By Arianna DerManulian ’14 | Staff Writer

Continuing his passion for running and intense challenges, science teacher and Girls Cross Country/Track Assistant Coach Shawn McNamara competed in the Great Lakes Relay (GLR) this summer along with nine others on July 19-21.

Known as one of the country’s longest and most challenging relays, GLR’s website said that the race is a three day summer weekend that features the scenic upper half of Michigan’s lower peninsula. The course takes runners through the state’s national forests, over remote trails and roads, through sandy ruts and hills.

“We started in Onoway and finished in Empire, so all in all, the team covered almost 300 miles,” said McNamara. “I did seven legs (runs) of the relay and each person did between six and seven legs, so I covered almost 32 miles.”

Similar to a track relay, McNamara said each person covered a certain amount of distance each day, handed off the “baton” to another teammate and then continued the race into the following two days.

“There were typically two runs per person each day,” said McNamara. “For example, I ran a three mile in the morning and a six mile in the afternoon. It wasn’t a continuous run for each runner, but it was continuous for the team.”

Waking up as early as 6 a.m., McNamara said the race began before sunrise and late into the evening. He said one runner may start off the race by running only two miles and then the next runner could run as much as 10 miles.

“My first run was at 7 a.m. and I ran three miles,but then my next race wasn’t until 5 p.m. in the afternoon,” said McNamara. “There’s a lot of down time between each leg which helps us recuperate and rest before the next run.”

Since the trails and paths had minimal markage, McNamara said it was mostly up to the runner and their instincts to stay on course.

“I remember one of our teammates got caught in the middle of a storm while running a 10 mile leg,” said McNamara. “He ended up getting lost and ran 13 miles instead of 10. We are on these back roads and there aren’t many signs so some directions might say ‘run 2.7 miles to the T ahead, turn left and go 800 meters,’ but that was also the fun part about the experience.”

Out of the 90 teams competing, McNamara said that their team was formed by many different people.

“Some of us are coaches, some of us just like to run and some of us are friends of friends but we all came together with different speeds, intentions and abilities and ran like a true team,” said McNamara. “We weren’t one of the fastest teams because we had all different age groups running on our team. The youngest runner was just out of college and our oldest runner was just over 60; but that was one of the factors that made it just as enjoyable.”

Running two legs Friday, three legs Saturday and two legs Sunday, McNamara said out of nearly 90 teams their team came in 30th place.

“We were very proud of the outcome,” said McNamara. “My wife ran our last leg which is called, ‘The Glory Leg,’ so she ran the last stretch along Lake Michigan which was a beautiful sight and she loved it; it was truly a memorable experience.”

McNamara said he will continue to train throughout the year by preparing for his second Iron Man Triathlon in 2014.

“We’re very excited for the upcoming event and look forward to another intense competition in our future.”