By Mary O’KEEFE

The Annual Challenge Cup/Baker to Vegas Relay took place over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend. The relay is a 120-mile race. There are 20 legs that range from a little over six miles to over 10 miles.

Law enforcement agencies, both national and international, compete in this friendly contest that treks through Death Valley on the way to Las Vegas.

The relay was started by Chuck Foote and Larry Moore as a way for officers to maintain physical fitness and build camaraderie with fellow officers. When it began about 30 years ago it included two agencies, Los Angeles Police Dept. and LA County Sheriff’s Dept. This year the relay saw 275 teams represented.

“This growth is what I thought would happen. Over the years it slowly grew [as the word spread] from one cop to another,” Foote said in an earlier interview with the CVW.

The runners never know what to expect from the relay. About three years ago they ran in temperatures well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but that wasn’t the case this last weekend.

“It was very cold this year,” said Officer Ian Torley of the Glendale Police Dept.

Torley ran leg 16 of the relay. When he started the temperatures were in the mid-30s.

“By the time I ended there were some snow flurries,” he said.

Despite the cold, GPD performed well.

“We did great,” Torley said. “We beat our expected time by over 20 minutes.”

The team came in 45 overall out of 275 teams and placed fourth within their district/category of a division of 300 employees or less.

He added the toughest part typically about the race is the weather. There was no way to train for the cold and the snow but he said he is ready for next year’s relay.

Lt. Mark Slater, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept.-Crescenta Valley Station, knows how the weather can change during the Relay. He has run the race 13 times in the past.

“One year I ran at 2 a.m. and we got snow,” he said.

CV Station partnered with Altadena Station this year for their leg of the Baker to Vegas Relay. Slater said the planning that goes into participating in the Relay is intensive and includes support personnel that each team brings with them, and the officers and traffic control that has to be in place for teams to run on highways and through Las Vegas.

Each team has a strong support group that follows in vehicles, making sure there is enough water for runners and keeping everything on schedule.

“It is amazing what it takes to put on this race,” said Slater.

Torley added it was nice to meet with fellow law enforcement members and talk about what they have in common, seeing their differences and similarities. Slater was able to spend some time with fellow officers from New York City.

The recent race was intense but that didn’t seem to deter anyone.

“That’s the fun part,” Slater said. “It starts in the afternoon and ends in the morning.”

  Mary Okeefe