By Mary O’KEEFE

This coming weekend law enforcement from all over the country, and possibly even outside the U.S., will be gathering in Baker, California to start the 120-mile Baker to Vegas – Los Angeles Police Revolver and Athletic Club’s (LAPRAAC) Challenge Cup Relay. The relay race has 20 legs that range from four miles to 10 miles. The race begins near Baker and winds its way through Death Valley before ending in Las Vegas.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. – Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station will be partnering with the Altadena Sheriff’s Station as one unified team. Together they will be sending about 20 runners, five of whom are women.

“We have about 10 runners from our station,” said Sgt. John Gilbert, who is one of the runners.

He said he ran the relay over 10 times, in addition to being on the support team that travels with the runners. He already knows he will be running Leg 13, which is 6.9 miles.

The relay can take runners through all types of terrain and weather, including snow and rain and desert hot temperatures. This year, though, it looks like there won’t be any rain or snow.

“As of right now [this week] the weather will be favorable, much better than last year when we had heat issues,” he said.

The race start times are staggered with the first group beginning on Saturday at 9 a.m. just outside of Baker and the last relay team should arrive in Las Vegas around 4 a.m. on Sunday.

For Gilbert the camaraderie is as important as the friendly competition.

“This is law enforcement-based with [everyone running having] similar career paths and similar daily duties,” he said.

LASD is a very large agency that covers LA County and deputies serve at a variety of stations throughout their careers. This type of event allows them to meet with fellow deputies who they used to serve with and may not have seen in a while.

Twenty-four runners and 18 volunteers from the Glendale Police Dept. will also be participating in the relay.

Next week CVW will share how teams from CV and Altadena stations and GPD, as well as other law enforcement agencies, fared in the relay.