The following are some of the kind comments received about the wonderful group of volunteers who made the 2003 River to River Relay so special to so many:

Dear Keith,

Just a note to congratulate you on another successful year, and to thank you for all of your time coordinating this huge event. What beautiful day it was! Thanks to all the volunteers.

Gene Brauer – Big Dog Running and Eating Society

Hi, I ran the River to River Relay on Saturday for the first time – a really great time, well done, lots of fun, hard work, etc. Thank you and your volunteers very much.

John Selbo – Sun Prairie Surprise

Dear Keith,

Thank you for another great year. Thanks too, to all of the volunteers and to the various local Police Departments, County Sheriff’s Departments, and Illinois State Police who do a wonderful job of helping keep all of us safe as we practice our particular form of insanity.

Mike LeMonier – Take Me To The River

The race organization and volunteers were really GREAT !!!  I hope they get thrown a good party for all their efforts.

Dale Cooney – Chitown Dirty Virgins

Thanks for putting on the race again.  We had a great time.

One thing is for certain.  Everyone who comes to Southern Illinois is very impressed.  Over the years, I would say that almost every one of our runners except for me has never been south of Carbondale other than on the interstates.  I think that the bike trails if marketed will bring a lot more people.

Collins Ftizpatrick

Collins Fitzpatrick; St. Ignatius Soles

Keith..First Thanks for the great race and all the work you and your team volunteers did. Thank You!!!
Second...The Honest team of the "Flying Feet" did find a motorcycle helmet at the FIRST exchange where the vans park along the road. This helmet we found was down in the gulley almost in the farmers field. If you know whos it is I will send it to them and they would have to pay for postage. Send them my E-mail so this can be done.
Hope to see you next year...Dan Keenan  Flying Feet

We appreciate you letting us run your race!  We are still wired up.  Great Fun!  I would also like to thank you for answering all my questions quickly over e-mail.  Considering the size and distance that was the best organized race I have ever run.  Your volunteers were awesome and these words are coming from all 7 of us.  Everyone of us were ready to come back to Columbus and start chewing on our local race company who can't seem to get it right.  He is a very good man, but if we sent him your way could you show him what to do?  Just joking.  I know it all goes to the volunteers and I think in the big city people just aren't as willing to give up their time.  Can you pencil me in for next year now, because these guys will be very disappointed if I don't get them in.  Thanks again for one of the best times I ever had.  Later Bob Ferguson – Running from the Crowd

Keith - super race, super organization and super weather - all but one of

our 24 runners wants to come back next year. The drop out is a 56 year old

Chicago area rookie who has never seen hills before. Thanks a million.

Joe Arnold - Lisle Windrunners.

Thanks, and great job once again for putting on a first-class relay,

Dave Sarocka - Fueled By Cuervo

Hi Keith. Thanks again for a wonderful race.

This is one of the greatest races i have ever ran. I

know for sure that hills can easily compete with the Boston Marathon.

Evgeniy

Sincerely,

Evgeniy Sklyanskiy - Endorphin Running Team

Hi:

I would like to thank you for all the effort that you put into this

monumental relay.

As one who has put on these events in some number, I can appreciate on a

micro scale the macro problems you surely encountered. 

Again, my deepest thanks for one of the best relays I can remember (nice

weather, nice folks helping out).

Sincerely,

--an old R2R fan (old is the key word here)--

Wayne Shook - "Mudd Duck Soup".

Keith,

I want to take this opportunity to thank you and all of the staff and volunteers for making the RRR an incredible memory for our team.  Everything went so smoothly organized and you were all so friendly and welcoming.  You all did an outstanding job and we are, again, looking forward to participating in future events.

Thanks again,

The Honkin Woohoos!!

     Special thanks to you, Keith, for including the Ramp Runners this year.  The couple times I saw you, you appeared very busy, so I did not interrupt to say "thank you". 

        Anyway, it truly was the best organized of the 7 I have done.  We had three neophytes this year (including one who filled in as of 4PM on Friday for a guy who called in sick on Friday morning) and they were all really impressed with how it all comes together. 

        So far I have completed 7 different legs.  I only have #3 left to conquer next year.

Best to you and your wonderful volunteers.

        Ron Hermann

Hello Keith,

I am the women's captain of the Palos Roadrunners running club. I just want to tell you on behalf of all of the members of our running club that this is the race our local club looks forward to every year. We had 3 teams in the relay this year and we had such an awesome experience. We started in 1999 and we will continue to be a part of this exceptionally well run race for as long as we can keep running. You should be so proud of what you have done because there are so many positive remarks about this relay from everyone. Keep up the great work! See you next year!

Thank you,

The Palos Roadrunners

Great Job once again. Had a great time.
John Spencer, Captain, Jones Creek Road Runners

Thanks for another Great race , everything worked !!

    Daryl Rolland

    OLD MEN- FAST WOMEN

Keith and crew,

Thanks for once again putting on a spectacular event.  This was the fifth year in a row the Angry Beavers have had the privilege of participating in River to River.  Hopefully, we'll be back for many, many more.

We'd like to make a special thank you to the Army ROTC team.  We got our van stuck in the mud when we pulled off the side of the road onto a too-soft shoulder to give a runner some water.  Just when we started to panic, the Army came by and got us unstuck.  They were incredible.  They saw the problem, asked us if they could help, and did what they had to do to take care of things.  We gave them a healthy supply of our Beaver Believer refrigerator magnets, but it seemed like not nearly enough of a thank you for saving our necks for the day.

Thanks again to you and all your wonderful volunteers, and thanks to all the teams like Army ROTC who unselfishly go out of their way to help out others!

Shelly Hester, Captain

The Angry Beavers

Hi Keith,

The DeKalb Corn Dogs want to thank you for the wonderful time they had at your race.  This is the 4th year that they have run the race and each year they come back amazed at the organization and flow of such an endeavor.  The weather was great (maybe a little warm...) and the volunteers were friendly at every stop.  Thanks again!

Donna Potaczek – DeKalb Corn Dogs

Hi Keith,

Just wanted to tell you thanks for another great relay.  We did our best to

tell all the volunteers and police thanks for helping.  Wow, you sure do

have lots of people out there.

Tom Brownlow – The Cutting Edge of Insanity

Keith,
To you and everyone involved in putting on this years event, team "Are We There Yet?" would like to say an enormous "THANK YOU."  Last year (our 1st) was great and we thought it couldn't be topped.  We were wrong.  From the great organizers to the World Class Volunteers everyone and everything was 1st class all the way. 
We had a better race, finishing in just over 10 1/2 hours (without any leapfrogs this year!).
We would also like to send a thanks out to the SpongeBobs for the great day of fun and competition.  All day long we were passing each other back and forth with both teams being great sports.  We managed to finish less than 1 minute ahead of our friends.
Also, a shout out to the "Honkin WooHoo's for joining us in some loud "Honks" and WooHoo's" along the way.
Again, a great big "THANK YOU" to the organizers, volunteers, other teams and the great, friendly people of Southern Illinois.
We had a blast. 
Hope to see you all next year.
Tami, Ben, John, Tom, Chuck, Jen, Brian (yes, we only had 7 due to a late injury).
"ARE WE THERE YET?"  (until next year, yes we are!)

Thanks for another year of great fun in the Southern Illinois sunshine.

The weather you ordered couldn't have been any better.  It was a great

race, as always and continues to be one of our favorites.  I brought a

couple of newbies to the race this year.  As with all first timers to the

race, they were amazed at the organization and fun and swear they'll be

back next year for another go.

Convey our appreciation to all of your volunteers, they are super people.

Thanks again and see you for number 17.

Mudd Ducks (Forest Park Wednesday Night Running Club)

Good Morning Keith,

On behalf of the Palos Roadrunners - Teams 1, 2, and 3, we just want to say

thanks for all of the work you and your volunteers have done to make the

River to River Relay a great experience. All of our teams really appreciate

the work that has gone into this event. Many times the people who run this

event are overlooked. We understand the amount of time and energy it takes

to get an event like this to run smoothly. Thanks again for a great

experience and your hospitality in Southern Illinois.

Sincerely,

George Fite - Palos Roadrunners Team # 2.

Keith,

Great race and great weather.

Thanks for all your hard work.

Hope to see you next April.

Again, thanks for all your work.

Mike Moll

Hello Keith,

I am the women's captain of the Palos Roadrunners running club. I just want to tell you on behalf of all of the members of our running club that this is the race our local club looks forward to every year. We had 3 teams in the relay this year and we had such an awesome experience. We started in 1999 and we will continue to be a part of this exceptionally well run race for as long as we can keep running. You should be so proud of what you have done because there are so many positive remarks about this relay from everyone. Keep up the great work! See you next year!

Thank you,

The Palos Roadrunners

Thank you.

One thing is for certain.  Everyone who comes to Southern Illinois is very impressed.  Over the years, I would say that almost every one of our runners except for me has never been south of Carbondale other than on the interstates.  I think that the bike trails if marketed will bring a lot more people.

Collins Ftizpatrick

I was part of Mixed Nuts from Florence, Alabama.  I want to tell you that this was the  most fun I have ever had!! I cannot wait til next year and hope that we get in again!  The coordination of this event has to be overwhelming, however you brought it off without a hitch!  Thanks for such a well-run race!  Hope to see y'all again next year!
Amanda Sharp – Mixed Nuts