In 1979 Pope John Paul II visited the United States. Everywhere His Holiness went, he was greeted by huge, enthusiastic crowds. In Des Moines, Iowa, some 350,000 people turned out to cheer him. No vehicles of any kind were permitted to come close to where the Pope was. Yet the Des Moines Tribune managed to get out a special edition, complete with photographs, about an hour after the Pope had departed.
The Tribune had prepared for the event by recruiting 10 runners from the Ankeny High School cross-country team. Passing a package containing 241 rolls of film from runner to runner, the students relayed their cargo from the photographers to a waiting helicopter two miles away.
After that it was easy.
From The Giant Book of More Strange But True Sports Stories by Howard Liss. Illustrations by Joe Mathieu.
Running a relay in increments of two tenths of a mile seems not particularly efficient–much less difficult for members of a cross country team.
It sounds a lot like Loveshaq’s HS job!
LOL I was going to say….at least do like 1/2 mile increments if you’re trying to keep it easy.