PASADENA, Calif.-If you think marathons take a long time to complete, there's an event this weekend at the California Institute of Technology that can change your idea of endurance.
For 24 hours, beginning at 8 p.m. Friday and ending at 8 p.m. Saturday, members of the Caltech community will participate in the annual KELROF run at the athletic track. The event is nominally a mile relay race, where members of a team each take turns running for a mile, although event organizers say that variations are likely to occur. Two intrepid individuals have indicated a willingness to try a solo run for 24 hours nonstop!
At any rate, the event is intended to be fun. Anyone can get up a team and take part, although a few dedicated members of the Caltech cross-country and track teams are likely to take the matter a tad more seriously, says athletics director Wendell Jack.
"It's a long-standing tradition," says Jack. The KELROF run was already a campus event when he first arrived as a coach in 1989.
"We're not sponsors," Jack adds. "The organizers give us funds so we can have a certified athletic trainer at the track for the entire 24 hours, just in case something happens."
In fact, the KELROF event goes back to 1977, when a Caltech undergraduate named Steve Kellogg organized the first run. "KELROF," by the way, is an acronym meaning "Kellogg's Eighth Light Regiment of Foot," which to most people is about as inscrutable as the acronym itself. The Caltech track team is the organizer, and according to spokesman Gustavo Olm, KELROF is "simply an event to push the body to its limits, and also a way to give students a break from their studies."
Five teams have signed up so far (a team can have anywhere from one individual to 10 members, Olm says). Participants get food, a T-shirt, and any medical attention they happen to need.
Members of the media who wish to cover the event are welcome to show up any time during the event at the Caltech track, which is behind the Braun Athletic Center near the intersection of Wilson Avenue and California Boulevard. Olm will be on hand for interviews.
Written by Robert Tindol