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Event News
Check here for event news and announcements
WELCOME to the Tom's Run Relay Web site. Tom's Run is an annual event held on the weekend after Memorial Day. |
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As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions. See news bits below.
Click here for the TOM's RUN BLOG and share your innermost Tom's Run thoughts. |
| For questions or information about Tom's Run, please write:
Admin@tomsrunrelay.org |
Check the toolbox for leg planner, equipment list and other helpful
information. All team members must sign a Disclaimer. The Island of Lost Runners is a list of runners looking for a team to join. If you want to be on it, write me an e-mail with your name, location, and the best to contact you at Admin@tomsrunrelay.org. |
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June 17, 2013 -
Congratulations on a successful 2013 Tom's Run. The weather really wasn't too bad and nobody got hurt. I hope everyone had a great time. Special congratulations to Reggie O'Hara and his team and Antoinette Landragin and her team for their courage and inspiration attempting a solo run. And special, special congratulations to Antoinette for finishing 200 miles. I am compiling results and wrapping up this year's event. Pictures are very welcomed. Please contact me if you have comments or suggestions for next year.
What color shirts do you want for next year?
April 16, 2013 -
Just another 5 days until the first application deadline for teams ordering shirts or medals - April 21. The next deadline for teams not ordering shirts or medals is May 5th.
I know of three runners looking for a team to join. Please let me know if you need runners. Please recall the towpath is closed at Paw Paw tunnel and the runner and biker must use the path over the mountain to the right of the tunnel to regain the towpath. Also, the towpath is finally open again betwen Avis Mill and Big Slackwater. No detour this year and the transition point has been moved from the dam to the park a mile further down the road.
Please don't hesitate to let me know if you have questions about this year's run. Cheers - Roger
March 14, 2013 -
We have another potential solo runner! An Air Force doctor from Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Good luck. Another news bit. The National Park Services informs me that the Paw Paw Tunnel is closed for a rock slide on the far end. Runners and bikers must veer to the right of the tunnel onto the Paw Paw Tunnel trail and cross over the mountain to the towpath on the other side. I will update the course map. Be careful. With luck, the rocks will be cleared before June. In other news, I do not expect shirt prices to rise.
February 9, 2013 -
We have our first solo runner for this year! She is looking for bicycle support, particularly along the middle 60 miles. Please contact me if you know of someone who could help. Our shirts this year are black. Note, the cost of cotton went up and might affect T-shirt prices. I am currently negotiating with our vendor to see what we can do. If prices do go up, I expect it will be limited to about $1 per shirt. I think I have fixed the links to the applications on the drop-down menu at the top of the page. Please let me know if you have problems accessing the applications.
January 7, 2013 -
Well, we have just kicked off the 2013 Tom's Run and we already have our first glitch. After a lot of discussion last year, we had planned to hold our event from Thursday, May 30 to Saturday, June 1. The National Park Service web site opened at 10 AM on January 5 to make reservations for Fort Hunt Park. I logged onto the site at noon and all of the pavillions were already booked for June 1. So, I had to immediately make a reservation for Sunday, June 2. This means that the dates of our event have changed to Friday, May 31 to Sunday, June 2. We had decided to go back to our Thursday start instead of Friday. It didn't work out. Sorry to veryone who had planned for Thursday. The applications have been updated for 2013. I will work on the course map and post a notification when it is updated for 2013.
January 3, 2013 -
Welcome to the 2013 Tom's Run Relay. This is our 15th year! Can you believe it? We hope to have a great year. I am in the process of updating our course map and application(s). I wll post a message here when they are available. One item of note is that the National Park Service has reported that the towpath detour approaching Big Slackwater has been removed. That will make the course much safer than the past few years where we were on the narrow, local roads.
Welcome again to everyone. Please contact me at admin@tomsrunrelay.org if you have questions about this year's event.
More to follow.
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| Event History |
Tom's Run is held annually to promote fitness, team building, and community. The event is named in honor of CWO4 Tom Brooks, USCG, who contracted Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) in early 1999. Tom was an avid fitness promoter. He had a reputation for persuading couch potatoes to get up and get moving. When Tom was diagnosed with ALS, his friends decided to show their appreciation for the inspiration
Tom had given them by organizing this event in his honor. So, Tom's Run is about people. Tom's Run is about who we are as runners and teammates. |
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The Course
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The race starts in Cumberland, Maryland sometime after midnight on the first day (Saturday). Runners, accompanied at all times by a bike escort, take turns in a relay run entirely along the historic C&O Canal towpath to Georgetown in Washington, DC. From there, the course continues down the Potomac River waterfront in Washinton, DC, past the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, crosses the Potomac River and connects with the Mount Vernon Trail to Alexandria, Virginia. The finish is at Fort Hunt Park near Mt. Vernon. The run proceeds through Saturday and ends when the teams cross the finish line together as close to 11:00 AM on Sunday as possible. Finishing at 11:00 AM presents the logistical challenge of determining the most advantageous time to start after midnight on Saturday and getting all the team members together for the finish. Runners are on the course during the entire run, including at night. Other logistical challenges are keeping everyone fed and rested, determining the best places along the course to exchange runners and bikers, and finding those places along the many difficult rural roads accessing the canal. For a copy of the course description with directions to the exchange points, click HERE
(2012 version).
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The Point
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Surprisingly, Tom's Run is NOT a race!!! It is a team-building, memorial fitness
event. The POINT is not to reach the finish line first, but to reach it together. Oh! .... and to have a lot of fun along the way.
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Events
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The run kicks off with a group dinner at the Holiday Inn, Cumberland, MD at 7:00 PM on Friday, May 31, 2013. T-shirts will be presented to the participants at the dinner. The event finish includes lunch, medals, and awards.
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Accommodations
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The best place for reservations is probably the Holiday Inn, Cumberland, MD. The Federal Government rate for a two-person room is about $70.00. They have been very good to us. To make a reservation at the government rate or for other rooms at the regular rate, please contact the hotel.
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