Keep the dream alive - The pursuit of the fastest team in the world
Hood to Coast - a 300km relay race across Oregon - and the Lostboys have a dream - to complete this race as the fastest team ever.
Words by Lukas Motschmann
Photos by Lostboys
But first of all: Who or what are the Lostboys?
In the story of Peter Pan, the “lost boys” are his companions in Neverland. They enjoy the freedom of a wild lifestyle without rules.
They describe themselves on the website as:
"NOT A CLUB, BUT A LIFESTYLE. AN IDEA. AN APPROACH TO THE SPORT. CHASE THE DREAM, HAVE FUN, DO IT WITH HOMIES IF YOU CAN. IF YOU FEEL LOST, YOU'RE LOST. FLY THE L, KTDA."
Here you can see their founder Tim Rossi:
At Hood to Coast - a 197-mile (over 320km) relay race from Mt. Hood to Seaside, Oregon, they were determined to beat the course record in the mixed relay. Twelve runners each run three times and use two vans to transport the entire team from segment to segment.
The Lostboys already ran the fastest time (3:32/km on average) in 2021 in the mixed team (at least six female runners) - however, the route has become almost 8km longer over the years - so the course record from 1992 still officially counts.
Some teams would probably be happy with that, giving up the dream and being content. But that's not Lostboys style at all.
"CHASE THE DREAM, HAVE FUN, DO IT WITH HOMIES IF YOU CAN"
So they registered again in 2024, this time to break the time of 18:21h, to leave no doubt that the Lostboys Track Club is the fastest team of all time!
Their experiences from 3 years ago paid off during the race and thanks to the lessons learned and a shared dream in mind, the twelve restless souls were able to achieve their common goal in the end - with a time of 18:16 hours they broke the record by over 5 minutes!
And the pursuit of going down in history as the fastest team of all time? That was buried by none other than the Bowerman Track Club, who set a new benchmark in unimaginable 17:50h.
But who would the Lostboys be without dreams - we are excited to see if our friends will try again next year or search for another challenge. Because the message is and remains the same: Keep the dream alive.
