Hard things take time to do. Impossible things take a little longer. – Percy Cerutty
Chapter 12
PORTSEA SIERRA
When he read Calvin Benlehr’s ad in Runner’s Gazette, Chris Nikolas Fed-Ex’d him a letter that afternoon. He quit his job in the mailroom at the State Capital in Bismarck that Friday, and next day, boarded a Jackrabbit Lines bus for the twenty-three-hour ride to Alamosa. While hiking the final sixteen miles to Benlehr’s cabin from U.S. 160, he caught a ride from Chuck Madras, the ninth runner to answer the call to Portsea Sierra.
Calvin and Patty carved their rude camp from the edge of the San Isabel National Forest, five miles from the dune field at Great Sand Dunes National Monument, and a half-day’s hike to the summit of Blanca Peak. Alamosa, now a city of ten thousand, lay thirty miles to the west.
They named the camp Portsea Sierra to honor Percy Cerutty’s training facility in Australia, called Portsea. Cerutty lived in a packing crate while he developed running trails over sand dunes, along the ocean, and through the scrubland. He hosted dozens of the finest runners in the Antipodes in the 1950s and 1960s including 1500-meter Olympic Champion Herb Elliott. Cerutty’s philosophy was that physical and mental discipline in a harsh environment could achieve world class results.
Calvin built two bunk houses from four-by-eight plywood sheets for his runners, enough room for six in each. To share his treasure of running knowledge, he charged each athlete just $100 a month. In June, the first month of operation and fourteen months prior to the Olympic Trials, they banked $1,000. By November, Portsea Sierra’s monthly income had dwindled to $300.
Patty’s father, Merle Crogan, ran a cattle and hog operation back in Kansas. Mr. Crogan secured sponsorship from the Heartland Meat Producers – twenty-five-thousand dollars a year. It was enough to feed everyone, with travel funds to boot. Plus, all the meat they could store in their propane-powered freezer.