You’re speeding comfortably along a dirt path and then suddenly you’re jumping into a creek, wading across, and taking off again. Welcome to the Great Lakes Relay.
The Great Lakes Relay is a three-day race which crosses the varied terrain of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, including hills, a swamp, and a river crossing, according to greatlakesrelay.com.
Senior Matthew Van Egmond is organizing a team composed of current Hillsdale students and alumni to compete in this summer’s relay.
Van Egmond ran on the last team, predominantly composed of Hillsdale students and alumni, which competed in 2010.
The race takes runners through remote parts of Michigan, Van Egmond said.
“You might as well turn your phone off,” he said. “You’re not going to be able to post anything on Twitter.”
The race is taxing, Lecturer in Economics Lewis Butler said. Butler ran the Great Lakes Relay three times, including in 2010 with Van Egmond, and is considering joining this year’s team.
“It’s one of those things that’s fun when it’s over, but in the middle of it, you really question what it is that you’re doing,” he said. “At the end of the day, you’re just sore, and you’re dirty, and you’re tired, and then you do it two more times.”
The course is not marked, Butler said. Instead the runners follow written directions.
Van Egmond said following the directions is one of the toughest challenges the runners face. Running faster isn’t enough if you get lost, Butler said, so experience with the course is helpful.
Teams of up to 10 runners compete in the relay, according to the website.
“There’s like 1,000 people moving in a horde across Michigan,” Butler said.
The runners, wearing short running shorts, swarm small backwoods towns, filling pizzerias and bars that sport such names as “Spike’s Keg of Nails” and “The Wild Turkey.”
For many runners, drinking forms part of the attraction.
“It’s an amazing experience, sober or drunk,” said Hillsdale alumnus Alex Ralston ’11, who competed on the 2010 Hillsdale team. “I’ve done it both ways.”
Both Van Egmond and Ralston said they enjoyed the camaderie of the relay.
“You get to meet a lot of great people,” Van Egmond said.
They said the atmosphere is more fun than standard track meets.
“I see it more as a vacation than as a race,” Van Egmond said.
The relay, which benefits the Michigan Special Olympics, is sponsored by the Lakeshore Striders Running Club.
With river crossings, camping overnight, partying, and getting lost over the roughly 270-mile course, the Great Lakes Relay offers a unique experience.
“It’s just really hard to capture the whole experience,” Butler said. “It’d be like, ‘Tell me about your experience at Hillsdale.’ You’d just be like, ‘Well, it’s kind of crazy.’”
