Scott Swanson
On a sizzling afternoon, while most Sweet Home residents are likely seeking shade and iced-tea pitchers, Carolyn McDermed and Marilyn Kragness hoof it along a country road – at a very accelerated pace.
The 62-year-old identical-twin sisters are training for a 132.7-mile race to be held this weekend, July 30-31, in Central Oregon. That would be the Cascade Lakes Relay, billed as “Ore-gon’s most challenging running relay course.”
The sisters aren’t running, though. Instead, they’re race-walkers, striding along with seemingly wildly swinging arms.
“It’s much harder than it looks,” said Marilyn, who is fairly new to the sport.
Carolyn, a retired police officer, has been race-walking for nearly 20 years. Living and working in Eugene in the early 2000s, she was looking for exercise that would be beneficial to her age and occupation.
“I had to stay in shape for the kind of job I had,” she said. “I always enjoyed walking, but race-walking was such a good experience. It looks ridiculous, but you get some good speed going and it’s low-impact on the body. I don’t have bad knees, all that stuff that comes with pounding the pavement when you’re running. It’s a total body workout.”
Though neither of the sisters participated in formal athletics growing up, they said, they’ve always been active.
Born in Prineville, the sisters moved during their youth with their family to the Chilcotin Wilderness in British Columbia, where they grew up at a fly-in hunting and fishing resort operated by their parents.
“We played ice hockey,” Carolyn noted.
“We didn’t have a gym,” Marilyn added.
Carolyn served 17 years with the Eugene Police Department before heading the University of Oregon police force for eight years. She moved to Sweet Home in 2018.
“I wanted to get out of Eugene,” she said.
Marilyn arrived last year from Salem, where she and her husband, James, “did many things,” including building homes and installing satellite TV systems “for many years.”
“We worked in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky – all over.”
She’d visited Sweet Home, she said, and “I wanted to be in this area.”
When Carolyn got into race-walking, she said, she was recruited to join a women’s master’s team for over-40 athletes.
They competed in numerous Portland to Coast relays for walkers, usually winning their division, she said, because they were race-walking. Each 12-member team is divided into two groups – usually in two vans – and each member walks two legs of the race, usually ranging from about four to nine miles each. Not only is there the physical challenge for the walker on the course, but van occupants must make sure they and the next walker are waiting when their teammate arrives at the exchange point.
It’s an exercise in camaraderie, and many teams have fun decorating their rides, sometimes wearing costumes, and generally whooping it up at every opportunity.
“All of us race-walkers thought this was so much fun,” Carolyn said. “It was a good time, like an overnight slumber party.”
They also competed in other distance relays – Hells Canyon, which was close to 150 miles in length, and the High Desert Relay, for instance.
The popularity of Portland to Coast among walkers had grown to the point that congestion was becoming a problem as 12-member teams’ vans jostled for position on narrow country lanes and logging roads between Portland and Seaside, the start and end of the race. Increasingly, especially before the walkers really got strung out along the course, there were problems with traffic jams as vans pulled over, or simply stopped, to cheer on competitors.
“It wasn’t about how fast you went, it was about logistics – having your van in the right place,” Carolyn said.
In short, it wasn’t as fun anymore.
Her team, the WeBe Walkabouts, decided to try a new race, Cascade Lakes, which winds 132 miles through Central Oregon from Silver Lake to the finish at Riverbend Park in Bend.
“That relay, over the years, has been very well-run,” she said. “They truly encourage every type of person to participate.”
It’s not easy, though, she said.
“I think it’s a lot more difficult. There’s a lot more altitude (than Portland to Coast), elevation gain, gravel, heat. I think it’s more beautiful – truly beautiful backcountry, with the Cascade lakes. It’s peaceful at night; all you hear is night sounds, water trickling, big moons.”
The race is more relaxed in the sense that teams can juggle their lineups if they don’t have 12 walkers or simply opt to accommodate members’ strengths to the terrain.
“We generally do really well,” Carolyn said. “More often than not, we win our division.”
Typically, the WeBe Walkabouts finish in about 30 hours, give or take.
They do have competition. There’s the Enlightened Souls out of Portland, a mixed team of men and women.
“They are quick,” Carolyn said.
The two have been focusing on training for altitude, which doesn’t exist in abundance close to Sweet Home, so they’ve been walking hills.
“We’re doing hills, trying to incorporate heat into that, which gives us elevation – on gravel, if we can,” Marilyn said. “I’m told the gravel (on the Cascade Lakes course) isn’t the greatest in the world. There’s a lot of foot placement.”
This year they have the added challenge of a shortage of walkers, which means Carolyn is planning to walk four of the legs, including her specialty, known colloquially as “What the Hell Leg.”
“It’s the hardest one. Carolyn always does it,” Marilyn said.
“I think this pandemic has pushed people’s fitness backwards,” she said.
For Carolyn, 2021 has actually required her to increase her fitness, since she tries to “walk the year” each year, which means she’s shooting for 2,021 miles this year.
“I have less than six per day to make it work,” she said.
Generally, they walk outdoors.
“We’ll try to take good advantage of the weather, as long as it lasts,” Carolyn said. “We’ve been known to use the treadmill on nasty rainy days.”
They’re always open to new team additions, she said, particularly younger athletes, noting that current participants come from as far away as Washington and central Oregon.
“I think it’s a growing sport. I think people realize the benefits of it.”
When Marilyn arrived in Sweet Home, Carolyn got her to join Steelhead Strength and Fitness, where they work on building strength and take aerobics classes.
“We don’t always walk together, but I’ve been trying to get her ready,” Carolyn said.
Walking, the twins said, is an ideal exercise for a senior citizen.
“You can do it for a really long time,” said Marilyn. “I think older people are getting more in tune with staying fit. They’re living longer, for one thing. Race-walking is easy on your body, a truly great workout.”
“You can do it anywhere – as long as you don’t mind people staring at you,” Caro-lyn added.
“You can put on a hat and sunglasses, so they don’t know who you are,” she joked.
“It does take a little time to learn technique,” Marilyn said.