Tom's RunRelay
A 200-mile team-building fitness event in memory of CWO4 Tom Brooks, U.S. Coast Guard
About the Event
Honoring a Legacy of Fitness & FriendshipTom'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 with 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 inspiration by organizing this event in his honor.
“Tom's Run is about people. It's about who we are as runners and teammates and friends.”
Course Details
The relay starts in Cumberland, Maryland after midnight on Friday. Runners, accompanied at all times by a bike escort, take turns in a 200-mile 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, 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. For a detailed course description with directions to exchange points, view the Course Map PDF.
Course Purpose
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.
The challenge is being able to judge the start time and maintain the team's pace to finish precisely at 11 AM — 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.