humor from the relay

Each HTC team is required to have two vans to ferry six members each between transition areas. Many of the teams decorate their vans with magnetic posters, washable window paint and other items so that team members can find them easily at a transition point. Since each team is required to have a name, most will decorate their vans with their team names or drawings that are somehow related to their team name. Many of the team names, in the spirit of the light hearted nature of the race, are humorous: 'L.O.S.T: Lack of Speed and Talent', the 'Go-Nads' (the winner of last year's best team name contest), 'Physical Fatness,' etc. Here's a photo I took of one team's van (click to see detail). The vaan seems pink at first glance, but the team has actually painted the entire vehicle to match their 'Inky Oinkers' theme.

on the road

This sign greeted us late last night at the Nike store -- apparently this relay is a Big Deal. There were dozens of runners waiting for the store to open this morning, teams from all over the world are here to run. Many of the people awaiting Nike's opening were dressed in team uniforms and it seemed that they took this race fairly seriously. Results are based on an honor system of self reporting individual times and adding them up for a team time, so there aren't really any official times as runners are not given a timing chip for the relay.