had only run 3 laps instead of 4 on one of his legs. The team was a bit of patchwork quilt, since we didn't arrive with ten runners. I was on the team and so was Sheldon. I don't remember who else ran who was a SUNY-B runner. We ran through some rain, at one point switching from a normal baton to a Drake's Devil Dog because Spoon was concerned about lightening strikes.
In a 24-hour relay, teams are comprised of between two and ten runners. Each team member runs a mile and then hands off the baton to the next teammate in the rotation. If a team members drops out they can't come back in. It might not sound all that hard, but I remember being really tired at the end having stayed up for more than 24 hours in a row and each hour having run a mile in about 6 minutes.
In 1976 we were in a dog fight for what seemed to be a long time. Spoon's ridiculously fast legs (some were under 4:45) were his attempt to let our competition know that we weren't fooling around. I'd say by the time we were 10 or 12 hours into the event we had made our point and it was clear that if we could keep cranking out 6 minute miles we would win.
This was a really fun event. I highly recommend it. Perhaps Dave can convince his charges to participate in one after Spring track is over...
Am I making this up? Certainly not...
1 comment:
I had heard this story before, but this really is quite a big deal, and once again, only lends further legitimacy to the Striders' legacy. We often joke about the Striders, since we really were a motley collection of somewhat unserious runners, but looking back, were doggone good! Of course, I can't take any credit for this 24-hour relay race, since I was probably still running high school track in Fillmore, NY, and had never heard of the Striders.
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