In 2008, we never expected to win the Ragnar Relay. As a co-ed team of six women and six men, our team, Road Thrill, ran Florida’s inaugural Ragnar Relay with a goal of running nearly 200 miles in less than 24 hours. Knowing we had a strong team, we expected to compete for the co-ed title. A little more than halfway through the race, our focus changed a bit realizing we were neck and neck for the overall lead, duking it out with an all-male cross country team from Florida College. As dusk gave way to dawn, Road Thrill emerged in the lead with our best runners yet to begin their last legs. However, as one of our runners got injured, then fatigue, pacing and unseasonably warm temperatures started to affect some of the fastest people, the win wasn’t as certain. The team rallied and cheered one another on, and as Lindsay Sundell handed off to Andrew Robinson for the final leg. Flanked by many of his teammates, Andrew crossed the finish line nearly 40 minutes ahead of Florida College. Our time was 22:14, a 6:51 overall pace for 194 miles. An unexpected benefit of running this race was that this group of 12 became fast friends, attending regular meetings and even the occasional wedding, and one thing kept coming back up – how do we top that kind of effort?

Keeping as much of the original Road Thrill team intact as possible, we began preparing for the 2009 race. We had to replace a couple of runners due to injury – and yet another due to pregnancy, a different kind of injury all together. We finally completed the roster two days before the race and though a few of us were nursing injuries, we hopped into two vans – a van for the boys and one for the girls – with six original Road Thrillers and six newcomers.

Based on predicted overall time, Ragnar starts teams in waves with the goal of having all teams finish in a window of a couple of hours. The first of more than 100 teams started at 7:15, then 8, 9 and so on. Pulling into the start in Clearwater, the top five teams from last year came back, all said they were faster and it became apparent that Road Thrill 2.0 was the hunted. With the last wave of competitors starting at 2:00pm, our ladies van began the first stretch of the competition, and by the time the beauties yielded to the beasts (the men’s van), Road Thrill was comfortably in front. Our focus changed once again from an overall victory to beating every other team to the finish line – even the ones with an almost 7-hour head start. We ran into the night, dancing on the shoulders of busy highways, then through pitch-black trails and eventually, handing off one last time to the ladies and trying desperately but unsuccessfully to grab an hour of sleep before our last run. When the ladies handed off to the guys van for the final time, Road Thrill caught all but one of the teams…or so we thought. Our first male runner, Brent Schneider made quick work of the last team and Road Thrill was going to cruise to an overall victory and be the first team to finish.

Midway through our last van, we found out there was another team on the course – his name was Mike. Mike decided to do the whole course on his own, beginning his journey four days prior and I had the great honor of being the one to meet him on the course. It was my last leg and I was hurting, but somehow, it was very hard to feel sorry for myself with my 16.9 miles when Mike was doing 204. I caught up, asked his name and thanked him for the inspiration before I passed the baton.
There was no better ending to the story for us then when we saw our team captain, Oscar Boykin, running through the blazing heat, down the boardwalk in Daytona Beach. This time, we were all there, at his side when he crossed the finish line in 21:55 – a 6:30 overall pace and ahead of the next team by just under two hours. We are so proud of the accomplishment and inspired by our teammates…and inspired, of course, by Mike as well.

Road Thrill 2.0 consists of :
Jo Shott, Anna Busby, Erin Boykin, Lindsay Sundell, Allison Costello and Mary Waechter
Brent Schneider, Andy Robinson, Oscar Boykin, Jake Logan, Alex Phipps and THE Julio Palma