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.

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions.  See event news bits below.

[email protected]

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 Tom's innpiration by organizating this event in his honor.  So, Tom's Run is about people. Tom's Run is about who we are as runners and teammates and friends.

The Course

The race starts in Cumberland, Maryland 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 Friday 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.

The Point

The unofficial Tom's Run record is 23:30:00.  The official finish time is 11:00 am.  So, teams that finish before 11 AM have time added to their race time up to 11 AM.  Finishing early is not a benefit.  The challenge, therefore, for a team wanting to finish as fast as possible, is being able to judge the start time and maintain the team's pace to finish precisely at 11 AM. 

That said, 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. That said, a little trash-talking and competition among teams is probably a healthy thing that makes the event fun. 

Events

The run kicks off with a group dinner at 6:30 on Friday at the Fairfield Inn and Suites, Cumberland,  MD. T-shirts will be avalable for team pickup at the dinner. We will also have Tom's Run decals available for $2 each.  The event finish at Fort Hunt includes lunch and medals.

Accommodations

The best place for reservations is probably the Fairfield Inn and Suites, Cumberland, MD, 301-722-0340  A block of rooms is set aside each year at a discount for Tom's Run teams.  You can make reservations with the desk and mention Tom's Run.  Ask for the sales manager, Jessica, if you have any problems or write to me at [email protected]. The Tom's Run rate for a room with 2 queen beds is $98.00.  Please be sure to book for Tom's Run so we can keep track of the number of rooms used.