The race is a three mile cross-country race on the Rockland County championship course at Bear Mountain State Park in New York. Traditionally contested by alumni of Rockland County high schools, and those in the surrounding area, it is open to anyone of high school-graduation age.
Race date: Saturday after Thanksgiving
Time: Noon
Distance: 3.0 miles
In the beginning...
Jamie Kempton (AM '76) provides the story of the Alumni Run's humble beginnings:
"This race was definitely was the brainchild of Tom Doherty. Albertus Magnus had launched an Alumni Track Meet back in 1974, in which we invited athletes from other schools to compete as well. (That meet continued until about 1988, although some years it was not held due to lack of interest.) If memory serves, Tom thought it would be a great idea if we staged a cross country run for Rockland alumni. His thinking, I believe, was that cross country in Rockland was very close-knit, and a cross country race would be fairly simple to organize. The Saturday after Thanksgiving was chosen because A) it was still cross country season, and B) it was the time most likely to draw a large gathering, as college runners would be home on Thanksgiving break and those who had moved out of the area might be back in the county visiting family and friends. Of course, Bear Mountain was the obvious choice for a location since it has been Rockland's "home" course since at least the early 1960s. Tom spread the word about the race through the local track/XC community and got enough positive feedback to give it a go. Not sure why he chose high noon, other than the fact that he didn't want to make it too early in the day, in case people had stayed out late on Friday night (we were all a lot younger back then!)."
That inaugural race was contested in a blizzard at Bear Mountain. You can read more about the 1983 race
here.
I have provided a short commentary to accompany each race's page in the
Results section, to add a bit of historical perspective.
For even more historical perspective (too much perspective!) check out my
Top Ten Alumni Teams Ever section--a semi-scientific ranking of the greatest teams in Alumni race history.
