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Team R. (for Ryan) Bowe Featured in Documentary

Hood to Coast is billed as the largest relay race in the world. The race features 1,000 teams with 12,000 runners and covers 197 miles from Mount Hood to the Oregon coast. Anew documentary film about the race, also titled “Hood to Coast,” follows four of the relay teams, one of which, Team R. Bowe, was competing in memory of Washington and Lee alumnus Ryan Bowe, of the Class of 1999.

Ryan, who died of rare heart disease in 2007, was no stranger to the Hood to Coast race. A member of the track and field team at W&L, he had run in the Hood to Coast race for the first time when he was 12.

The documentary features the members of Ryan’s family who composed the relay team — his brother, mother, father, and widow — along with several of his W&L fraternity brothers and track teammates who also joined the team. In the film’s trailer, Ryan’s father, Larry, is wearing a Generals’ baseball cap and familiar shirt with the Trident on it when Team R. Bowe is featured. You can watch the trailer here on YouTube. Look for the introduction of Team R. Bowe at the 0:41-second mark.

We found a mention of the film and its W&L connection by spotting a review by another  alumnus, Brian Prisco, of the Class of 2000, on the Web site Pajiba. In his review, Brian writes of Team R. Bowe’s portrayal in the documentary: “It was impossible not to be steeped in poignancy every time a family member ran a leg, because you could see the weight of their grief crushing the tears out of them. Every time you compete for a lost loved one, it pushes you that much harder, and you feel the victory all the more sweetly.” Read the complete review here.

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