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At 74, Ramp showing no signs of slowing down By Don Hunt Logic suggests that Len Ramp�s 25-year streak in the Pear Blossom Run will end one day. After all, the retired geologist from Grants Pass is 74 years old. He was one of the 13 runners who were honored during a pre-race ceremony Saturday to pay tribute to the select few who have never missed a Pear Run. Twenty-five straight appearances in a 10-mile road run is quite an accomplishment, indeed. All it takes is one sprained ankle, one nasty flu bug or one family emergency to wipe a guy out. Some of the indefatigable bunch has walked or jogged the event while overcoming an injury, while others have coughed their way over the scenic course while fighting a virus. Bruce Timmerman once completed the race a few weeks after undergoing surgery to have an extra bladder removed. Now that�s dedication. What�s interesting is that Ramp, the oldest of the group by nine years, had never had an injury or malady leading up to the race until this year when he caught a cold a couple of weeks ago. Of course, that didn�t stop the spry old guy. Asked what his time was Saturday, Ramp laughed and said, "I ran a P.W. � personal worst." "I felt kind of puny," he added, "but I was able to finish, and that�s what counts." Ramp finished in 515th place with a time of 1 hour, 35 minutes, 52.4 seconds. Ramp is well past retirement age, but he�s in remarkably good shape. And it�s no accident. He plays golf two or three times a week. He keeps a garden large enough to keep his neighbors awash in squash. He mows his lawn. He skis during the winter � both downhill and cross country � and belongs to the Crater Lake Nordic Patrol, marking trails, doing shovel work and working on the first-aid crew. "I don�t sit around too much," he says, adding that he occasionally heads south with his wife, Pat, to enjoy some warmer weather. "I like to keep busy." Ramp attributes his active lifestyle to his good health, but he also realizes that his longevity is partly the result of genetics. Both his father and his paternal grandfather, who crossed the Oregon Trail and settled with Ramp�s great-grandparents near Salem in the middle of the 19th century, lived to be 101. Ramp was a fine distance runner at Roseburg High School, carving out a 4:30 mile during his junior year in 1944. He earned a trip to state, but when the coach took the team out to dinner the night before the meet, everyone got food poisoning. "We all ate chicken pot pie in Corvallis," Ramp says, "and we all spent the night in the bathroom. "My race the next day was very much compromised by the way I felt." Ramp never returned to Roseburg High for his senior year because he was drafted into the Navy during World War II. He spent his 18 months in the service repairing aircraft. Afterwards, he attended the University of Oregon � he had enough credits to skip his senior year of high school � and earned a degree in geology. Ramp went out for track his senior year, competing for the legendary Bill Bowerman. "He (Bowerman) recruited some real distance talent, but I did compete in a few meets," Ramp says. "I mostly ran the 2-mile and on some of the relays. "Why I didn�t turn out before my senior year I can�t tell you." Ramp later earned a master�s degree in geology and then moved to Grants Pass, where he spent the next 30 years working for the state geology department. He read about the inaugural Pear Blossom Run in 1977 and decided to join in. He�s been in it ever since. "It�s so well-organized and well-run that I wouldn�t think of missing it," he says. "And of course, I�ve got that streak to protect." . . . Leonard Hill, another member of the hardy 13, thought his streak might be coming to an end during Saturday�s race. Less than one mile into the event, a sharp pain struck Hill�s left hamstring, causing him to come to a quick stop. The sudden halt also caused him to collide with women�s leader Deanna O�Neill, who managed to keep her feet and continue on to victory. Hill, a two-time winner who has never finished worst than 13th, spent more than a minute working out the kink in his leg. He was able to jump-start his 48-year-old body, but found himself in 25th place at the midway point. But he passed a dozen runners on the way back and wound up 13th, the same finish he had in 1998 and �99. Hill thinks his injury originated 10 days ago when he was running intervals at Henley High School, where he coaches the distance runners. "I ran several 800s in about 2:30 � and I think I paid the price," he says. "I�m getting too old for that." . . . Along with Ramp, Hill and Timmerman, the remainder of the durable baker�s dozen are run director and co-founder Jerry Swartsley, Mike Miller, Mike Barrett, Tim Rose, Tom Glatte, Steve Flynn, Bob Naymik, Rob Miller, Bob Dickey and Kenny White. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.