Among the many heartfelt tributes to Sept. 11 this year, one monumental gesture touched hundreds of communities across the country and countless people in two nations who followed it on the Internet and in the news: the Tour of Duty Run.
Comprising 36 firefighters and other first responders from the United States and Australia, the Tour of Duty crossed the United States–from Santa Monica, Calif., to Ground Zero–in tribute to the people who died in the Sept. 11 attacks and in honor of the responders who gave their lives.
The Route
The Tour of Duty Run started at the Santa Monica Pier on Aug. 12, and after logging in more than 4,600 miles, the runners arrived at the site of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. Each day of the run was dedicated to a group of the first responders who perished, so that every one of the 411 was honored along the way. In addition, each mile-and-a-half was dedicated to one of the 2,973 people who died in the attacks.
The run had scheduled stops at some meaningful sites along the way, including the Murrah Building Memorial in Oklahoma City, the United Flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, Pa., the Fallen Firefighter’s Memorial in Emmitsburg, Md., and the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Va.
Fire and law enforcement departments and communities along the route cheered on the runners and often hosted meals and events. “It was inspiring to see communities turn out for us in small, medium and large towns,” says runner Jeff Buchanan, a fire captain with North Las Vegas (Nev.) Fire Department (NLVFD). “I was especially inspired by the reception we’d get in the smaller towns–I’m talking one stoplight. We’d go through at 2 or 3 in the morning, and we’d see most of the town out cheering and waving flags.”
The Runners
Sixteen of the 36 runners are firefighters from down under. “The original idea actually came from Australia,” explains Kevin Brame, the tour’s USA event coordinator and deputy chief at the NLVFD. “The Melbourne Fire Brigade Running Club came up with the idea of running across America in memory of the firefighters who died on 9/11.” Paul Ritchie of the Melbourne Fire Brigade, who eventually became the Australian event coordinator as well as a Tour runner, contacted Brame with the idea.
“In Australia, they recruited at least one runner from each of Australia’s territories by networking through the running club,” Brame says. Meanwhile, back in the United States, Brame wasn’t having as much luck with recruiting runners outside his own department–10 members of the department signed up. “But a group of Australians came over for FDIC and managed to recruit some runners there,” he says. “They enlisted firefighters from New York, Chicago and New Orleans, as well as someone from the Port Authority [Police Department].”
For the Tour of Duty, the runners divided into Red, White and Blue groups, and each group ran for 6 hours in a relay format, then enjoyed a 12-hour break. “Each group was responsible for its own caretaking to a certain degree,” Brame says. “Each had two motor homes, and group members did the driving and maintenance (like fueling).” A crew of four to eight support staff accompanied the runners.
“It was the most physically challenging thing I’ve done,” Buchanan says. “The recuperation time you need just wasn’t there–and there was a lot of sleep deprivation. On the other hand, it was so rewarding. We were running on fumes, but because we were all running in tribute to the fallen heroes from 9/11, you never would have known it. Everyone remained energized and enthusiastic.”
Bradley Iverson, another runner and a firefighter with the NLVFD, says, “We really tried to make it a memorial run. We dedicated each leg of the run to an individual [responder who died on Sept. 11]. We had a captain from FDNY in our group who spent 9 months at Ground Zero, and he knew some of these people really well, and would tell us something about them. That would make that mile magical.”
Planning & Support
Ritchie and Brame started planning the run in April 2009. “A lot of effort went into planning,” Brame recalls. The bi-national planning effort included fundraising, communications and general logistics, including obtaining permits to run on highways across the country.
Fundraising was done with the help of big-name patrons: entertainer Jerry Lewis in the United States, and John Howard, the former prime minister of Australia. “This was supposed to have been a fundraiser, but the reality is that we’ve barely covered the operational expenses,” Brame admits. “We did receive some very gracious in-kind donations that made the whole thing possible: Jayco donated $25,000 and seven brand new motor homes; Pierce built us a brand new engine for the tour that traveled with the team and was the safety unit, driving behind the runner to protect them from traffic. They also ‘donated’ drivers for the rig across the country. Panasonic gave us 12 laptops and air cards for communications and mapping, and Verizon donated cell phones. Sam’s Club donated food and water. All of this is not to minimize what people across the country did, from donating money to serving meals.”
Even with thorough advanced planning, Brame says, “There were a lot of things that needed to be done along the way. You can plan the route using Google maps or Map myrun.com, but what looks good on the map may not be there at all. We ran into roads being closed, construction, etc. It became a daily and sometimes hourly process of modifying plans and moving things along.”
Throughout the Tour, Brame and several of his NLVFD coworkers handled support from their home base. “We were working on a hybrid of plans and logistics in a modified incident command system,” he explains.
Arriving at Ground Zero
The Tour of Duty crossed the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan at about 2 a.m. on Sept. 11. After running as a group through Manhattan, they were greeted by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano.
The early morning run ended in Brooklyn, and at 5 a.m., the FDNY Pipes and Drums led a procession across the Brooklyn Bridge and to a welcoming ceremony at Battery Park. After a group breakfast at Suspenders, a pub owned by a retired FDNY firefighter, the Tour runners split up and spent the day visiting various FDNY firehouses and resting.
That evening, they met again for the FDNY’s annual, unsanctioned Sept. 11 ceremony. The runners were asked to form a circle, as the Pipes and Drums played for them; speeches were made, and awards were given.
Iverson recalls, “The culmination was that night after the memorial event at Fire House 10, when we went to the construction site. They lit up the memorial lights and we were able to walk out beyond where anyone else is allowed. There was this crazy swell of emotion, the feeling that we’d really done something good, that we’d remembered these people. And we did it as a team–it was a team, a body of people moving across the country.”
Final Thoughts
You can still donate to the Tour of Duty Run through its website, www.tourofduty.com.au. Once the costs of the event are covered, all U.S. donations will be split among six charities, including the Tribute WTC Visitor Center and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. Australian donations go to the Australian Burns Units. Visit www.tourofduty.com.au for more information and to see photos and videos of the event.
