World Run Day Press Kit

Summary:

World Run Day was founded in 1999. The vision: runners worldwide running for their favorite charities on one special day. The event reached few media publications in late October 1999 and several more papers and web sites in 2000. In 2001, many "group events" were planned in 43 locations throughout the world. The September 11th attack impacted many events scheduled. Those that remained experienced much success. Over 3,000 participants worldwide participated.

Held last November 6th, runners ran by themselves, in major races, and also in small fun runs. Reviews were all extremely favorable! How this event can reach out to the entire world became the project, the mission. This past year the "virtual run" was emphasized due to escalating costs to produce events and the lack of sponsor funds in many areas.

Now that the event has been piloted in different parts of the world, 2006 is the year that World Run Day reaches out to running clubs and charities throughout the globe. Runner's World Magazine in both the USA and Australia had news of World Run Day on their home pages last year. Mentions of the event have appeared in Runner's World - USA, Runner's World - Australia/New Zealand, Runner's World Spain, and Runner's World UK - in addition to many other trade magazines, local newspapers, and even television!

The event principle is to let runners decide how and where to celebrate it. Let runners also decide what charity they will donate to.

Event Coordinator - Bill McDermott

"We need an international day of running. We need an international day of charity. We need a World Run Day!"

Bill McDermott is a thirty-five year running veteran and founder of the international running event World Run Day. After five years of pursuing a run-for-charity vision and "testing the waters," he's motivated to bringing the concept global. With translators, search engine registration, and assistance from others, the event can become larger in 2006. He hopes to contact many more event directors this year to be part of the event.

He's claimed the Internet URL www.runday.com, built the event web site, commissioned a design for the event t-shirt, and works with global volunteers to promote the World Run Day event as often as possible.

Bill was born in Alameda, California (October 31,1955), and raised in a Roman Catholic family. He's lived in various states growing up: California (Oakland, Garden Grove, Crestline), Michigan (Trenton), New York (Forest Hills, Huntington, Elmhurst, Long Beach), New Jersey (Kinnelon, Collingswood), Pennsylvania (Villanova, Bryn Mawr, Gladwyne, Strafford) and currently lives on Long Island. In Kinnelon, New Jersey, he co-captained the high school track and cross-country teams, and was named an All-Conference selection in 1973. Upon graduating college at Villanova University (1977), he continued his pursuit of running for fitness, and now enjoys competing on Long Island, the New York area, and other locations. He's worked with marketing consultants to help produce materials on the runday.com web site.

World Run Day event headquarters is located in New York City's Empire State Building, with a satellite office on Long Island, New York. Translators are located in locations throughout the world. Recently Bill's won many age group awards for his running on Long Island, and has run several marathons (New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Long Island, among others) with a PR of 2:58 in 2004. With two small children and a NYC career as a Project Manager (PMP) in financial services, he finds late nights to be his most convenient time to run.

Like many runners, he's overcome injuries and pursued self-imposed goals towards fitness. Like many disciplined runners, he's never stopped running. "Where there's a will there's a way" he believes.

Bill's also a firm believer that there is good in everyone, and that "we all get better with age." He's rebuilt, and now redefining his passion for running - for at least one day each year: World Run Day - The Global Fitness and Charity Challenge.

Background::

Bill McDermott conceptualized the global event World Run Day in March 1999. An annual and unique one-day fundraiser, World Run Day benefits both local and international charities by celebrating running and charity. Runners register to run their favorite distance and pledge a donation to their favorite charity. Results are posted and then calculated for a worldwide total. It's uniquely structured for donations to benefit "any charity on the face of the earth."It's commonly referred to as "an International Day of Charity."

World Run Day received no profit from the sale of event t-shirts, but makes certain 100% of runner donations go directly to charity, and provides guidance for small-budget running events. World Run Day hopes to spread the concept throughout the world by Internet promotion, search engine submission, and direct contact with media outlets.

Runners (including walkers and the physically challenged) celebrate World Run Day globally on November 5th in 2006. How? Where? Similar to New Year's Eve 2000, people elect the how and where. They can run in a race, with family, with friends, or even by themselves. They can enter a local 50-yard dash, local 5k race, marathon, or even run on their treadmill watching a marathon! It's for runners of all ages. They run, they donate. They are part of a great global event!

How do they make a donation to "any charity on the face of the earth?" They write a check, large or small, and mail it directly to their favorite charity. Individual results are posted by each runner at http://www.runday.com/myresults/, are tabulated, and officially reported a few weeks later on Thanksgiving Day (US). A sample entry follows:

Fact Sheet:

Event Established:     1999
1999 Participants::      over 100 in under 75 cities
2000 Participants::      over 400 in over 100 cities
2001 Participants::      over 3,000 in over 200 cities
2002 Participants::      over 1,000 in over 300 cities
2003 Participants::      over 3,000 in over 600 cities world-wide
2004 Participants::      over 4,500 runners world-wide
2005 Participants::      over 2,000 runners world-wide (London event not held in 2005)

Youngest Donor:        4 Years Old
Oldest Donor:            65 Years Old
Shortest Distance:     50 yard Dash
Longest Distance:     26.2 Miles
Largest Donation:     $12,000 (2000)

The fact sheet tells only a small story of this event. A woman in Minnesota held her first running fundraiser ever in 2001 (World Run Day - Twin Cities) and drew 850 participants.

A group of residents on the island of Cape Verde (west coast of Africa) plastered brochures throughout the island, ran, and donated on World Run Day in 1999.

A five-year old in New Jersey ran in the event and donated $35 to the Lighthouse Foundation, and a city in New York (Long Beach) held a small informal event on the boardwalk by the Atlantic Ocean. An event whereby people in different places of the world can share in one great event ... World Run Day.