Though it was a long hot and lets face it…grueling day on Saturday, July 31st, 2010 The Pineland Striders River to Sea (R2C) team broke through expectations and ran a race to be proud of. The R2C is a relay that stretches 92 miles across the good ole Garden State, from Milford to Manasquan. Seven members per team to run 2 legs a piece in order to reach the finish line. The team consisted of Mark Hamersly, Valerie Patricia, Desiree Gaun, Ian Stevenson, Dawn Kempton, Bob Cannava and Craig Dombrosky with El Hamersly and Dan Patricia as our drivers and support.

This race began in a cool atmosphere with our start time at 7:15 AM having Mark running a quick and brisk 4.8 miles, barely breaking a sweat. Having only about 30 seconds till he had to go off and start the race at which point Bob and El were finishing up pinning his 2nd race tag on the back of his shirt. If it wasn't for his dad he wouldn't have found the starting line in time. Running the race basically all alone till the very end where he was just about to catch other runners when he saw our next runner who was TEXTING on her phone mear seconds before starting her leg!

Stage 2 was an 8.2 mile breezier Val ran. After stage 2 is when things really began to heat up. Craig, with gazelle-like pace ran a 6.5 mile trail along the canal, which though beautiful I’m sure, barely allowed space for a water break until the very end. Next up was Ian, equipped only with his ‘secret weapon’ on his head faced off with none other than the ‘Beast!’ The last time Ian and the Beast faced off, we all thought the Beast may have gotten the best of poor Ian. However, this year, Ian did not give the Beast a chance to triumph. Running a little less than an 8:00 min pace, Ian came out the victor. Dawn and Bob completed the next two legs in the dead of the heat. Reaching a scorching degree, the sun beat down on Dawn first as she ran her 6.5 mile leg and Bob second as he completed his 8.05 miles. To finish the first half of the race, Des ran the twisting and turning leg number 7. Though a quick 3.95 miles, the heat made this leg seem so much longer, but Des powered through and led the team into the next and most trying part of the race, the second legs.

Reaching about 6.5 hours deep into the R2C, the morale was high and the energy was still up, even though legs were starting to tire. Mark led the team into the first leg of the second half. Though it had been a good 5+ hours since his first stride in the early AM, Mark was fresh and raring to go! Right off the bat, Mark set a standard for the team to run up, running at a great speed and quickly completing 5.55 miles right around the time the Sun was at its apex. Bob conquered, and crushed the next leg of the race. Having only a 2 leg break between his runs, Bob ran the 9.15 miles faster than he had run the 8.05 miles earlier that day! It was also much hotter and no shade at all for poor Bob. Bob was going so fast that the next runner almost didn't make it for both of his legs due to the traffic on the road being alot worse then last time, two years ago that we did R2C. I believe Ian is still apologizing days after to Bob for giving him the two hardest legs, hah!

Legs 10 and 11 consist of a ‘wildcard’ run, which involves two runners completing a total of 13.9 miles switching on and off. Ian and Dawn decided to switch every 30mins or about each 5k..it kindof changed in the middle of the legs. Let’s just say they not only dominated that round of legs, but finished with huge smiles running across their faces.

Des took the next leg, a 6.55 mile run that seems like it was much longer, but Des ran it with a huge smile on her face and crushed every mile. Despite still recovering from her 20 in 24 race she still ran strong.

The last second leg in the race was run by Craig, and although it was a long 7.95 miles and covered partly by trails, he was not fazed. Craig ran two impressive legs not giving into any fatigue.

The Final Sprint, a quick 2.5 mile leg, Val ran and she greatly enjoy running this leg though this year it was certainly more competitive seeing that we had a 12 hr goal to beat! We finished in less than 12 hours, beating our last time by a whopping 1 hour and 22 minutes! The team’s average pace was slightly less than 8 minute miles!

With all that said, I must take time to recognize our two incredible drivers who are teammates that we could not have made it without. Firstly, El who followed each runner on each and every leg, he made sure to stop and give water, in a humorous way, every half-mile (We're not kidding every .5 mile! He used the cars' trip meter.) Secondly, to Val's father Dan was there to support each runner with water after their leg and offer them assistance and refreshment over the course of the entire 12 hrs. The night before he bought everything he thought a runner would want or need (including hand sanitizer) and even stayed up late into the night cutting up oranges and packaging fruit.

The runners truly could not have completed the race without Dan and El on the team, and we are very grateful that they were with us leg after leg.

Written by Valerie Patricia and Mark Hamersly.

Photos by Craig and Fran Dombrosky.

The Pineland Striders - River to Sea Team!