2022 Hood to Coast

Six TCC members compete in typically epic Oregon relay

Six TCC members made the trip up to Portland, OR for the 50th running of the Hood to Coast relay. Sam Parker served as captain of team Old and Gray, made up primarily of MIT XC alumni (including Rory Beyer), but also including TCC ringer Danielle Katz. Josh Rosenkranz was the captain of team Enginerds, which was also mostly MIT XC alumni (including Katie Bacher). Team Enginerds had a late scratch to a team member in the weeks before the race, and so also added TCC superstar Simon Ricci to the squad.

Both teams competed in the Mixed Open division, which was loaded. Ultimately, seven of the top thirteen finishers were from that division, and so competition to earn a top-6 slot to guarantee a spot in next year’s race was fierce. Team Enginerds set off at 1:30pm local time, in a wave with the top seeds from each division. Old and Gray, despite being seeded roughly ten minutes slower, started five minutes behind, at 1:35pm.

The TCC folks ran a combined 18 legs during the relay, which is too much material to cover in detail, but some highlights are listed below:

• Simon (leg 2), Josh (leg 3) and Rory (leg 9) are all really, really fast

• Katie (leg 4) crushed one of the longest first legs (7.2 miles), and then began openly gloating at how easy her second and third legs would be

• Sam (leg 10) was coming off a 3-week 100% taper in response to a right soleus injury, and despite concerns about aggravating it, was fully healthy throughout the race. Unfortunately, he was still extremely cranky after only sleeping 40 minutes during the night

• Danielle had originally been scheduled for leg 10, but swapped with Sam the night before the race to run leg 8. This left her with the extremely challenging leg 20, a six-mile gravel section with two large climbs in the middle of the night. Unsurprisingly, she smoked it

After 196 miles of racing, the Enginerds finished 11th overall in a time of 20:27:06 (6:13 average per mile). Team Old and Gray was just one place and eight minutes behind, in 20:35:24 (6:16 average). Both teams secured guaranteed spots for next year’s race, and look forward to continuing to compete in the future!

TCC members Danielle Katz, Josh Rosenkranz, Simon Ricci, Katie Bacher, Sam Parker and Rory Beyer

celebrating a successful race at the water's edge in Seaside, OR