Thousands of ‘Hood to Coast’ runners pass thru Inner Southeast

Published 12:00 am Sunday, September 29, 2024

Often referred to as “the Mother of All Relays”, this year’s Hood to Coast Relay – drawing 19,000 participants from more than 40 countries, and all 50 states – trotted through Inner Southeast Portland on Friday afternoon and evening, August 23rd.

On their way from Mt. Hood to the coast at Seaside, the participants jogged into our area along the Springwater Corridor Trail, with relay “transfer stations” situated in the northwest corner of the Ardenwald-Johnson Creek neighborhood. From there each team’s fresh runner heads off on a 5.8 mile trek to the next transfer point – located at OMSI, just north of the Ross Island Bridge on the east bank of the Willamette.

Interviews? As in past years, runners finishing their leg are too exhausted to talk; and those taking the GPS-tracked “wrist-slap bracelet” – the modern equivalent of a relay baton – have no time; they are eager to set out on their next leg of the journey.

Although some Southeast motorists expressed dismay at the traffic jams caused by the runners at street crossings, most drivers just seemed confused – and some even signaled their support of the participants of the annual epic relay.

Long before the event ended at the breaking waves of the Pacific Ocean, the streets had returned to the exclusive use of drivers and bicyclists here in Portland.

And before you know it, they’ll be back doing it all again, same time next year!