Deathrace Participants Will Get Just Desert

Ron Cooke had run the 120-mile relay from Baker to Las Vegas over desert back roads, but he was seeking a tougher challenge.

“I felt a desert race ought to include some desert,” said Cooke, a deputy with the Orange County marshal’s office, “and not be just a run on asphalt.”

So Cooke spent long weekends in 1995 on desert reconnaissance missions, mapping out an alternative course. He prevailed on a friend with an airplane to make two flyovers of the area, but spent most of his time slowly tracking the route in his beat-up pickup.

He eventually came up with an on- and off-road course of 250 miles--more or less.

“The measurements are highly calibrated by a 1984 Mazda pickup truck,” Cooke said with a laugh.

In 1996, four teams, including one of Orange County marshals led by Cooke, competed in the inaugural Mojave 250-Plus Mile Deathrace. At 5 a.m. on Saturday, more than 20 teams will start the race near Buffalo Bill’s Hotel and Casino in Primm, Nevada.

Each team is made up of 12 members who divide 21 legs of running, mountain biking and road biking. There are approximately 95 miles of running, 63 of mountain biking and 127 of road biking through some of the most desolate land in the Mojave Desert.

Nighttime temperatures can dip into the 30s and daytime temperatures can push 120, less than ideal conditions for heavy exertion.

But that, of course, is part of the attraction. No one has been seriously hurt in the previous races, but dehydration is always a possibility. Cooke didn’t name it the Deathrace for nothing.

“I guess the idea of it being a death race is to defeat it, to laugh in the face of death, not to get anybody hurt,” he said. “It has a certain appeal to it. You know you are not going out to do just a 5K or 10K at the beach in the nice cool morning. You see Deathrace and you should see some caution flags going up.”

The race, which Cooke puts on with the help of 100 volunteers from the marshal’s athletic team and the Orange County Coastal Amateur Radio Emergency Services, attracts an eclectic mix of teams, from a group of friends to teams representing fire departments, military services and corporations. There’s even a team from a middle school in South Central Los Angeles.

“It’s not like you have to get supermen or superwomen to do this,” said Pete Penseyres, 57, a veteran of three Mojave races. “They don’t all have to be marathon types. People who can do 10Ks can go out and do it.”

Penseyres, a two-time winner of the Race Across America ultramarathon bicycle competition, now prefers relay events because of the camaraderie that forms between teammates.

Penseyres’ team--Southern California Edison--won the Mojave race in 1997 and ’98 and was runner-up to a Tucson-based team last year. Edison isn’t entered this year because its organizer retired.

“I just want to make it clear, that the reason we aren’t coming back this year is not because we got beat last year,” Penseyres said.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Orange County will host an event on the Beach Volleyball America Tour this year. The women’s professional tour announced Wednesday it is moving the July 8-9 event originally scheduled for Santa Barbara to Seal Beach.

The Seal Beach Open, a 24-team, double-elimination event with a purse of $75,000, will be held next to the Seal Beach Pier.

TRIATHLON TRIALS

Jill Newman, a former Newport Beach lawyer, finished 10th in the U.S. Olympic triathlon trials Saturday in Irving, Tex. Sheila Taormina of Livonia, Mich., and Joanna Zeiger of Baltimore finished first and second to win the two remaining spots on the U.S. team.

MOUNTAIN BIKING

Leigh Donovan of Laguna Beach finished the downhill mountain bike season in strong fashion, placing second in the dual slalom and the downhill last month at the NORBA National Championship Series opener in Big Bear.

Cheri Elliot of Cameron Park, Calif., beat Donovan in the dual slalom final. Donovan was runner-up to Schwinn teammate Elke Brutsaert of Durango, Colo., in the downhill.

Dave Cullinan of Mission Viejo finished second in the men’s downhill to Myles Rockwell of Durango. Cullinan finished third in the dual slalom.

MASTERS VOLLEYBALL

Newport Beach-based Team TFG-USA finished fourth in the 50s division at the World Veterans Volleyball Championships in Tampere, Finland, last month. TFG-USA’s only losses came against teams from the Ukraine and Russia.

Players on the roster included Ken Petersen of Newport Beach, Greg Vail of Laguna Niguel, Phil Feherbend of Fountain Valley and Spike Boarts and Bob Jackson of Manhattan Beach.

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Hello, Mom?

The relay course starts at 5 a.m. Saturday and travels just over 250 miles through unpredictable weather conditions. “We’re gonna test you to see if you’re a challenger or a wannabee!” boast race organizers, who advise athletes having trouble to “call your mommy to come get you!”

Source: Mojave Death Race