S
santelik
Guest
I talked to most on the team and many X-Trees at some point leading up to Great Lakes Relay looking to fill out our team; I wanted to throw this out there though to generate some interest in there being an Indiana State team next year.
Two years now I've run GLR with a group of guys and gal who ran at Ball State, some names you know and others you've atleast heard me mention. It's a three-day relay across Michigan; this year the course was from Lake Huron near Oscoda to Lake Michigan/Sleeping Bear Dunes in Emipire. Teams are ten persons, open & co-ed divisions. The terrain varies, but is primarily sand based trails and dirt roads. Those of you who have run at the Dunes before, the trails are similar to those. It's a challenge both physically & mentally. These aren't marked roads the race is on. The trail that is primarily used, Shore-to-Shore, only has blue markers on the trees to let you know you're on the right path. We receieve a book of directions, and they're all distance based with notations for landmarks, forks in the trail, and appologies for when you get lost. And with the race being primarily on trail and seasonal roads, the autos used for transport have seperate sets of directions to follow for most stages.
The competition is top-notch.
There's a team mixed of a few current Michigan State guys, solid post-collegiate guys, and a couple coaches who train with their teams. Pat Grosskopf of MSU headlined this group. The Eastern Michgian team had some current guys who will be in their top-5 this fall, and Corey Nowitzke. There was also a 'young-Michgan' team of recent grads from Ann Arbor, they had Lex Williams on their team, and a kid who's supposed to be Notre Dame's top returner, and a few girls who had been national qualifiers. And our rag-tag bunch that hangs right with them.
Overall the weekend is just a blast. Great training, some very cool scenery, fun comradiere even with how close the four teams up front were. At the end of three days & 360-some miles the four front teams were less than 40-minutes seperated on actual time, and only slightly more after the handicaps were factered in.
But back to the point of this now that you're all filled in. I talked with Keeney a little last week about you all putting an ISU team together. Camp has been going on for a while, and is great for getting everyone focused on the season and assimilating the newcomers to the team; I think this would be great for some of the older guys on the team, and whoever else could get rounded up from the alumni. It's a nice little weekend break in the summer, really makes you all work together to get through this, especially if you're going to be competitive, and a nice reunion based around what brought us all together to begin as everyone gets further away from graduation and moving on with this whole 'life' thing. Forehand ran it this year as well, on our team at the last minute. I'm sure if any of you ask him about it, he'll beam as much as I do about how great a weekend it is. Steinfeld was too have run as well, if not for his achilles. He knows enough of our team to have heard all the stories that make this worth doing.
Those of you who have run Hawthorn Half-Day, and the guys who recently rode RAIN, know what the atmosphere for these events is like. When you add in the camping, and travel just to get to the start, strategizing and tracking other teams, GLR enters another level though.
Just planting the seed in the back your collective minds as something to think about for next summer.
Two years now I've run GLR with a group of guys and gal who ran at Ball State, some names you know and others you've atleast heard me mention. It's a three-day relay across Michigan; this year the course was from Lake Huron near Oscoda to Lake Michigan/Sleeping Bear Dunes in Emipire. Teams are ten persons, open & co-ed divisions. The terrain varies, but is primarily sand based trails and dirt roads. Those of you who have run at the Dunes before, the trails are similar to those. It's a challenge both physically & mentally. These aren't marked roads the race is on. The trail that is primarily used, Shore-to-Shore, only has blue markers on the trees to let you know you're on the right path. We receieve a book of directions, and they're all distance based with notations for landmarks, forks in the trail, and appologies for when you get lost. And with the race being primarily on trail and seasonal roads, the autos used for transport have seperate sets of directions to follow for most stages.
The competition is top-notch.
There's a team mixed of a few current Michigan State guys, solid post-collegiate guys, and a couple coaches who train with their teams. Pat Grosskopf of MSU headlined this group. The Eastern Michgian team had some current guys who will be in their top-5 this fall, and Corey Nowitzke. There was also a 'young-Michgan' team of recent grads from Ann Arbor, they had Lex Williams on their team, and a kid who's supposed to be Notre Dame's top returner, and a few girls who had been national qualifiers. And our rag-tag bunch that hangs right with them.
Overall the weekend is just a blast. Great training, some very cool scenery, fun comradiere even with how close the four teams up front were. At the end of three days & 360-some miles the four front teams were less than 40-minutes seperated on actual time, and only slightly more after the handicaps were factered in.
But back to the point of this now that you're all filled in. I talked with Keeney a little last week about you all putting an ISU team together. Camp has been going on for a while, and is great for getting everyone focused on the season and assimilating the newcomers to the team; I think this would be great for some of the older guys on the team, and whoever else could get rounded up from the alumni. It's a nice little weekend break in the summer, really makes you all work together to get through this, especially if you're going to be competitive, and a nice reunion based around what brought us all together to begin as everyone gets further away from graduation and moving on with this whole 'life' thing. Forehand ran it this year as well, on our team at the last minute. I'm sure if any of you ask him about it, he'll beam as much as I do about how great a weekend it is. Steinfeld was too have run as well, if not for his achilles. He knows enough of our team to have heard all the stories that make this worth doing.
Those of you who have run Hawthorn Half-Day, and the guys who recently rode RAIN, know what the atmosphere for these events is like. When you add in the camping, and travel just to get to the start, strategizing and tracking other teams, GLR enters another level though.
Just planting the seed in the back your collective minds as something to think about for next summer.
Last edited:
