Thanks to you and all your crew for a great day

The following are some of the kind comments received about the wonderful group of volunteers who make the River to River Relay so special to so many:

Thanks to you and all your crew for a great day. Although we had a medical emergency, we (and he) recovered (thanks to great help from the radio operators and the State Police) and ran a good race.

This was my third RRR but the first for each of my teammates. They were all in awe of the organization, the logistics, the volunteers -- and the course! We all really appreciate all your efforts.

Frank Sullivan

The Running Company

Indianapolis

Hi Keith,
Thanks again to you and all the volunteers for all the work that goes into putting on the
Thanks again, Tracy

Keith,
We had a great time, as usual. Thanks for all your work. I look forward to this race every year.
This is the 8th time I've put a team together and run this race. To date, I have had 31 different people on my team. Each year is interesting, but this one was even more so. First of all was the mentioning of our team Friday night at the meeting.

One of our runners was in Savannah, GA on Friday and to fly to St. Louis, he had to fly first to Cincinnati. His flight was about to leave Cincy when they cancelled the flight because of the weather in St. Louis. He drove all the way from Cincy to Carbondale and got in there a little after midnight early Saturday morning.

I don't know if you heard, but we had a flat tire. When we stopped at McCann Springs someone on our team noticed that air was leaking from the rear tire on the passenger side of our rented 15 passenger van. We debated what to do, and I decided to drive to the start, drop off our runner, so that we could start on time. It was a slow leak and I was fairly sure we could make it to the bottom of #1 so that we could change the tire on an asphalt surface. Then we drove down the hill and took a right at the bottom to change the tire, which we did in record time. While driving down leg number one, cars were backed up because a lead runner for one of the teams had fallen. He was an elderly gentleman. Every year that I've run the race, I've always had at least one M.D. on my team. I asked her to go and find out his condition. She ran back to the van and said that he was hypoglycemiac (sp?) and that he needed something to eat. We gave her a Clif Bar to give to him, and after eating it he got into someone's van for the ride down the rest of leg #1. Then we changed our tire.

The race went great. We made sure that we beat everyone's favorite team, the Angry Beavers.
I don't know if you noticed, but my team cleaned up the men's locker room in Golconda. When we left the high school at 8:10 Saturday evening, we were the last people in the men's locker room, and it was as clean as we could get it.

Thanks again for a great race. I'm glad we had good weather for the race. Hope to see you next year.
Mike Moll
The Rubber Guppies
4/22/2002

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Keith-

Thanks for all your hard work in pulling off another successful race! See you next year.

Scott Meister

and team Lycaon

Dear Keith--

Thank you so much for the directions to Golconda. They were perfect. I just

wanted to send a note of thanks to everyone who helped out in River 2 River.

I just wanted to let you know that my teammates, Bonnies and Clydes Too, and

I had a wonderful time. This is my third year running this race and I have

commend everyone who had a part in putting it together. In case you were

wondering, I am not a "hard core" runner. River 2 River was actually the

first race I ever ran. It is because of this race that I am still running

today. Thanks!

It is Sunday morning and I have to admit that I am a little sore. The crazy

thing about it is that my mother scheduled my bridal shower for this

afternoon. I will have to find some strength to walk around all day today!

Thanks again for everything!!! Please send a word of thanks to all the

volunteers!!

Sincerely,

Joy Lacey

Now that it is history

Please accept our standing ovation for another job well done

Yeah, there was the early heat & humidity

And the promised 1"-2" of rain, all of which hammered us in a few minutes of torrent

And there were tire sucking shoulders, which we managed to dodge

But the dust on the gravel legs was not even 10% of the prior year

The volunteers....BLESS THEM.....toughed this out

with reasonable humor, under the circumstances, and

inadequate reward

The logistical and personnel complexities are far more than daunting

My own "toes in the water" as Race Director for a half dozen years

of residential street 5m/5k races burned (frustrated) me out

I can't imagine how it's possible to deal with an 80 mile relay endeavor

Thanks for another great event

We'd sign up for next year now, if we could

I'll be sitting at the computer ready to print out the 2003 application the minute it hits the site next October

Keith:

I just wanted to take a minute and thank you, your staff and all involved in the planning and execution of the race this year. It was a wild day with the extremes in weather. This was my sixth "River" and I thought the race was sensational, though I sure it was a colossal headache for all involved in the administration. Often times all you hear is complaints, so I just wanted to extend my thanks and appreciation on a job well done.

All of my team members echo my sentiments. We had a mixture of veterans and rookies and I received phone calls from everyone today, all with a comment or anecdote. And of course they all promise they will train harder next time. I wish I could bottle their energy for next year.

Please feel free to share my thought and thanks to your staff and volunteers.

Sincerely,

Charlie Burns

Justice Delayed (Team 704)

My name is Cody Fulkerson and I ran in the relay last Saturday for " The un named eight " from Cape Girardeau, Mo. We finished 14th in the open division and 1st in the medical division of "SPECIAL" awards.

Thanks for putting on a great run! This was my first and even though I was the 6th runner, I had a great time. You all do a wonderful job! Keep up the good work!

Keith,

Thanks for another wonderful relay!! I was not able to run this year

becasue of lower back probelms but I was the manager, designated driver and

photographer. I appreciated the complexity of the logistics in these roles

more so than as a runner.

Thanks again!!!

Anna

Keith,

Thanks to you and the rest of the volunteers much for putting on a great

race once again. For me personally, this was my 14th. As for our team, we

had a few veterans and several first timers. Everyone had a great time

and looks forward to next year. It always amazes me that something that

has to be a logistical nightmare comes off so smoothly.

Thanks again,

Paul

Dear Keith,

Thank you for all the time, effort, and dedication you put into the River to River Relay.
I really do appreciate it. This is the second time I have done the race and I had a blast. Our team was the Wednesday Night Forest Park Runners. We were the last group to start and we finished in just over 11 hours not deducting our handicap time.
It is the most unique race I have ever done and how you came up with a course and pull it all off is amazing! The volunteers are wonderful and so helpful. We really appreciate the Baptist Chuch Ladies!
I direct a small, 5 week series of Road Races in Forest Park each year so I know somewhat of all that goes into the working of a race. All that said, ...take a valium...
take the phone off the hook, and climb into bed ....and SLEEP..SLEEP..SLEEP!!!!!!
Thanks again,
Jill Akins

You do an unbelievable job ... absolutely incredible. Our team had a great

time. Thanks a million. This is the second year of participation for us and

interest is growing in our church. If you need extra volunteers for next

year, let me know, I think I could recruit about 7-10 people.

Christian Life Center

Steven M. McKeown

#129

PS I noted on our forms we used alternates - even though they added about 20

minutes to our time (I wanted them to have the experience). We didn't run

competitively, but I wanted to make sure you knew about the alternates.

The Hampshire Coon Creek Crawlers greatly enjoyed the race this past weekend. We would like to thank you and your group for a great job. We are hopeful we can get our entry in early enough to get accepted again for next year.

Thanks Again.

Eric Bahe

Dear Race Director, First and foremost CONGRATULATIONS on yet another

outstanding job done this year! Shut Up And Run applauds you and all of the volunteers, whom we tried to thank as many as possible on race day!

Sincerely, Laura Scherff , Shut Up And Run Team Captain

Both of our teams had a great time again this year. Thanks to you and all the other volunteers for all the work you put in!

Keith

Keith, our team (Odds & Ends) want to says thanks again for a wonderful race!!!! We love this race and appreciate all of the work that goes into it.

Say hello to Sandy . Thanks again. Great job!!!!!

Connie Foster

Keith,

On behalf of all my Sand-In-the-Vaseline team members, I extend my most sincere appreciation to you and all the other race organizers and volunteers who make River to River Relay run so smoothly. You do an exceptional job of organization and race management. It is a real joy to run in your race. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you ....

Sincerely,

Barry Dickerson

P.S. Do we win the award for year over year consistency?

2002 10:10:55 64th place 14th in mixed division

2001 10:10:48 63rd place 14th in mixed division

Keith,

Thanks for another wonderful relay!! I was not able to run this year

becasue of lower back probelms but I was the manager, designated driver and

photographer. I appreciated the complexity of the logistics in these roles

more so than as a runner.

Thanks again!!!

Anna

Keith,

Thanks to you and the rest of the volunteers much for putting on a great

race once again. For me personally, this was my 14th. As for our team, we

had a few veterans and several first timers. Everyone had a great time

and looks forward to next year. It always amazes me that something that

has to be a logistical nightmare comes off so smoothly.

Thanks again,

Paul

I want to thank you for the wonderful experience of my first River to River

relay. How you organized a race for 1, 920 runners that went so smoothly I

can't imagine. It was a beautiful way to spend the day.

Well, thanks again for an awesome event !

Mark Linneman

Runner #6

St. Louis, MO

*****************************************************************Dearest MRD,M and MRD,S:

Thanks for once again putting on the event of the year. The Angry Beavers had a great time, including the Chicago gals. One of them just e-mailed me and said it was the most fun weekend she's had all year...and that must really be saying something, because these ladies were a blast. When our #6 runner was running up that final God-awful hill, the "girls" as we called them, climbed up on top of the van and danced to "Baby Got Back" to motivate our runner up the hill (the van was parked, of course!) I don't think the other runners in front of and behind our runner minded too much, either! Thanks so much for helping us get hooked up with them.

As we do this race from year to year, we think of more and more things to incorporate into our "gig". The stickers were a huge hit for some reason, and we gave away more than 300 of them long before the day was through. The van decorations are getting more and more elaborate, too, and we've started carrying extra water to pass along to needy runners on extra tough sections of the course or when the weather gets too hot. That went over very well, too, and other teams were starting to offer our runners some water when they saw us running.

Another race over, another job very well done! Thanks to both of you for all you do to keep Angry Beavers happy!

Shelly

Dear Keith,

Great Job from everyone, as usual. The problem is that when it is so perfect, the repeat years have increasingly

impossible standards.

Keith,

Just a note to say thanks to you and the other 300 volanteers for a great experience in Saturday's River to River. Our team, the Anglo American Running Society, lost a number of its original members but thanks to Miss Lonelyfeet we found two SIU students who are strong runners and, perhaps more importantly, good people, and we made a great team. Unfortunately we never did find the last two runners to complete a team of eight so six of us ran to Golconda. It was hard but it was a great time and we are certainly hoping to make it back to Marion for the 2003 race. I can't say enough about how well the race was organized. You all did a fantastic job. Thanks again,

Chris Whybrow

Anglo American Running Society (AARS IS US)

Keith,

Just a note to say what a great event you put on. I know you are following

in Gorden's footsteps, but you did a terrific job. It was great to see you

and a few others that I had not seen in 10 to 15 years.

As for my race, it was very hard. I guess that is what I get for violating

my number one rule of racing, "1. Never race when you are out of shape."

My second leg hurt, but it was also during the toughest conditions. I did

redeem myself on the final leg.

The race hurt enough that I plan to give it another shot, only next time I

will be in shape (easy to say now, when the race is a year away) so I can

prove to myself that I can run this course better. We plan to field the

same masters team next year with people being in better shape. With the

group we had, we should be competitive in the masters group. So if all

goes well, I will see you then.

Again, great job putting this event together.

Tom

Keith:

I want to add my thanks to those of our captain, Chris Whybrow. I can't even begin to tell you how much we enjoyed the race, the camaraderie, the challenge, the teamwork and the great organization you and your staff brought to the festivities.

Thanks again to you, your staff and all the wonderful volunteers.

Steve Andrews

Anglo American Running Society

I just want to say thank you to all of you (volunteers and race organizers) for such a wonderful, first RRR race experience for myself and all of my team members. We were all very impressed with how smoothly everything transpired and overall atmosphere of the entire weekend. Southern Illinois is absolutely beautiful and we are all planning to participate in next year's run (and hopefully start a yearly tradition for our group of friends!).

Cheryl Newlove

Manager: Rambling Nurses and Fleet Pharmacist

Bloomington, IN

Hi Keith,

I just wanted to thank you and your crew for organizing such a wonderful event. This was our third year participating, and once again we were impressed with the organization and spirit of you and your volunteers.

It is mind-boggling to think of what must go into this event and I'm sure we will never grasp the magnitude of it. Just know how much we appreciate the effort. We look forward to many return trips.

Donna Potaczek and the DeKalb Corn Dogs

Keith-

I just wanted to thank you for putting on a great race on Sat!! I loved

it!! :) I also wanted to let u know I won't be at the meeting on Thursday.

My professor is putting on a study session from 5:30-7:30 for an exam I have

on Friday. Alright, well have a nice day Keith :) ~Cristen

Hi Keith:

Wanted to mention again how much fun our team had at the 15th River to River relay and how much we appreciate the effort that you and the entire race committee put into the race. Not to mention the countless volunteers throughout the course. I had a chance to talk with lots of volunteers as we led the race virtually from the beginning and there was no one else out there. Kudos to everyone involved with race!!!! What was amazing was how few teams actually got wet on the course. At Golconda as you know we had torrential downpours, but two of the three Lisle teams did not get a drop while they were still out there. Guess it ends the streak of no substantial rain though.

Once again, Great JOB!!!

Bob Theodore

Just a note to say Jones Creek Road Runners had a great time this year - did you order that heat, though?

We were in need of a runner at the last moment and I picked up T. Miura off Miss Lonely Feet on Thursday morning. Despite my presence on the team (slow 10-11 min/mile) we did great.

Keep up the good work!

Jane Bryant

I have been meaning to email and profusely thank you and all the River to River Relay committee members for all the incredible hard work you do so that people like me can come down and have the time of my life. The River to River Relay is such a unique, class event that plays out to be much more than just a race. It really allows people to develop a close comraderie with fellow runners and to learn to pull for others instead of just focusing on themselves, as runners usually do during a race. Thank you so much again for a truly fantastic event.

Patrick Nowlan
Captain, CU Later (3rd place-Open division)

PS We thanked the bejeezers out of any volunteers we saw, but please pass along more of our gratitude to any we might have missed!

Keith,

On behalf of the Road Slugs (Team 811), I want to thank you for a great

race. We were all rookies in the RRR, and we had a blast! I thought it was

incredibly well organized, and the people could not have been more

accomodating. The setup at the finish line is far better than I have seen

at other races, relays included. We look forward to returning next year,

hopefully a little leaner and faster!

Thanks,

Pat McGowan

Captain Slug

Hi Keith.

Just wanted to thank you and everyone else that organized R2R. It's

one of the highlights of the year for us. (I think this was my 10th time.)

Mike ("We Are Not Them")

Keith,

We've not lost or found anything but a hearty thank you to you once again for putting on such a magnificent event. It's amazing to us how smoothly such a logistically complex race can be done so well. You and the volunteers are to be congratulated for another job well done. We hope to see you again next year.

God Bless,

Craig Reynolds
The Fighting Trees

Thanks Keith, Great race and great time as always!

bill

Yet another year with a wonderful race. You and your team amaze me with your dedication and patience with us crazy runners. And the weather was great.

Thanks again, We'll be back next year.

Wayne W Smith

Lincoln Park Pacers, Chicago

You folk run a mighty fine race.

Now if you can sell a bit more of your soul next year for the rain to hold off just a little bit longer :-)

After talking to your wife, we skipped hike to Little Grand Canyon and went to Pomona Natural Bridge instead. Then to a winery for tasting and lunch.

Dale

Chitown Dirty Virgins-NO MORE!!

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Keith,

You all did an awesome job. Our team is fired up for next year.

Thane Dykstra

I am looking for an email address for the Reno Failures- to thank them for

being so kind during the race can you help? This was my first time down there. One of the guys on the team who had been there before really made me feel welcome.

He had everything positve to say about the event, and everything around it.

At the end he took the time to walk up to the top of the levy to take a final

team picture for our group. He didn't have to do, that he had his own team to celebrate with - I just thought it was nice that he went out of his way.

It was a wonderful weekeknd-I'll be back next year.

I am now a River To River addict.

Michel Poole

Keith,
First of all thank-you to you and your staff for doing such a great job again this year. All the people were helpful, friendly, and gave lots of encouragement. Thanks for all your hard work.
Sincerely,
Terry Wade-St.Jude Runners

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First, I am the team manager of The Fast Fascia Factory and would

like to pass on that we had a great time running the race. It was a

pleasant yet very challenging experience and we hope to do it again next

year (maybe even a little faster).

Pass on our appreciation to all the volunteers. They were very courteous

and helpful and a few of them were pretty good comedians as well.

(Explanation follows:

Keith,

The most humorous section was at the base of the bluff (McCann

Springs?)where we turned in our final line up. Two gentlemen had a whole spiel

about following the volunteers directions and the use of a rusty spoon if we did

not. The delivery of the speech was excellent. However, the icing on the cake

was when another volunteer held up an orange flag and a rusty spoon later in the

day (just as a reminder). The gang in the van found that very humorous and took

our minds of the impending pain our legs were impressing upon us. They were

other areas along the course that the volunteers were very jovial and would

crack a one liner. Unfortunately, those instances did not stick in my mind like

the rusty spoon did, therefore, I cannot recall the locations. All in all it

was great day and my hat goes off to you and your crew for a marvelous job of

organizing this event.)

Appreciation in advance,

Pete Neill

Great race - great event!! I can't tell you how much we enjoyed this years

River to River. Since we started participating in the River to River 3

years ago it has become the highlight of our running year. Everything works

so unbelievably well (once you get the entry accepted!). Everyone is

knowledgeable, authoritative (important out on the course to keep us

obstinate runners in line) yet VERY friendly. Many, many thanks to all of

the organizers and volunteers. We just hope we can continue to get our team

accepted into the race.

I wanted to pass on one comment. Last year a group of us decided to put

together a team and go run the Hood to Coast Relay. Now it is probably not

fair to make direct comparisons between the Hood to Coast and the River to

River as the former is much larger, over twice as long and runs about 36

hours total. BUT - the differences are striking. Unlike the Hood to Coast,

your course (River to River) is well marked (no guessing at turns), there is

a clear emphasis on safety with police directing traffic at every major

interchange (none that I saw in Oregon), traffic flows smoothly on the

course, volunteers know what they are doing (and are friendly and enjoying

the day), locals seem to support and enjoy the race, and there are nice

touches such as mile markers on the course. Plus, the size and length of

the River to River is just about perfect - we had a lot more fun at your

race than at the Hood to Coast! Once again, your group runs a class race

and we really appreciate it!!

Many, many thanks and look forward to being back in Southern Illinois (I was

born in Anna) next year!!

Jim Turner

"Where The Hill Are We?"

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Dear River to River Relay,

I want to congratulate everyone involved on an excellent race. This year was

my first time running the relay. As a faculty member at Eastern Illinois

University, I have been involved in helping with a few triathlons and

biathlons so I can somewhat appreciate all the coordinating and logistics

required to put on a race such as the River to River Relay.

The bottom line is ‹ you guys do a great job!

Thanks for all the hard work and effort and I can't wait until next year.

Jake Emmett (Mattoon Ward Team)

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On behalf of my teammates from Everything Hurts, I want to thank you and all your volunteers for putting on such a great race. Up until this year, we've had one of the later starts. This year we started earlier and for the first time got a true picture of how busy the exchange zones really are, and how much commotion and responsibility your volunteers have to deal with as the bulk of the teams pass through. They handle it with a great deal of aplomb and good cheer and deserve all the courtesy we can show them.

Thanks again. We had a great time in beautiful Southern Illinois.

Jim Pokin, Downers Grove

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Admin Director

I am attaching a photo I thought you would enjoy. The photo is of me (Paul Tarpley) Jumping the #2 ford of leg #8. My friend was standing there yelling "jump it" and another friend took this picture.

I have run this relay 3 times now a different leg each time and have enjoyed all 3 times. The first year when they told me how much it cost I backed up a little bit and then after I saw the book, the work it took and all of the organization it had to have taken, I went. It was even better than I expected! Thanks for all of the hard work.

I ran the Louisville Ky. Mini-Marathon yesterday, your run is much harder than this. I think it is the time in between to both get stiff and recoup your muscles so they think they are ready to go again.

Thanks again for a good run, Paul Tarpley

Keith,
An enormous THANK YOU to you and all those involved in putting together the River to River Relay. A special Thanks! to the AWESOME volunteers. They are so upbeat, helpful, friendly, informed, inspiring, funny,......I could go on and on. We are all first timers in RTR (2 have done Hood to Coast many years back). Most of us hadn't even met each other until Friday night (nobody on the team new more than one other person, 2 had never met any of us). We had a great time and made many new friends. Can't wait until next year. THANKS!! Sincerely, Tami (ARE WE THERE YET? (Yes!)).

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