The Night Crawlers have run the Hood to Coast Relay for 29 consecutive years. For more than 5,800 miles through thunderstorms, rain, hot days and cold nights this diverse group of people have run from the Cascades to the Coast.

“For me it’s the camaraderie and teamwork that make it worth it,” said Paul Arbisi, a Night Crawler from Minneapolis. “Every year it is a new adventure for us. We get to meet new people.”

Saturday the weather could not have been better for the 12 veterans to finish the race. The Night Crawlers, along with 20,000 other runners and walkers from 50 states and 35 countries, converged on Seaside for the 30th anniversary of the “largest relay in the world,” which raises money for the American Cancer Society.

Arbisi and his teammates Danis Risku, Laurie Mitchell, John Pingle, Amanda Horn and Mary Harokopus sat at a table in the Jewell School cafeteria eating a breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage and pancakes. Despite running through the night Friday, they were talkative, enjoying the coastal sunshine.

“This is the only time we see each other. We get together once a year to run Hood to Coast,” said Risku, from Chapel Hill N.C.

“All of us have one connection, Bo Phillips. He put together our team and ran the race since 1989,” said Pingle, who is from San Francisco.

“The toughest part of the trip is getting enough sleep and getting a shower. Last night we slept out under some trees,” said Texan Mitchell, who comes from Dallas.

“We had people yelling and walking around us,” said Horn, from Bainbridge Island, Wash.

Curt Billings from the group Chug ‘N Run echoes what the others said. “It’s the friendship, hangin’ with the boys, and getting away from work that I enjoy the most,” said Billings, who is from Austin, Texas. “The scenery on the run is spectacular, and the event is so well organized, nothing has been too tough.”

High-schoolers face challenge

This year the 200-mile Hood to Coast Relay started with lightning at Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, and continued through a hot Portland area, but finished on a cool, but sunny coast. There were no serious accidents, but a few runners had to be treated for minor scrapes and heat exhaustion.

The Hood to Coast Relay is run concurrently with the Portland to Coast Walk and the High School Challenge.

Seaside High School fielded a team of 12 student athletes, The Wave Runners, who finished the Challenge early Saturday. Though shorter than the Hood to Coast Relay, the High School Challenge is meant to get young people into the spirit of the race, as well as give them some good conditioning for fall sports.

“This is my first year on the Challenge,” said Cirilo Herald, a junior at Seaside. “I was going to run my freshman year but was too scared. Since I got a fast time on all my legs, it was good.”

“Since I was little I saw the Hood to Coast Relay come through Seaside and I’ve always wanted to do it,” said freshman Allison Kilday. “Coach (Neil)?Branson encouraged me to run, and since I love running anyway, I did it.”

“I want to get back into cross country. I enjoy running because it gets me in shape for the rest of the season,” said freshman Porter Johnson. His older brother Taran, a senior, agreed. “I’m a sprinter, so I was looking for something to give me conditioning. My coach encouraged me to run the Portland to Coast Challenge. It was a rush to run through the night.”

“I especially like the beginning of the race with all the pomp and circumstance,” said junior Garrett Brown. “I also liked everything after that, except the 90-degree weather in Portland.”

For the record

The Knoxville Track Club from Tennessee won the Hood to Coast Relay with a time of 17 hours, 44 minutes and 50 seconds. Their time was actually 21 seconds slower than Nike’s Bowerman Athletic Club team, but the Bowerman team was penalized for having one runner run two consecutive legs of the race. The Olympia Slackers won the High School Challenge, while a New York team, Couples Therapy, won the Portland to Coast Walk.

The finish line on the beach in Seaside was a mixture of competition, chaos and fun. Many groups put on costumes as they ran through the finish line. Once through they got their photo taken and waded out into the sea of people who had converged on the beach. A city of tents had been set up for race results, first-aid, food, beer and myriad race-related trinkets.

Once again this year the Hood to Coast Relay raised more than half a million dollars for the American Cancer Society.

Terrance Read, of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, looked out upon the sea of people from the Turnaround in Seaside. “I try to time my visit to Seaside to coincide with the Hood to Coast race every year,” he said. “It is an amazing spectacle and I love it.”