“Running To Stand Still” is a local running team of seven friends. The team is made up of Seth Jensen, Dan Davis, Brendan Kinney, Eric Langevin, Dylan McNamara, Jeff Weston and Derek Martisus.

They’ve been running together over the years and usually compete in the summer. Since races this summer have been canceled due to COVID-19 the team came up with an idea some might find crazy.

The group has decided to run from the border of Massachusetts all the way to the Canadian Border. The team will run following Route 7 through Vermont. While taking on this challenge, they will be raising awareness and funds for the Vermont Foodbank.

Every year, the group of seven competed in the 100 on 100 relay, a race from Stowe to Ludlow. They always finished in the top 5 of their age group and were typically the fastest team from the Green Mountain State. Even though the race was canceled, the guys still had August 14-16 booked on their calendars. After seeing the toll the Coronavirus was having on the entire community they wanted to do something about it.

“There’s so much out there that is so beyond what we can do. But, to really break it down and think how can I put an impact on the people around me and do some good. We came up with the idea of raising money for the food bank and doing something we love in a team atmosphere” said Seth Jensen.

Food Banks have been struggling throughout the pandemic. With so many unemployed the group wanted to help as much as they possibly can. The team created a donation page where you can donate to the foodbank directly. You can donate here. The community has come together and they’ve already raised 54% of their goal.

“It was heartbreaking for us to have our races canceled and to watch on the news the long lines of cars and the thousands of Vermonters waiting for food. It made sense to couple the two things together. We’re all relatively healthy and to help and give back it just felt right” said Langevin.

The crew of seven are running approximately 200 miles. They’ll be running Route 7 from the Massachusetts border to the Canadian Border. They’ll be passing through their hometown of Essex along the way.

“We’re not going to each just take 30 miles, we’re going to divide it into multiple legs and we plan on running anywhere from three to five miles and rotating. We’ll go one through seven and each of us run again. We anticipate that each of us will run 10 legs and a total of 30 miles on average” said McNamara.

The team will keep the community updated on their journey through an Instagram page. All seven runners will wear matching bright orange T-shirts to stay visible on the route.

Giving back to the Vermont Foodbank has a significant meaning to the group. “My family was food insecure growing up and we relied on Food Pantries pretty heavily. This is pretty special to be able to give especially this much money back to a cause like this. It’s really cool” said Dan Davis.

The “Running To Stand Still” team would love support from our Community. You can donate directly to the food bank here. To keep up with the team on their Instagram page follow here.

Local 22/44 will stay updated with the team during their 200 mile journey on August 14th.