So, what do you do for fun? Us? – We like to dance in the devil’s graveyard
Baker to Vegas 2017: ‘blood, sweat and pride’
Desert running is all about out of body experiences.
As the burning sun beats mercilessly down on you, its white heat scorching the earth and your body heating up until your feel like you’re running inside a furnace, and your body begs, no demands, that you stop. After all, who in their right mind wants to run in temperatures that would have most of us rushing in-doors and cranking up the air conditioning?
That’s when desert running becomes all about out of body experiences. If you can’t forget about the heat searing your legs, the sweat pouring out of you in torrents and the pain of gasping dry, hot air into lungs screaming for relief, then that’s when the desert will beat you. 
Your mind has to go on ‘holidays’ while you’re poor body trudges on, kilometre after kilometre. It doesn’t matter what you think about, as long as you don’t think about the running.
So, okay, maybe we won’t be dancing in the devil’s graveyard, as Death Valley, USA is affectionately referred to, but we most certainly will be running through it – although to be fair, if you saw some of our running styles you could be excused for thinking we were dancing!
One hundred and twenty miles or 193 kilometres of unforgiving and uncompromising desert and urban landscapes await the 35 members of the Queensland Police Service (QPS) team, with the 2017 team being the sixth time the Service has been represented in the annual Baker to Vegas (B2V) relay race – with previous entries in 2001, 2004, 2006, 2013 and 2015. No other Australian law enforcement jurisdiction has ever entered the race.
From humble beginnings- a running relay challenge that was first envisaged by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department over 20 years ago- the race has become the largest of its type in the world for law enforcement officers. Over 8,000 participants are expected to make up the 270 teams that will compete in the 2017 B2V Challenge Cup Relay being held over the week-end of March 25-26.
The race– which comprises 20 sections with each team allowed only one runner per section- starts in the small township of Baker, California, and after traversing through the deserts of California and Nevada hits the local highways before ending in the glamour and glitz of a Las Vegas casino.
In 2015 our team of dedicated runners, support and logistics staff numbered 41 and included officers from Constable to Deputy Commissioner, as well as retired officers and family members. Our brave band also ranged in age from those in their 20s to those in their 60s. And let’s not forget our kids who took great pride in wearing their team uniforms and cheering from the side lines whilst madly waving Aussie flags and flying kangaroos.
QPS runners – 2015 B2V
Our next foray into the brutal desert scape will see a slightly smaller but equally dedicated team of 35 undertaking the self-funded trip to the USA.
Team Captain, Sergeant Chris Bird from Ferny Grove Police said the course is full of challenges and heartbreak, all designed to test the metal of those crazy enough to give it a go.
“The B2V course takes in long stretches of hot dry highway crossing through valleys, mountains and desert landscapes.”
“Day time temperatures could see road surfaces hot enough to cook an egg off and desert night time temperatures plummeting into single digits. Some years we have seen extreme weather events like blizzards hit the race,” Sergeant Bird, a veteran of five QPS B2V campaigns, said.
Each of the 270 teams must successfully complete each of the 20 stages of the course. Fail to complete any stage is failure for the entire team.
“It is a very physically challenging and gruelling course with stages varying in distance from 8 to 18 kilometres. There are no easy options on this course and there is no-where to hide. This is truly an endurance race that tests each and every runner.”
“Leg 14 is an example of a difficult 10.7 mile (17km) section with one mile slight downhill and then the runner begins a steady climb toward Mountain Springs Summit, whose elevation is over 5,000 feet or 1,600 metres. The second five miles will be particularly difficult due to the elevation until it finally finishes at Sandy Valley Road,” Sergeant Bird said.
“We are the only Australian team to compete alongside officers from many police units or law enforcement agencies throughout the USA including LAPD and county sheriffs, border patrol, FBI, secret service, air marshalls, postal inspectors, prison wardens, District Attorney’s and probation officers.
“Internationals law enforcement agencies are invited to enter and in the past there have been teams from South Wales, England, Germany and Canada.”
Baker to Vegas 2017: ‘blood, sweat and pride’
Final Countdown has started!
From the Isa to the Curry, and the city to the surf, our team of Queensland police officers and dedicated family members are now only four weeks away from racing in the 2017 B2V.
To mark our final countdown, and to assist with our on-going team preparations, Ferny Grove MP and Minister for Local Government and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnership, the Honourable Mark Furner, yesterday presented team captain Sergeant Chris Bird, Ferny Grove Police, with a donation and a Queensland flag for the team to proudly fly during the gruelling desert race.
“We are now well and truly into final preparations and looking forward to the enormous personal challenges that this course throws up to each and every runner.
“This is a race that cannot be taken lightly – the conditions on race day can and are brutal. But it is a challenge we are all looking forward to,” Sergeant Chris Bird said.
Minister Mark Furner with Sergeant Chris Bird (in QPS uniform), QPS 2017 B2V team captain, and other members of the team.
Plain Clothes Senior Constable Trent Stanyer from Cloncurry Police and Constable Hannah Beard from Mount Isa police- two country officers and members of our team- are looking forward to swapping the iconic red desert of central Queensland for the sands of the notorious Death Valley.
File Photo – Mt Isa Police – 2017 (QPS)
