12A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016
Blindness doesn’t hinder Team Eye Rock
Walkers and
their guides
make good time
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — After crossing
the inish line for the Portland to
Coast walking relay in Seaside,
members of Team Eye Rock
gathered on the beach to receive
their medals.
There were twice as many
relay medals to give out for the
group, made up of 12 blind and
visually impaired walkers and
12 guides who traversed 129
miles over more than 32 hours
together.
The teams split up 36 legs
ranging from 4 to 8 miles,
each taking on at least two.
Blind walker Adrienne Lat-
tin and her guide Rachel Bus-
chelman started Friday walking
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Members of Team Eye Rock congratulate themselves on
reaching the beach in Seaside after more than 32 hours
completing a relay from Portland.
7.8 miles north on U.S. High-
way 30 north from Scappoose
Middle School. By 3:45 a.m.
Saturday, the two were walk-
ing uphill toward the crest of
Oregon Highway 203 and into
Clatsop County’s woodsy hin-
terlands, a total of 6 miles and
more than 550 feet of elevation
gain in pitch black. Lattin said
the experience can be like an
emotional roller coaster.
“You go from being
exhausted, delirious, and there’s
so much laughter, and some-
times people get emotional,” she
said. “And then you’re walking,
and it’s like this crazy, magical
moment when you’re walking
in the middle of the night and
it’s so peaceful.”
Buschelman said the conver-
sations often turned more per-
sonal, as the two tried to keep
each other upbeat while walking
down a dark, windy highway
in the Clatsop State Forest. The
two, who had been training the
last month and a half, walked
tethered by an elastic band the
guides used to help keep the
walkers safe from passing cars,
branches and other obstacles.
Together, they covered nearly
14 miles.
“I don’t see my disability as
being a barrier,” said Lattin, who
has competed in three Portland
to Coast relays.
Colleen Madigan, a visu-
ally impaired walker for Team
Eye Rock, met her partner Jeff
Anderson, a blind walker for
the team, at a hiking event on
Mount Tabor organized by
the Northwest Association for
Blind Athletes, also a sponsor of
the relay team. The couple see
themselves as strong racers, sep-
arate of any disability.
“It doesn’t deine us, the
blindness,” Anderson said.
Madigan bragged of her 19
road kills, a colloquial term for
passing other walkers by, on one
leg alone.
“I don’t want to be known
as just a blind fast racer,” she
said. “I want it to be known
that I’m a fast racer, that I’m
out here doing it. I have an
accommodation in the form of
a human guide, you know. I get
a buddy.”
Team Eye Rock was born
during the Vision Walk fund-
raiser for The Foundation Fight-
ing Blindness. Dr. Irv Han-
delman from the Casey Eye
Institute approached Charlene
Cook from the Oregon Com-
mission for the Blind and asked
her to assemble a team.
Team Eye Rock inished in
the top half of the relay its irst
year, and has often been in the
top third. Last year, wind and
rain storms kept the team from
two stages and disqualiied them
from the relay. Anderson said
that made this year’s relay all
the more special.
“Our goal from the very
irst was to compete and beat
our prior times and teams
around us,” Cook said in a state-
ment about the founding of the
team. “This took training, grit,
hundreds of hours of walk-
ing together and with our part-
ner. The end result was that Eye
Rock wasn’t just about blind
people trying hard, it was about
people who happened to be
blind competing and inishing
with a stunning outcome.”
Hood to Coast: ‘I’ve seen nothing but happy people so far’
Continued from Page 1A
through the night and cross-
ing the next morning.
Waites said they appreciated
the cool-down weather, in the
high-50s Saturday morning. “It
feels really good — especially
because in Portland it was bru-
tally hot.”
The run was “awesome,”
she added, the rugged outdoor
path illuminated by lanterns.
Celebrities on the 197-mile
track to Seaside included come-
dian and actor Kevin Hart run-
ning on the Nike team and
American decathlon gold med-
alist Ashton Eaton, his wife and
Canadian Olympian Brianne
Theisen-Eaton,
Olympians
Josh Cox and Lopez Lomong,
all running for Team World
Vision.
Along with the big names
and superstar athletes, more
than 17,000 participants on
teams of up to 12 people landed
in Seaside, running and walk-
ing. With most teams sending
three volunteers, there were
another 3,600 people working
the event.
“It’s about showcasing 200
miles of Oregon, culminating
here,” said Dan Floyd, chief
operating oficer for the Hood to
Coast Race Series. He said there
were people from 41 countries
participating and from all 50
states. “For us to be part of that,
we want to showcase the best of
what Oregon has. For it to end
here, and to have weather coop-
erating, is amazing.”
Change in course
For the overall safety of all
participants, organizers decided
to make a small tweak to the
race route, which is not uncom-
mon, Floyd said.
The 2015 run came to a
rocky conclusion —85-mph
winds shut down the beer gar-
den and vendors, and runners
were diverted onto already busy
streets. Merchants complained
about the chaos and confusion.
Saturday was different. From
the tents on the beach to the num-
ber of sponsors and spectators,
every step showed a rebound for
the event, which irst came to
Seaside in the 1980s.
“It’s 200 miles of improve-
ments,” Floyd said. “It starts
with our staff, our focus on
customer service. That means
neighbors, businesses and
everybody else in the commu-
nity. It’s about treating peo-
ple well and being respectful of
where we operate.”
“I’m just happy to be back
on the beach,” Hood to Coast
Chief Operating Oficer Jude
Hubber said Saturday morning.
“Everyone just came together
last year and talked about what
we wanted to see in the future.
How we wanted a partnership.
Now it’s a partnership beyond
all partnerships. It’s exciting.”
The difference this year,
according to Floyd, came in
communications. Seaside City
Council hearings in Octo-
ber considered options includ-
ing a change of date for the
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Hood and PDX to Coast Relay walkers and runners start-
ed reaching Olney School around 4 a.m. Saturday.
event or even a change of inal
destination.
Hood to Coast made it
clear they could not accommo-
date a date change. Not wish-
ing to see the event completely
depart from Seaside, city coun-
cilors were unanimous in their
support of the race for at least
2016 and 2017, with the pro-
vision of enhanced communi-
cation between race organiz-
ers, Seaside businesses and city
oficials.
Conversations were “abso-
lutely” productive, Floyd said.
“It really played out over the last
10 months, because they led to
openness and discussions about
what we need to do to make this
a successful event not only for
Hood to Coast participants, for
the city, as well.”
“One of the reasons for the
change is Brian Owen from
the chamber and Jon Rahl of
the (Seaside) Visitors Bureau,
and the city in general,” Floyd
said. “Our relationship’s been
excellent.”
“So far everything I’ve seen
looks great,” Rahl said Saturday
afternoon. “It’s a little cooler
than we expected, but typically
the runners like this weather,
running in the heat and inishing
in the pool.
“I haven’t heard the com-
plaints,” he added. “That doesn’t
mean they’re not out there. But
I’ve seen nothing but happy
people so far.”
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