The rookies, Heidi Oberstadt, Courtney Rettew and Lorenzo Gholston, joined veterans Greg Masenthin, Steve Hill, Gina Alvarado Jenkins, Cathy Jooste, Peter Wagner, Pete Boll, Amanda Hall, Randy Meacham and Alexander Brown. Heidi is the 66th, Courtney the 67th and Lorenzo the 68th Rank Stranger. (31 have run multiple times, 37 are one-timers).
Team co-founders were drivers: Mark Clear (Madison van), Eric Engdahl (Chicago van) are recovering from injuries.
Terrible weather made it the our shortest race, approximately 170 miles instead of the scheduled 205 miles. We had two (2) lightning stops; racing was halted at about midnight on Friday and noon on Saturday. This forced us to skip three legs after midnight on Friday, and one at midday Saturday. We were instructed to skip a fifth leg on Saturday afternoon as Ragnar sped us up to get under the deadline to finish.
So, fewest miles but some of the hardest running.
 |
| The weather for Teddy Oberstadt's first relay drew a frown; mom Heidi could smile about it. |
Ragnar took most of Illinois out of our relay but the upside was the novelty of many new "legs". It started in Waukegan, IL, which hugs the Wisconsin border. That was our first van transition westwin 2018, 40 miles north of Chicago. It was the second straight year with an Illinois start afte 13 years of the Madison to Chicago routine. We travelled through Milwaukee's lakefront, north a good distance and then zigzagged north of I94 before dropping down to join the traditional course at the final van transition in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. The finish was at Madison's Olin Park.
Eric said, “My first non-running year gave me special appreciation for the challenge. I think the weather and the legs over rolling hills in the farmland made this one of our most toughest. It was in the 40's Fahrenheit most of the time, with a stiff headwind especially as we made our way north during the first two van shifts.”
The team was loaded with experience, starting with Steve Hill who completed his 10th race. Steve’s 10th relay tied him with Art Saffran; Eric is first with 14, Jeff second with 11. Steve missed only 2013 since his debut in 2009.
Relay counts for the other veterans in this year’s race: Pete Boll (9; he made his debut in the team’s second year, 2006); Randy (6), Cathy (6; she has run 5 of the last 6 races), Greg (4), Peter (3), Amanda (3), Gina (2), Alexander (2).
Greg, Randy, Cathy, Steve and driver Eric were all part of Rank Strangers 2015 Hood To Coast (Oregon) team.
Logistical shenanigans spiced things up. Three of 12 runners DID NOT set out on Friday with their "home" van. Peter (Madison van) rode to Wisconsin with the Chicago van. Lorenzo (Madison van) took the train from Chicago and Kenosha and then rode with the Chicago van to the meetup with his van. Randy (Chicago van) drove his own car from Illinois to the final van transition in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, and rode with the Madison van to his first shift south of Racine. And our 5:15AM start in Waukegan was our earliest ever.
 |
Heidi Oberstadt,
Alexander Brown, Greg Masenthin, Eric Engdahl (driver),
Amanda Hall, Lorenzo
Gholston, Pete Boll, Gina Alvarado Jenkins,
Courtney Rettew, Mark Clear (driver),
Cathy Jooste, Steve Hill.
Not shown: Randy Meacham, Peter Wagner.
|
"Rank Strangers" is word play in a number of ways. Mostly significantly, they are NOT strangers. Everyone has been referred by a Stranger. 2005 runner Keith Dudding coined the team name, drawing inspiration from an old song, "I am a poor wayfaring stranger travelling through this world of woe." He added, “actually, after we've all run a leg or two, we would more closely resemble a tune made popular by The Stanley Brothers ... ‘Rank Strangers’.”
During the non-stop relay, each team member runs three legs, each leg ranging between 3 - 10 miles.
We have two large vans, with six runners in each. The first vehicle will watch the first runner begin, drive ahead a few miles, cheer the runner on, and provide them with water, snacks, and encouragement. That vehicle will then drive ahead to the first exchange point to drop off the second runner, and pick up the runner completing the first leg. The pattern repeats for six legs until they hand the baton to the second vehicle. This leapfrogging pattern will continue all the way to the finish line.
See below for the team Record Book that shows who has run by year, in last name order, and the total mileage list.
Rank Stranger
|
Relays
|
Miles
per relay |
Total
Miles |
Eric Engdahl
|
14
|
16.7
|
233.9
|
Jeff Shampo
|
11
|
18.4
|
202.3
|
Steve Hill
|
10
|
18.7
|
187
|
Art Saffran
|
10
|
17.6
|
176.1
|
Pete Boll
|
9
|
16.1
|
144.5
|
Mark Clear
|
9
|
14.0
|
126.6
|
Renee Roux
|
8
|
15.4
|
123.0
|
Randy Meacham
|
6
|
14.9
|
89.7
|
Cathy Jooste
|
6
|
14.1
|
84.8
|
Ed Stojakovic
|
4
|
18.8
|
75.1
|
Paul Miller
|
4
|
17.6
|
70.3
|
Marc Golab
|
4
|
17.5
|
69.8
|
Greg Masenthin
|
4
|
16.2
|
64.8
|
Holly Dowling
|
3
|
19.8
|
59.3
|
Peter Wagner
|
3
|
19.2
|
57.5
|
Bob Holzer
|
3
|
17.7
|
53.1
|
Jennifer Sell
|
3
|
16.9
|
50.6
|
Bo Lackey
|
3
|
15.0
|
45.1
|
Martin Tagge
|
2
|
21.3
|
42.5
|
Monique Faber
|
2
|
20.4
|
40.8
|
Chris
Montgomery
|
2
|
18.4
|
36.7
|
Kim Hill
|
2
|
17.9
|
35.8
|
Anne Martino
|
2
|
16.9
|
33.9
|
Gina Alvarado Jenkins
|
2
|
15.5
|
31
|
Debra Addison
|
2
|
15.3
|
30.5
|
Brad Clark
|
2
|
14.9
|
29.8
|
Alexander Brown
|
2
|
14
|
28.1
|
Amanda Hall
|
3
|
9.3
|
27.9
|
Keith Dudding
|
1
|
28.4
|
28.4
|
David Maze
|
1
|
24.7
|
24.7
|
Melinda
Roenisch
|
2
|
12.3
|
24.5
|
Jamie
Quanbeck
|
2
|
12.1
|
24.2
|
Denise
Meacham
|
2
|
11.8
|
23.5
|
Therese Nolan
|
1
|
21.8
|
21.8
|
Beth Fegan
|
1
|
20.7
|
20.7
|
Jason Mould
|
1
|
20.6
|
20.6
|
Margaret
Jastrebski
|
1
|
20.0
|
20.0
|
Fred Bounds
|
1
|
18.6
|
18.6
|
Marc
Damerjian
|
1
|
18.4
|
18.4
|
Ed Heberlein
|
1
|
18.1
|
18.1
|
Lorenzo Gholston
|
1
|
18.1
|
18.1
|
Daniela Gavric
|
1
|
18.0
|
18.0
|
Maddy Melin
|
1
|
17.8
|
17.8
|
Pati Flannery
|
1
|
17.8
|
17.8
|
Susanna Beien
|
1
|
17.8
|
17.8
|
Steve Smith
|
1
|
17.3
|
17.3
|
Ryan Lipscomb
|
1
|
16.7
|
16.7
|
Heidi Oberstadt
|
1
|
16.7
|
16.7
|
Suzanne Shoff
|
1
|
16.6
|
16.6
|
Sergey Petrov
|
1
|
16.6
|
16.6
|
Rachael
Weiker
|
1
|
16.6
|
16.6
|
Suzanne
Holmes
|
1
|
16.4
|
16.4
|
Courtney Rettew
|
1
|
16.4
|
16.3
|
Rachel Rivard
|
1
|
15.9
|
15.9
|
Bill Shepard
|
1
|
15.7
|
15.7
|
Angie Patnode
|
1
|
15.3
|
15.3
|
Ann Wilson
|
1
|
14.5
|
14.5
|
Steve Schmidt
|
1
|
14.1
|
14.1
|
Pat Hurley
|
1
|
13.9
|
13.9
|
Jill
Buhrfiend
|
1
|
13.7
|
13.7
|
Ivanka Sans
Sarocelsky
|
1
|
13.7
|
13.7
|
Emma Guiot
|
1
|
13.5
|
13.5
|
Tim Scott
|
1
|
13.2
|
13.2
|
William Serpa
|
1
|
13.0
|
13.0
|
Beverly
Schuller
|
1
|
10.0
|
10.0
|
Kelly Bard
|
1
|
9.3
|
9.3
|
Cathy Van
Leuven
|
1
|
8.6
|
8.6
|
Reggie Hill
|
1
|
2.5
|
2.5
|
