TROPHY RUN DEPUTIES CHASING THE GOOD GUYS.Byline: Greg Botonis Staff Writer PALMDALE - Twenty-four runners from the Palmdale and Lancaster sheriff's stations are training to cross the Mojave Desert Mojave or Mohave Desert, c.15,000 sq mi (38,850 sq km), region of low, barren mountains and flat valleys, 2,000 to 5,000 ft (610–1,524 m) high, S Calif.; part of the Great Basin of the United States. on foot for a 120-mile relay race relay race Race between teams in which each team member successively covers a specified portion of the course. In track events, such as the 4 × 100-m and 4 × 400-m relays, the runner finishing one leg passes a baton to the next runner while both are running within that will pit teams of more than 4,000 law enforcement officers against each other. Known as the Baker-to-Vegas race, the 16th annual Challenge Cup Relay is expected to draw more than 200 teams representing law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is a term used to describe any agency which enforces the law. This may be a local or state police, federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). ranging from the FBI to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Royal Canadian Mounted Police, constabulary organized (1873) as the Northwest Mounted Police to bring law and order to the Canadian west. In 1920 the name was changed to the present title. . ``It's an incredible thing seeing this race put on,'' said Sgt. Vince Burton, one of the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley team's captains. ``There's just miles and miles of desert, and suddenly there's a city in the middle of an oasis.'' The 20 regular team members and four alternates will be trying to win a second trophy for the local team. For placing in the top 5 percent in its race last year, the team already has an engraved en·grave tr.v. en·graved, en·grav·ing, en·graves 1. To carve, cut, or etch into a material: engraved the champion's name on the trophy. 2. trophy stein, emblazoned with a coiled rattlesnake rattlesnake, poisonous New World snake of the pit viper family, distinguished by a rattle at the end of the tail. The head is triangular, being widened at the base. The rattle is a series of dried, hollow segments of skin, which, when shaken, make a whirring sound. in a cowboy hat. ``We've improved our time this year,'' said Deputy Dave Miklos, another team captain. ``I'm sure we'll be in the top five of our category and the top 35 overall.'' An Antelope Valley team has entered the race each year since the beginning, and the team's trophy last year was its first. Members say they are determined to bring home another. The race will begin 18 miles north of Baker on Highway 178, continue on two-lane roads into Pahrump, Nev., and will end in Las Vegas at the Rio Hotel. The runners will start in the afternoon and evening of April 7 and race through the night and into the next day. The fastest teams are expected to finish in little more than 12 hours. Each racer will run 3 1/2 to 8 miles, carrying a baton to hand to the next runner on the same team. Tents, restrooms and lighting are set up at each spot where the baton changes hands. Those finishing their runs get water and food, and paramedics are standing by. The runners endure extreme weather conditions. A team might start running in 100-degree heat and encounter temperatures 40 to 50 degrees colder four hours later. Fifty teams at once will begin running at four different starting times, ranging from 4:30 to 10:30 p.m. Teams with the best records start last, so that all runners might arrive in Las Vegas about the same time. The Antelope Valley team, which ran the 120 miles in 15 1/2 hours last year, will be in the second group of starters - at 7 p.m. The runners will include Internal Revenue Service agents, postal inspectors, California Highway Patrol officers, Canadian Mounties, an Australian police team, FBI agents and New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of state troopers. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Sheriff's Deputies Dick Engel and Donald Rubio train on the Barrel Springs trail for a relay race across the Mojave Desert. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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