ONE MAN'S 1978 RUN FROM 'MEDFORD2MEDFORD' INSPIRES VIRTUAL CROSS-COUNTRY EVENT
KDRV
In 1978, Dave McGillivray ran from Medford, OR to Medford, MA to benefit cancer research. Now his story has inspired an event open to all comers.
MEDFORD, Ore. — In 1978, a man named Dave McGillivray covered more than 3,450 miles in a cross-country run from Medford, Oregon to Medford, Massachusetts for the fight against cancer. Now his story has inspired a virtual running event open to all comers.
When Dave McGillivray made the run in the '70s, he covered the distance over the course of 80 days — raising more than $100,000 for the Jimmy Fund, a Boston-based charity that supports the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Since then, McGillivray has risen to direct the Boston Marathon and founded DMSE Sports, an athletic events management company. It's DMSE that has revived the "Medford2Medford."
This year the Boston Marathon was canceled due to coronavirus concerns, so McGillivray has made the Medford2Medford his project.
"Registration is open for Medford2Medford, a virtual team running event powered by DMSE Sports, that strives to bring fellow runners together while they’re apart, and to help raise some much-needed funds for charities," the company said in a statement.
The event kicks off June 11 — 42 years to the day since McGillivray departed Medford, Oregon — and ends 80 days later on August 29. Participants can register at online between now and August 29.
“These last few months have been challenging as we saw each event we manage be canceled because of the coronavirus,” said McGillivray. “But we got to thinking — if we can’t help people cross a physical finish line this summer, perhaps we can encourage them to cross a virtual one. It’s more important than ever to exercise and keep our minds and bodies fit, and to continue to help those who need our help. A lot of us need an external reason to lace up those shoes, and we’re hoping the Medford2Medford will be that reason.”
The M2M welcomes walkers, runners, and cyclists to team up or go solo to complete one of three distances: The Medford2Medford (3,452 miles), The Mississippi2Medford (1,258 miles), or the Massachusetts2Medford (142 miles). Each participant will have the opportunity to fundraise for any of the charities already partnered with the event, or for a nonprofit organization of the participant’s choosing.
“If we were going to put on a virtual event, it was really important to us to try to help the charitable organizations that have been hard hit by pandemic/recession,” said DMSE Sports CEO Matt West. “We’ve seen the effects with our non-profit clients — their events had to be canceled or turned into virtual events, and their fundraising hasn’t been able to reach the levels they’ve previously seen and were expecting. So if there was any way we can help, we thought we should at least try.”
Fundraising is voluntary and not a requirement for people to register. All money fundraised, less processing fees, will be directed toward the participant’s chosen nonprofit.