TO: The Duxbury Board of Selectmen
FROM: Beth (Kenney) Lamie
DATE: February 11, 2010
RE: Duxbury 4th of July Road Race
As Race Director for the Duxbury 4th of July Road Race for the past 4 years, I was surprised to learn upon return from a trip to Texas, that while I was away, the permit to organize the Duxbury 4th of July Road Race had been awarded to someone else. I learned of this turn events through a friend who had helped me with the road race in the past. She had been watching the Selectmen’s meeting on Monday, February 8th and saw a representative from the Duxbury Education Foundation presenting a request for a permit to host the race. She knew that I was in the beginning stages of planning this year’s race and had listed it on several race calendars, had paid for advertising and had chosen a charity to partner with for this year. She was very surprised to see another organization go before the Board of Selectmen and present the race as if it was a new idea, but not nearly as surprised as I was. My only indication that there was any interest on the part of DEF being involved with Duxbury 4th of July Road Race was a message on my answering machine that was left on February 4th from someone identifying herself as being with the DEF and saying that she wanted to talk to me about the Duxbury 4th of July Road Race. As I had been out of town, I didn’t receive the message until after the fact, but having 4 days notice of DEF’s plan wouldn’t have helped.
I believe a little history of the Duxbury 4th of July Road Race and my involvement with the race is in order. The Duxbury 4th of July Road Race was started by Steve and Andra Carlton (owners of FarFar’s Danish Ice Cream) nearly 30 years ago. It was originally a “fun run” – the race was free, and there were no t-shirts, no timing company and of course, no money given to charity. Three and a half years ago, the Carltons approached Tommy Meagher and me and asked us if we would like to get involved with the race. They could see their involvement coming to an end, and they were intrigued by the idea of this becoming an “official” race – one that would have electronic timing, would charge a fee, and would raise money for charity. A committee that included the Carltons, Tommy Meagher, Tommy’s daughter, Kim Dinapoli, and me met on several occasions to divide tasks to produce the race. Because I had several years of road race management experience, I took many of the administrative tasks, while Tommy (who works part time for a timing company) arranged for the timers, and the Carltons dealt with the police detail and arranging to use the school. Kim did much of the leg work and, along with her family, helped volunteer race day. We had chosen the Jett Foundation as our charity.
This arrangement worked very well, and during the second year we chose another Muscular Dystrophy Charity – The Parent Project. As the years went on, we decided to choose a different charity each year, since there are so many good causes. Last year we raised money for the Alzheimer’s Association, and this year we had partnered with Veteran Training – a company owned by Veterans whose mission is to train disabled veterans so they can compete in sports again.
Also, as the years went on and the race grew, we became more formal, and as the Carltons took a less active role in the race, the Dinapolis, Meaghers and I tried to step in to do the administrative work that becomes necessary as a fun run grows into a popular road race. With the help of our very supportive race sponsor, we added paid advertising and paid police details to our budget, which already included t-shirts, timing company, cash awards and medals. This year, instead of having the Duxbury 4th of July committee present us as part of the holiday events, we planned to go before the selectmen ourselves.
I suppose the casual nature of the race left us ripe for the picking, but never in my ten years of charity involvement and race directing have I ever heard of another organization coming in and taking over an existing race. I do not wish to be adversarial, but this really amounts to a coup. For months this group had been meeting with committees at Town Hall (according to their presentation at the Selectman’s Meeting), and the only notice I was given was a phone message left of my answering machine four days before they were to meet before the Board of Selectmen. I also don’t wish to pit the school children of Duxbury against the wounded vets in an argument about which charity is more deserving. My issue isn’t with the worthiness of DEF, rather it’s the merits on which this permit was granted.
Nearly 600 people ran in the Duxbury 4th of July Road Race last year and it couldn’t be a surprise to anyone who lives in Duxbury that there already is a longstanding tradition of a road race on the 4th. It must be very tempting for other charities to wish they could put on a race of that magnitude for their own benefit, and I am certainly grateful to the Carltons for starting this race in the first place and for trusting me to take it over. Staging road races as a way to raise money for a charity has exploded in the past few years, but it generally takes several years for a race to be established and to turn a profit. This is information I passed on to DEF a few years ago when I gave my time, at the request of past members of DEF, and taught them everything I knew about race management (Rule #1: check the road race calendars to make sure there is not an existing race on the same day in the area. This is common courtesy).
I am concerned about the precedent that this action sets and respectfully request time before the Selectmen’s meeting on February 22nd to state my case.
Most sincerely,
Beth (Kenney) Lamie
Beth A. Lamie