The Mass Dash is a relay race of approximately 200 miles.  So you’ll need to put together a team of runners in order to do it.  Your team can have as few as 2 or as many as 12 runners--- a “standard” team will have 12 runners.  They can be friends, they can be lovers; they can be family members, they can be co-workers.  They can be hard-core or beginners; they can be fast, and they can be not so fast.  It doesn’t really matter, as long as they are all excited to spend a fabulous summer weekend with each other and hundreds more, taking turns running along a truly beautiful course from the Berkshires to Boston Harbor, and learning about themselves and raising awareness of and funds for the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and our collective fight against cancer.  

The Mass Dash is comprised of 36 relay legs, each ranging from 3 to 9 miles in distance, of varying elevation and through all kinds of places.  On a standard team of 12 runners, each runner will generally run three legs.  However, unlike most other relay races, in the Mass Dash, your team decides how many legs each runner runs -- it's up to your team.  Beginning shortly after sunrise and continuing through Saturday morning, the teams will start the race in staggered “waves” based on their estimated team “race paces” (the faster your team’s estimated race pace, the later in the morning your team will start).  Your team’s first runner will fly from the start with a group of runners.  You and your teammates will heartily cheer her on, and then all jump in your team vans--- we recommend two 12-passenger vans, with six runners and all their gear in each van--- and drive to the first “runner transition”.  At this runner transition, your team’s second runner leaves the tranquility (yeah, right) of the first team van (the “on” van), and awaits the arrival of his speeding teammate.  An exchange of the team’s race baton is made, and your team’s second runner takes off like a shot, flying to the summit of Mount Greylock.  Your team’s first runner exalts, high-fives and hugs are exchanged all around, and your team vans continue to the next runner transition.

This sequence continues for your team, without stop, day into night and back into day again, until your team finishes the race sometime on Sunday, overlooking Boston Harbor.  Typically, each team’s runners will take turns racing from each runner transition to the next, until all runners on your team have run a relay leg.  And then the first runner will run again, and this sequence will repeat.  Here again, the Mass Dash differes from most other relay races.  In the Mass Dash, your team's runners run in any order your team decides.  For standard teams of 12 runners, at the conclusion of every sixth relay leg, the “on” van will make an “exchange” and the runners in the other van (the “off” van) will take over, so to speak.  Thus, the off van has now become the on van, and the on van is now off.  The runners in the off van can tag along and cheer on the runners in the on van, they can hang out, or they can drive to the next van exchange and “rest” up.  When night falls, your team will still be running--- the only difference is that your runner is now wearing a reflective vest and carrying a flashlight or wearing a headlamp.  Talk about setting the mood.    

Of course, there’s more to a relay race than just running.  You’ll also need to rest along the way.  And there are plenty of great places along the Mass Dash for this.  Take in the views at the summit of Mount Greylock.  Go for a swim at North Pond in the Savoy Mountain Forest, along the Deerfield River at Zoar, or in the glacial “potholes” below the Shelburne Falls.  Pitch your sleeping bag at the bonfire and listen to a little music at UMASS-Amherst for the overnight.  And you’ll need to find time to eat--- there are some great little places to stop into when your van is off.  We’ll provide you a list of our favorites before the race.  And if that’s not enough, we’re making arrangements for a barbeque on Saturday evening and breakfast on Sunday morning at the exchanges after race legs 12 and 24.  And, of course, there’s music and a big New England clambake at the finish at Boston Harbor!

But of course, there’s still the running.  No question that the Mass Dash will be a lot of fun.  It is also a challenging race, and we know that you and your team are up to the challenge.  You’ll run to the summit of Mount Greylock and through the Savoy Mountain Forest.  You’ll run along the Deerfield River and by the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls.  You’ll run across the Connecticut River at the foot of Mount Sugarloaf at sunset, and atop the Winsor Dam at the Quabbin Reservoir in the moonlight.  You’ll race along Marathon Way in Hopkinton, and then through the colonial towns of Sherborn and Wellesley.  You’ll run though the Arnold Arboretum and Franklin Park, and finish the Mass Dash in the shadow of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, overlooking Boston Harbor. 

The experience will leave you absolutely breathless--- in more ways than you can imagine!  And we hope that you’ll be a part of the Mass Dash…