Local police officers to compete in 120-mile, ‘Baker to Vegas’ relay race

Twenty Glendale police officers — including, for the first time in Glendale’s history, the police chief — will be hitting the pavement Saturday afternoon to compete in an overnight law-enforcement relay race through the desert.

During the “Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay,” dozens of teams, made up of officers from different agencies, will run 120 miles each.

Each Glendale officer is responsible for a different leg of the race, some of which will have steep inclines, others will be downhill. All of the runners, however, must push through the desert heat and dryness.

“It’s 30 to 40 minutes of sheer pain,” said Glendale Police Chief Robert Castro.

While this marks the first year that a Glendale police chief will participate, it’s not Castro’s first competition.

He’s actually participated in the race a dozen times before — swearing after each time he’ll never do it again — but he’s especially nervous this year because Glendale’s team is highly competitive. Last year, Glendale officers placed second in their category.

“I’m training as hard as I can, doing everything I possibly can to prepare myself,” he said. “I don’t want to let the department or the guys down.”

Castro is slated to run the last leg of the race, which, at nearly 5 miles, is known as the “Hollywood leg” because everyone is watching as the runners cross the finish line while the announcer bellows from the stage.

“I’ll know when I start how we are doing,” Castro said, adding that after about 14 hours of running, the race can come down to a matter of 20 seconds. “If we’re behind, pressure’s on.”

Glendale’s first runner is slated to start at 4 p.m. on Saturday, while Castro estimated he’ll start the last leg of the race around 6 or 7 a.m.

A support car — stocked with water, words of encouragement and even an alternate runner in the event of an emergency — will follow all the runners during the entire trek.

Castro started intensive training for the race in October, reserving Saturdays for hilly, 6-mile runs and Sundays for sprints.

“You just kind of prepare yourself for pain,” Castro said. “The pain is temporary, but the pride is forever.”