“Girls Just Want To Have Fun” winners celebrate on the Oregon beach Aug. 28. Kneeling, front from left, Janine Arthur, Sara Donahue, Linda Huyck, Jessica Carmona and Angenie McCleary of Ketchum. Standing, back from left, driver Daniel Hough, Mercy Ray, Tiffany McCleary, Laura Mickelson, Susan Ashlock, Kristi Houk, Julie Carney of Hailey and driver Brent Warner. Not shown is Gretchen Hurlbutt, who had to leave early for an Aug. 28 wedding in Boise. Courtesy photo
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Blaine County Commissioner Angenie McCleary of Sun Valley organized the "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" women's team seven years ago for the Hood to Coast Relay.
Also called "The Mother of All Relays," the Hood to Coast Relay goes along a 197-mile course from Oregon's Timberline Lodge, at 6,000 foot elevation near 11,234-foot Mt. Hood, to Seaside, Ore. on the beach.
This year's 29th annual event, first held in 1982, was staged Friday and Saturday, Aug. 27-28, and it raised over $500,000 for the American Cancer Society. There were 1,023 12-member teams taking part.
McCleary is the team captain, and she has been a part of just about every conceivable scenario during the Hood to Coast over the past six years. That includes last year's third-place finish when "Girls," thinking they had won, missed an exchange and ended third.
In the previous five years, McCleary's "Girls" had placed second in the Women's Open class, which must have one or more of its 12 team members under 30 years of age.
But this year, in cool and dry weather, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" won it all.
McCleary's team won Women's Open in the largest relay in the world with a final time of 21 hours, 29:26 minutes—over 25 minutes ahead of second-place Atlanta Track Club (21.54:29) and 1:45 better than Baba Yaga (23:14).
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"Girls" placed 25th overall of the 1,023 teams that finished with times ranging from the winning BAC Men (17.24:16) to nearly 36 hours for last place.
McCleary said, "It really was exciting to finally win. There are a lot of competitive teams and it's inspirational to be with these women every year."
One other Wood River Valley woman joined McCleary for the fun ride, Julie Carney of Hailey, a social worker at Wood River High School. It was Carney's second straight year doing the relay, in which each team member runs three legs of about six miles apiece.
On the team, two women came from the Wood River Valley, one from Boise, four from Washington State, four from Oreon and one from Boston, Mass. Runner's Soul, a Spokane (Wash.) running store, was the team sponsor.
The women celebrated afterwards with a big dinner at the home of McCleary's parents, in Cannon Beach.
