Belle Brigade 2023

It was our third year as a Portland to Coast relay team, and my first year as Captain. Thursday afternoon, August 24th, before the race started, we all gathered at Veronica’s apartment because it had a good parking lot outside to decorate the vans.

We put magnets up of each of us in uniform. The codes beneath our photos are the job we did in the military. Mine says 1W0X1, which is meterology.

This was the first time all year that we had every single person in the team show up for a meeting. I had told them it was mandatory!! After decorating, we went into Veronica’s apartment, where she had made us spaghetti and chicken and salad for dinner. We ate and talked about race details. The six women on Van 1 would be up first. Our team’s start time was 4:05 am Friday morning, August 25th, so they would be racing in a matter of hours.

I handed out the gift bags, that included race T-shirts, our number bibs, and a bunch of other goodies. Alexandra bought us all purple camouflage soaps. We put race time sheets onto clipboards, to keep track of individual racer times and total team time over the next two days. We divided up snacks that we all planned to bring, and talked about where to store coolers, and backpacks of clothing. Army National Guard was a big sponsor! They gave us free backpacks and purple T-shirts and even loaned a van, which saved us about $800 in rental fees. I got the course handbooks to the two drivers, who do more than drive, but also record times and keep track of the course, the rules for when and where and how to move through, and basically watch over us because we all get sleep deprived and delirious eventually.

Then we hugged goodbye and went off. Van 1 ladies got a nap and then…

Van 2 people all went home and got a full nights sleep, and met at 10 am near the exchange point.

This race is huge, with about 18,000 participants from around the world and many from the Pacific Northwest of the USA. Any team that has a member who lives within 100 miles of Portland is required to provide three race volunteers or the team is disqualified. So there are thousands of volunteers too, in addition to the people paid to make this thing happen. We are super lucky because we have three volunteers who join us every year: my boyfriend Pedro, and Erin’s daughter and son-in-law.

The main event is called Hood to Coast. They run the relay race 200 miles from the ski lodge at Mt. Hood all the way to Seaside, on the Pacific Ocean beach. The Portland to Coast race is for walking teams. Our team races at the same exact time, but we are walkers, so we start in Portland and at that point, follow the same route as the runners for 130 miles. Teams have 12 racers plus van drivers. The runners each run 3 legs of about 4-8 miles, and the walkers do the same but only have 2 legs. Race planners set it up so all the runners and walkers pretty much hit the finish line within a period of a few hours.

Using the race times spread sheets, teams predict when their person will show up. Then the next racer puts on all their gear (extra gear at night for safety) and goes out to the road to wait. Usually teams go out with them, to cheer on the incoming person and cheer off the outgoing person. There is a LOT of noise at the exchange points.

Click through the next series which shows what a hand off looks like. The photos below are of Ashley T, the first walker from Van 2, taking the slap bracelet from Beth, the last walker from Van 1.

After the six women in Van 1 were done, they had about 8 hours to rest while Van 2 ladies were walking. Normally this is when they all take naps in sleeping bags and tents at one of the exchange points, but this year it was super hot and no one slept.

When you are the one walking, it’s mostly just you and your thoughts for an hour or two. Some ladies listen to music, some listen to audiobooks or podcasts, a couple have nothing in their ears and just listen to the world around them. Some ladies walk in the city, or in the small towns along the way, and some walk in the country.

So we walked. From 4 am Friday morning until about 1 pm Saturday afternoon. I had injured one knee in March-ish, and as a result of favoring that knee, the other one got injured. I was in a lot of pain this year, but I could not bear to drop out, so I walked more slowly and did ok.

As you can see from the photos, there are lots of smiles on our faces. It’s sort of crazy, what we did, and there is a fun camaraderie in that.

At the end, the team is allowed to join the last walker, Ashley Th (since we have two Ashleys, I used their surname initials too), to cross the finish line together. Everybody gathers on the beach and waits for the last racer to appear on the horizon. When we all hit the last stretch, it’s pretty emotional and exciting too. Then we all get our medals and go for photos.

When all the hullabaloo is done, I like to walk to the water. This year Erin and I both went.

I am willing to be Team Captain again next year, so I put in an application into the lottery on October 4th. We just received notice that the Belle Brigade won a lottery slot once more. So we are in for 2024! Look for this post again shortly after August 23rd & 24th, 2024. ❤