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Event to feature 5k, 10k, and kids races, and invitational miles
By Karenna Keane
Run Medford, a two-day running event supported by the Dave McGillivray Finish Strong Foundation, will return to the city on Sept. 25 and 26. Friday evening will include four kids’ fun run races of varying distances held on the Dave McGillivray Track at Hormel Stadium. Saturday morning, there will be three 1-mile heats as well as 5K and 10K races that will take runners through the community.
“I’m trying to put something out there for anyone and everyone so it’s more looked at as a family experience,” Dave McGillivray said.
In a departure from last year, there won't be a 5-mile race this year, but instead will be a 10K (6.2-miles) race in order to minimize road closures.
“We decided not to do the 5-mile, which went through West Medford, too, and locked down a lot more real estate than we felt like we needed to,” McGillivray said. “I decided instead of a 5-mile I’ll do a 10K, but do the 5K course twice.”
The Friday kids’ races will range between one and four laps around the track for children up to 12 years old.
“It’s just a wonderful time of year to see our students and young ones running around the track,” Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn said. “My children have participated, my friends and neighbors have participated, and everybody just has a wonderful night. There’s always a few vendors [and] we have so many people that volunteer, it’s really a community-filled weekend.”
In addition to the 5K and 10K races, Saturday will also feature the high school, para, and celebrity mile runs. The celebrity mile will feature familiar faces, including school principals, local media personalities A.J. Burnett and Josh Brogadir of Channel 5, Steve Cooper of Channel 7, two-time World Marathon Challenge champion Becca Pizzi, and Lungo-Koehn.
Whether walking, running, volunteering, or cheering, Lungo-Koehn appreciates the opportunity for community spirit. In addition to the celebrity mile, she will run the 10k.
Brogadir, a sports reporter, first met McGillivray in 2009 while covering the Boston Marathon. He has run the celebrity mile each year since it was first held in 2022, when he won that inaugural race.
“I love to try to help people out who I respect and value as colleagues,” Brogadir said. “Dave is the kind of guy who inspires people, myself included.”
McGillivray is known throughout the running community. He was the race director of the Boston Marathon from 2001 to 2022, but his involvement with the race dates back to 1988. He will be the Marathon’s start-line director in 2027. In addition, McGillivray has run in the last 54 Boston Marathons.
At age 23, he ran across the country from Medford, Oregon, to Medford, Mass., and raised about $150,000 for the Jimmy Fund. He said that at the time, he believed he could do it, but he didn't know for sure.
“I just had this epiphany that if I do it for a greater cause, maybe that will give me that extra gear I need to be successful at this," the now 72-year-old Medford native said. "That’s when I hooked up with the Jimmy Fund.”
Since then, McGillivray estimates he has helped raise about $300 million for charity through endurance events that he has either run, managed, or started. McGillivray’s company, DMSE Sports, has been organizing events since 1981, so both the team and the town felt confident in his vision for Run Medford, which he started in 2022.
“I’ve directed over fifteen hundred events; it’s what I do for a living,” McGillivray said. “That being said, anytime you’re trying to create something from nothing, it’s challenging because no one really has a clue what it’s going to end up looking like until it happens.”
McGillivray started Run Medford to give back to his hometown. He said the money raised will go to Medford schools with a donation to each PTO in the city. Last year, according to McGillivray, the event raised about $8,000 for local schools. He is planning for that number to grow.
Overall, the weekend represents the three pillars of the Dave McGillivray Finish Strong Foundation: fitness, literacy, and supporting the community through acts of kindness. It’s why Run Medford will draw both runners and non-runners alike.
Don Megerle, who coached the Tufts swim team for 33 years and has coached the Tufts Marathon team since 2004, will be distributing water on Saturday along with about 10 other volunteers from that team. Megerle’s own loyalty to and friendship with McGillivray is another reason he and the Tufts team come back each year. The two met in Medford when McGillivray was training for and organizing triathlons. While Megerle does not run anymore, he remains involved in the race by helping to set up an aid station each year.
“It’s just a lot of fun to be out there, giving them water, helping them, taking pictures,” Megerle said. “Just being with the group of runners is very exciting… I’ve enjoyed it immensely.”
Registration is still open for racers and volunteers. A list of road closures for Saturday, Sept. 26 can be found here.
This story is part of a partnership between Gotta Know Medford and the Boston University Department of Journalism’s Newsroom program.
