Founder's Corner, 2024

Race Director, Sabrina, has really grown this popular event and even got us through a pandemic!

In 2019 Race Director Sabrina Seher broke her 2018 record for the number of participants, registering 375 teams and 2371 runners, more than doubling the size of the event in her first four years as Race Director!  In 2020, 2021 and 2022 she even managed to get us through a pandemic! For her efforts Sabrina won the Founder’s Award in 2021. Thank you, Sabrina!

Sabrina is an energetic and motivated runner, well known in the running community both locally and nationally. See News Tribune article here. She is experienced as the Race Director of the Run Super Series, as a USATF Coach and owns a traveling Super Pacers Team for full and half marathons and opened up a training/coaching studio in Tacoma called Super Studios 253. Sabrina has completed 303+ full and ultra-marathons, 52 in one year!

How did this event start?

Check out this video History of the R2R - An Adventure in Your Own Backyard.

In 2013 the R2R introduced the Mayors' Cup, a beautiful trophy made for us by the Tacoma Museum of Glass.  Unfortunately, after it was awarded in 2014 it was dropped and broken.  The division was dropped as well, so no awards were offered in 2015 and 16.  The Mayors' Cup was repaired for 2017 and so the competition was on to see which team sponsored by the Mayor of a town along the Foothills Trail would be the fastest to the finish.  Mayors, start recruiting and training your teams!  Here is the list of past winners who have displayed the beautiful Mayors’ Cup in their town hall.

2013 Sumner, Fleet Feet Sports in 6:03
2014 Buckley, Rise and Shine in 6:31
2015 No award given
2016 No award given
2017 Tacoma, Start Slow Then Taper Off in 6:09
2018 Puyallup Parrotheads in 7:12
2019 Puyallup Parrotheads in 7:23
2020 No award given due to COVID-19
2021 No award given due to no Mayor’s team in the race!
2022 Orting #willrunforcarbs in 6:57
2023 Orting #willrunforcarbs in 7:08

Rules:  The only requirements are that the mayor's team consist of 2, 3, 4 or 6-runners, and that the team must be registered as sponsored by the Mayor of the town (only one team per town, please). It couldn’t be simpler. There are no rules about who pays the registration fee, where the team members live, who must be on the team, genders, ages, etc.  Runners must take turns running their assigned legs, alternating through the order of their listed positions by handing off at each exchange like any team expecting to receive an award.  Simple and fun! If you are a Mayor sponsoring a team, email me the name of your team at JohnSelby16@gmail.com, and your town will on its way to winning this beautiful cup. Good luck!

Here is the list of eligible towns: Carbonado, Wilkeson, Buckley, South Prairie, Orting, Puyallup, Sumner, Fife, Tacoma, and Ruston. Mayors, put your team together and start them training to win the beautiful R2R Mayors’ Cup. It is now on display in Orting. Your next chance to take it away is in 2024. Start training!

Founder's Award

Each year the R2R Race Committee presents the Founder's Award to someone who has made a significant contribution to the event.  Here is a list of past winners:

2006, John Selby for founding the R2R in 2002
2007, Russ Matthews, for his work on the Race Committee
2008, Thomas Moeller for creating our original website
2009, Tom Faubion for the BackCountry Horsemen trail work
2010, Don Partington for trail crew work
2011, Tom Gibson for the website management
2012, Bob Rowan for video and photo documentation
2013, Alan Hughes for radio communication and first aid
2014, John Downs for leadership of exchange volunteer teams
2015, Buzz Grant for work on the Race Committee, Trail Crew and the Bell Stand Team
2016, Ernie Bay for co-founding the Foothills Trail Coalition and leadership in advocating for trails
2017, Bob and Diane Kastama for R2R volunteering and leadership in the Friends of the RiverWalk
2018, Dixie Gatchel for volunteering every year of the R2R and leadership in Friends of the RiverWalk 2019, Becky Gilbert for volunteering as exchange captain at Wilkeson every year of the race
2020, Sabrina Seher for more than doubling the number of registrants in her first 4 years as Race Director and dealing with a pandemic this year!
2021, Carl Fabioni for his many years of valuable work both alone and on the Coalition Trail Crew.
2022, Dan Bucci for his management assistance of the Rainier to Ruston Relay, the B&O event and the race websites.
2023, Pat Johnson for her many years of volunteering for the event.

Join Us

Please consider joining Sasquatch and other trail lovers by donating your time and/or money in support of the Foothills Rails-to-Trails Coalition and its mission of assisting Pierce County communities in the creation, maintenance and usage of a connected system of non-motorized trails, including finishing this beautiful trail from Mt. Rainier National Park to Puget Sound, i.e. from Tahoma to Tacoma. Purchase a one-year membership in the Foothills Rails-to-Trails Coalition and get an electronic subscription to our quarterly newsletter, the Trail Line News, which will keep you up to date on the plans and progress in developing all of Pierce County trails.

ON TO THE MOUNTAIN! 

Sasquatch and I hope to see everyone again to celebrate trails and the 22nd anniversary of the Rainier to Ruston Rail-Trail Relay on National Trails Day, the first Saturday of June 2024!

John Selby, R2R Founder
email: johnselby16@gmail.com