Banning Police Sign Up For Legendary Baker-To-Vegas Relay Race

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — The Riverside County teams slated to participate in a legendary relay race that takes competitors across 120 miles of desert, ending in Las Vegas, were confirmed Monday.

The 2025 "Baker-to-Vegas Challenge Cup Relay," organized by the Los Angeles Police Revolver & Athletic Club, is expected to draw upward of 3,500 runners from public safety agencies throughout California, as well as a few other states and the federal government during the weekend of April 5-6.

A total of 294 teams have signed up.

The Banning, Corona, Menifee, Murrieta and Riverside police departments have personnel scheduled to run, along with employees from Riverside County sheriff's divisions, the District Attorney's Office and the Department of Probation.

According to www.bakervegas.net, there are 11 teams from Riverside County on the roster.

The 19-leg race begins along state Route 127, roughly 25 miles north of Baker, California, traverses Highway 178, into Pahrump, Nevada, and from there straight onto the Vegas strip, ending in the area of Desert Inn Road and Jones Boulevard.

"One hundred and twenty miles of pavement, 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," according to a LAPRAC statement.

Teams will head out in waves — or "flights" — with the fastest competitors leaving later in the day.

Since it began in 1985, the relay has become the seminal law enforcement race of the year, according to organizers. It was suspended in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, but has otherwise stayed on track during the other years since its inception.

Last year's first-place team, from the New York Police Department, completed its run in 12 hours, 19 minutes. The last-place team, from the California Highway Patrol's Santa Ana office, made it in 20 hours, 48 minutes.

The Riverside County sheriff's "lead" team had the best time-in of any county law enforcement unit, reaching the finish line in 13 hours, 54 minutes, earning the team a No. 6 ranking, according to results.

This year's competitors traveling long distances to participate include teams from Idaho, Oklahoma, Texas and the Navajo Indian Reservation Department of Public Safety in Arizona.