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Local running relay team wins prestigious 'Hood to Coast Relay' race

When you see early morning runners at Wauwatosa's Hart Park, it might just be a group of national champs.

When you see early morning runners at Wauwatosa's Hart Park, it might just be a group of national champs. "Hood to Coast, they call it the mother of all relays," Infinity Running Company local running coach Jack Hackett says. "If anyone's done a Ragnar race with vans kind of hopping in and out. Running different legs. This is the race that started all of that." Eight runners started at Mount Hood and finished on the shore outside Portland. All with a Wisconsin connection. All proud of the win.

By: Lance Allan

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When you see early morning runners at Wauwatosa's Hart Park, it might just be a group of national champs.

"Hood to Coast, they call it the mother of all relays," Infinity Running Company local running coach Jack Hackett says. "If anyone's done a Ragnar race with vans kind of hopping in and out. Running different legs. This is the race that started all of that."

Eight runners started at Mount Hood and finished on the shore outside Portland. All with a Wisconsin connection. All proud of the win.

"If we do this, this is going to be something in 20 years, it's like 'hey, remember that really cool thing that we did and accomplished together,'" the Goodland relay team runner Chase Robles says. "You can always look back and like, we'll always have Portland, Hood to Coast."

"It was our kind of stated goal but it was pretty quiet. To actually see it happen was genuinely incredible," Hackett says. "It was the coolest thing I've ever done with running, which is saying a lot because I've gotten to see so many places, do so many races, and this was the coolest thing I've ever done."

The runners ran all out. Night and day. Relay distances from 3.8 to 7.8 miles. All train while simply living life.

"I have a four month old at home," Robles says. "So this summer was challenging, like trying to get time to run and also get ready for this race, and just find time with work too."

The Goodland relay team turned heads by beating the heavily backed and favored Nike team.

"One of our rival teams even called us the team from, like anywhere and everywhere," Hackett says. "But our name, the Goodland, is you know, a Milwaukee reference. It is cool to be underestimated, to be the underdog."

The team consists of four runners from Wauwatosa. The others are from Columbus, Boston, and Boulder. All with Wisconsin connections.

The full team consists of six guys from the Milwaukee area.