Runners banded together for ‘great cause’

The group in today’s Marine Corps Marathon raised $100,000 for victims of April 16.

By Jared Turner
The Roanoke Times, 28 October 2007

BLACKSBURG -- Fred Cook was one of the students who fled Norris Hall by jumping from a second-floor window on April 16. Since the shootings at Virginia Tech, he has found a new kind of escape.

Today, it will come full circle.

After four months of training under Blacksburg High School cross country coach James DeMarco, Cook and more than 20 other people from the New River Valley will compete on a team of 100 Virginia Tech-affiliated runners in today’s Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C.

“To be honest, since April 16, the thing that’s helped me the most in the healing process has been doing this running and this training and having a purpose for this, and then the incredible support that I’ve gotten from everybody,” Cook said.

To be in the 26.2-mile race, which members of the Virginia Tech squad are calling the Hokie Spirit Memorial Run, each of the 100 Hokie runners raised $1,000 to endow a $100,000 scholarship in honor of the students and faculty members who died April 16.

As of Tuesday, Cook had stockpiled more than $13,000 by himself. Most of the money came from alumni and fraternity donations, he said.

“It’s been such a profound experience that we’ve all had that we’ve all kind of been moved to do this,” the fifth-year senior engineering science and mechanics major said. He and three others who escaped professor Liviu Librescu’s class in Norris Hall are in today’s marathon.

Those under DeMarco’s tutelage have trained two days every week since late June at Smithfield Plantation, the trails at Pandapas Pond, the Blacksburg High School track and other running venues. Others from the New River Valley have prepared for the marathon in separate groups or on their own.

DeMarco’s trainees embraced a regimen that included a mixture of speed training and long-distance runs under various conditions.

“It’s been incredible,” said 60-year-old Ted Koebel, a Tech professor in the department of urban affairs and planning. “You wouldn’t imagine you could get that much fun out of pain.”

Most of the Tech runners signed up for the marathon by the end of May.

“It was kind of just my way to get involved and give something for all those people that we lost,” said RaeLynn McAfee, who is the director of sports marketing and promotions for Virginia Tech’s athletic department.

One of the biggest supporters of the cause has been DeMarco. When two Virginia Tech students -- Julie Kott and Logan Thompson -- secured 100 spots in the race for Virginia Tech runners, DeMarco offered his expertise to the participants.

What he got was a range of runners -- from the athletically inclined to others who never previously considered being in a marathon.

“It’s a really unique bunch because it’s just this crosswalk of people all coming for one great cause,” said DeMarco, who enlisted employees of his Runabout Sports store in Blacksburg to help facilitate the drills and conditioning exercises. “They’ve been training together, working together, for a bigger thing than themselves but also at the same time trying to accomplish a goal.”

DeMarco’s trainees include Virginia Tech men’s and women’s soccer coaches Oliver Weiss and Kelly Cagle, along with their spouses. Virginia Tech faculty members, students and Blacksburg residents not directly associated with the university are among the hodgepodge of runners. Many who didn’t know each other before the shootings say they have grown close through training together.

“I haven’t been a part of something this cool in years,” Cagle said.

Most of the Tech runners traveled separately to Washington and will meet up at the starting line today. They will all be donning matching bibs with the Virginia Tech memorial ribbon emblazoned on the back.

“Some of them have never done a 5K, so to go 26 miles, in a way you’re thinking you’re going from Blacksburg to Salem in a run,” DeMarco said. “It’s very difficult, and the good thing is they realize how difficult it is and they’ve done a great job.”

The race begins at 7:55 a.m. in Arlington, and ends at the Marine Corps War Memorial. The 31-year-old marathon is the fourth largest in the United States and the seventh largest in the world, according to the marathon’s Web site. The Web site said the marathon is the largest in the world that doesn’t offer prize money.

Just having the opportunity to be in the race is prize enough for those competing in memory of the victims of April 16.

“It’s not just us running,” McAfee said. “Every time that we think we can’t make it or that we’re hurting so bad, it’s ‘We’re doing it for 32 people -- we’re not just doing it for ourselves.’ “

Added DeMarco: “It’s going to be really unique and special, and something they’ll always remember.”