KPTV - FOX 12Complaints, criticism follow Hood to Coast Relay

The 30th year of the Hood to Coast Relay, completed this weekend in Seaside, has not been its happiest.

About 15,000 runners ran parts of the 200 miles from Timberline to the beach, but many complained of traffic congestion, misdirection and confusion that made the final leg difficult to enjoy.

Despite weather delaying the start, the first runners and vans, which carry each 12-person team from one exchange point to the next, encountered little trouble connecting.

But after the first round, teams entered the twisty, two-lane roads connecting the coast range and the beach.

Before they could reach the ocean, however, many vans endured what more than one team called "impossible" congestion between St. Helens and Seaside.

This year, 250 teams were added to the relay - that's 500 more vans - and many got off to a late start.

The extra runners, vans and delays were compounded by another problem: Several hundred new volunteers who did not know about a large number of course and exchange point changes.

Race organizers say they are listening to the calls and messages criticizing this year's relay and promise to work on improvements immediately.

"We need to find a happy medium of how many teams can be in there. You hate turning away those teams, but at the same time, we've learned about how big those roads are," says Jude Hubber, Hood to Coast spokesman.

Dave Keys, who just completed his third Hood to Coast run, says his team had a 3 1/2 hour delay on the last exchange.

"This year, with the delays and traffic and the lack of sleep, the stress just ended up kind of removing the fun factor out of it," he says.

The final runner in Keys' team finished the race half an hour before the team van could fight through the traffic and join their anchor at the beach.

"When you stop car by car and direct them here and there - they just kept piling on the end," he says.

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