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XIV LAPD Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Law Enforcement Relay Race 1998 Coffee Mug
Back the Blue and serve your guests with pride!
Over 8,000 runners, guests, family members, and support staff. Hot days and cold nights. Blood. Sweat. Pride. Honor…..That’s what the world’s most prestigious and unique law enforcement foot race is all about. This is a special coffee mug from the 14th annual Baker to Vegas Challenge cup featuring their Rattlesnake logo on one side, and XIV Roman for 14th embellished in 22K gold on the other. The mug measures 4.5 inches tall by 3.25 inches in diameter and holds 12 ounces of your favorite brew. Each Spring, runners representing U.S. law enforcement agencies transform several usually quiet and less traveled Las Vegas, Nevada, access routes into the fast lane during the annual Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay. The 1998 competition included 31 Los Angeles Police Department teams, 30 Los Angeles Sheriff's Department teams, 139 federal and state law enforcement teams, four all-women teams, and English "Bobbies."
Challenge Cup runners brave 120 miles of desert and mountainous terrain, besides schizophrenic weather patterns, which can range from 120 degree heat to freezing rain, shivering cold, even snow. In fact, the 1987 Baker to Vegas was halted halfway between Pahrump and Las Vegas because of a blizzard! The 20 legs of the Baker to Vegas Challenge are rated according to degree of difficulty, "1" the most challenging, "20" supposedly more humane. But numbers don't tell the complete story. For instance, the official description of Leg 1 (difficulty 9) is "mostly flat," but it isn't an easy jog in the park when you take into account a relentless sun, battering winds and sand twisters.
The Challenge Cup Baker to Vegas Relay was the vision of Los Angeles Police Officers Chuck Foote and Larry Moore. It was spawned following the format laid by the LAPD Metro Division's "Death Valley Relay" which came to an abrupt end in 1985 after a seven—year stint of running through the Devil's graveyard. The Baker to Vegas Relay is the most "positive" event offered to law enforcement officers today. It gives them a reason to maintain a physical fitness program so as to help them better perform their duties. Over the 35+ years the Challenge Cup/Baker to Vegas Relay has been run, hundreds of thousands of law enforcement personnel have tread across the desert. The original ideals of the race continue: teamwork, camaraderie, physical fitness and competition. The event has expanded in many ways, most notably in the number of entries and categories. The number of teams has grown 14 fold from the first 19 teams in 1985. Now limited to 300 teams, categories have grown to include Probation Officers, District Attorneys, US Attorneys and full time civilian police personnel. Today it is the largest law enforcement event of its kind in the World with teams participating from Calgary Canada, RCMP both men and women, Berlin and Hamburg Germany and law enforcement teams throughout the United States.
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