Hood to Coast, the world’s largest relay race, is a 197-mile trek from the top of Mount Hood to the coast of Oregon. Each year, 1,000 teams composed of 12 runners each gather to test the limits of their physical strength as they traverse Oregon’s mountains and coastlines. The race, which was originally conceived as something of an ultra marathon, was designed as an opportunity for competitive runners to have a reprieve from the solitary nature of their sport. The race was so popular in its first year that registration proceeded to nearly double each subsequent year, until a cap of 1,000 teams was placed on the event.
As the popularity of Hood to Coast grew, a broader selection of participants began to register. While the core group of competitive runners remained, a growing number of teams made up of a quirky hodgepodge of runners gave the race a bit of a carnivalesque flair. The documentary Hood to Coast, directed by Christoph Baaden, takes as its focal point the human interest side of the race, following four teams as they prepare for and participate in the grueling relay.
Heart-N-Soul, Dead Jocks in a Box, Team R. Bowe, and Thunder and Laikaning are the starring teams in Hood to Coast. Respectively composed of the 72-time marathon runner Kathy Ryan, who had a near fatal heart attack during the previous Hood to Coast race, and her teammates; a group of 60-plus year-old former competitive runners, one of whom has participated in every year of Hood to Coast, and who always finish in the top six of their age group; a group running in memory of their son, brother, husband, and friend, Ryan Bowen, who died a month before they were supposed to race the previous year; and an office of animators with almost no running experience, the teams represent a diverse array of athletic experience and motivation for participating in the race.
The film begins a bit disjointedly, with a crash introduction to the race presented through the narrative of each participating team. Ostensibly in an effort to avoid a dull introductory segment, the stories are told a bit haphazardly, and information is at times presented out of order (Ryan Bowe’s death, for example, is referred to before we know who he is or why the team is created). But after the initial basis for the film is established and we become familiar with the general cast of characters, the movie evens out into an entirely watchable, if a bit straightforward, narrative.
The film follows the teams as they participate in what is variously a physically challenging and emotionally difficult experience. For Dead Jocks, the race is something of a homecoming, and though they complain lightheartedly about their aging bodies, they run the race with relative ease and seem to have quite a bit of fun while doing it. Likewise, though it takes Thunder and Laikaining much longer to complete the race with several moments of significant physical pain along the way, they remain upbeat, funny, and endlessly endearing with their enthusiasm over the completion of each leg.
It is along the journey with Heart-N-Soul and team R. Bowe that the filmmakers get to explore another side of running, the side where people are running to overcome pain, prove their mental strength, and somehow both remember and forget. For Kathy Ryan and her teammates on Heart-N-Soul, the race becomes not only about returning to the place where she nearly died, but also about celebrating her life and her return to running with people who endlessly support her. The race is similarly bittersweet for R. Bowe, as they share memories with each other and remember Ryan while painfully feeling his absence every step of the way.
Ultimately, Hood to Coast does what it sets out to do. It tells the story of a race through the lens of a few representative participants and explores what motivates people to test the limits of their physical strength. Although it does not extend much beyond the realm of documenting an experience, perhaps it doesn’t need to. This is not a movie that everyone must see or that will be wildly popular in theaters, but that doesn’t seem like film’s intention. Contained within a certain genre, Hood to Coast perfectly succeeds. It is the story of an epic race and the people who are willing to challenge themselves to do something that is just that: epic.
