The Crowd waits at Schoen Place on the Erie Canal in Pittsford, New York, to greet the team.

RMC AND "FREQUENT FLYERS" CREATE MEMORABLE EVENT

The following story about the Erie Canal Relay was written for the Prism by Gary Fallesen, staff writer for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and a member of the Canal Run Relay team. We appreciate Gary's sharing with us his eyewitness account.

I met Pete Dobrovitz at the Highland Diner in May well aware that there are no free lunches. I was prepared to be pitched a story. I was not prepared for the type of story that was tossed my way by the executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Some of the crowd have a special interest in the runners and bikers

I was introduced to Mike Coyner, president and COO of Rochester Midland, and quickly learned that Coyner was a distance runner who raced annually with a Chicago-based relay team known as the Frequent Flyers. I also found out how far he was willing to go for charity.

Relay team members Dirk Dunbar and Kathy Calkins show the map of the route along the Canal.

After learning about the Erie Canal Relay - the first end-to-end run of the 175-year-old canal and the brainstorm of Coyner - I was invited to be a part of the story. I was asked to be on the six-person bike team that would escort the 18 runners on their historic 320-mile, round-the-clock jog. I accepted.

As the summer passed, I met the 11 Rochester Midland participants and witnessed their dedication to this event - not only in training, but also in raising money for and awareness about a great cause. Coyner, Brad and Kathy Calkins, Dirk Dunbar, Steve Enes, Kevin McCormick, Sherman McDonald, Glenn Paynter, Mary Stamp, Ellen Stofko and Paul Wildenberg were joined by eight veteran Flyers and four rookie Flyers from Ohio. Together, they raised more than $30,000 for Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Captain Mike Coyner with Chief Logistics Support Person, Rose Venti.

This group of two dozen piled into four vans on Sept. 27 and drove to the Albany suburb of Waterport for a 1 a.m. Sept. 28 start to the relay. Kathy Calkins began the run with bikers Paynter and Enes and a police escort. The bikers carried a water bottle, filled at the start from the Hudson River, that had written on it the names of all the Little Brothers and Little Sisters in the Greater Rochester program.

Relay runner Paul Wildenberg arriving at Schoen Place with Chet Walker, from WHAM Radio in Rochester, who accompanied Paul on the last mile of this leg.

Fifty-seven hours later, at 10 a.m. Sept. 30, Paynter and a Little Brother named Jason dumped the water into the Niagara River at Niagara Falls. The 18 runners completed the relay - healthy and happy and blessed by good weather - having each run four legs of about five miles at a time. They ran at odd hours. They ran on roadways and on the Erie Canalway Trail. They ran through villages and cities.

In the case of Stamp and Chicagoan Nick Rende, they ran in spite of injuries. They ran to the sound of bikers singing and under shooting stars. They ran for the love of doing something different and something good.

More than four months after I first met with Dobrovitz and Coyner, I was treated to another free lunch. I ate with 23 people who teamed up to make a memorable story.