This weekend's Ragnar Relay is right in our own backyard and the stoke is high! The Podium Project is heading up to the good ol’ Northwest with double the teams and double the fun. That’s right people, we have TWO speedy teams to follow throughout the race (not to mention about five other teams filled with Volée team members) Trust us, these teams are bringing the heat.

Meet the Bird Machine WA crew, and the #GRRLS team.

 *Just a small glimpse of the power squad

BIRDMACHINE WA

This #OisellePodiumProject #NWPassage group of diverse women is comprised of 7 athletes (Aly, Amber, Courtney, Hazel, Kathryn, Nikki and Rachel) who run together on the Bellingham Distance Project, a post-collegiate running club, and 5 athletes (Kaarin, Casey, Marie, Danielle and Robyn) who all ran together at University of Oregon, and who have been itching to compete alongside one another again on a relay. The team is led by Alyson Carlyon and Robyn Hefner, who met several years ago as they raced together at Hood to Coast!  

Crew:

Alyson “Captain Stoke” Carlyon
Jenna “Recreation Junkie” Goodman
Scarlett “Flight Attendant” Graham
Ashley “Cool Cucumber” Osman

Runners:

Kaarin “50k mother runner” Knudson
Robyn “Relay Race Pro” Hefner
Casey “Ride or Die” Hire
Kathryn “Clutch Hitter” Merrill
Courtney “Tatted Gazelle” Olsen
Hazel “Birthday Queen” Clapp
Amber “Ferocious Beast” Morrison
Danielle “Long Haul” Quatrochi
Rachel “Fresh Cherub” Cundy
Nikki “Team Mom” Buurma
Aly “Just Huck It” Howisey

Team goals for the weekend:

• Total Domination; To win the whole thing, 1st place overall
• Run fast but feel light on our feet
• TLC Influenced dancing and comradery
• Enjoy the scenery, the community and the comRADery
• Have the most (we are competitive really in everything) fun and kill all the kills 

Ideal post-race celebration:

• Food! Beer Garden!
• Beer then shower, beer in the shower
• Donuts! Food! Chips and Guac!
• Post-Race Pics at Deception Pass!

Team fuel of choice:

• La Croix
• PB on anything and everything – pretzels, bagels, bananas…
• Gummy Bears

Slogan (We have several….):

• Flocking Fabulous
• We go chasing waterfalls
• Go hard or Go home
• CrazySexyCool

TEAM GRRLS

The #BirdMachineGRRLS team isn’t new to winning relays. A good portion of this team runs for #GRRLS (hence the team name) an all women running team that hit the relay circuit in 2015, with a win nonetheless. #GRRLS is all about gritty running and sharing their passion for endurance relay competition. The team, led by Jules Reade, is already winning with a spot-on Mean Girls reference as seen below.

Crew:

Jules "Personally Victimized by Regina George" Reade
Terra "Has ESPN or Something" Perkins

Runners:

Katie "Cady" Jones
Paula "I'm not a regular mom, I'm a cool mom" Dowtin
Sarah "is butter a carb?" Overpeck
Kat "Don't have sex because you will get pregnant and die!" Timlin
Anna "She doesn't even go here!" Weber
Rachel "You've truly out-gayed yourself" Leftwich
Liz "Grool GRRL" Anjos
Theresa "Yeah, I like math" Hailey
Katie "The limit does not exist" Sweet
Anneke "That's why her hair is so big. It's full of secrets" Thompson
Becca "Whatever, I'm getting cheese fries" Downs
Heather "Finally, GRRL world was at peace" Tanner

Team goals for the weekend: Making fetch happen aka WINNING

Ideal post-race celebration: Binge watching Mean Girls and doughnut dance party

Team fuel of choice (if your team had to live off three and just three, race day snacks what would they be?): kalteen bars, cheese fries, butter, all-carb diets

Team slogan: Making fetch happen!

To follow along with both teams and cowbell from afar, follow the Podium Project Twitter and #birdmachineWA  #birdmachineGRRLS - Also keep an eye out for updates on our Instagram Story!