Honoring Sept. 11: Old Town Run Club's 485-Mile Relay Visits F.C.'s Dogwood Tavern

By Orrin Konheim,

City of Falls Church, Sept. 6 – At half past seven in the evening, everyone near the 100^th block of W. Broad Street was greeted with the site of police escorting a dozen approaching runners carrying U.S. and a 9/11 commemorative flags, accompanied by Mayor Letty Hardi who joined the runners for part of their relay.

Most of the diners at the Dogwood Tavern’s rooftop bar – surrounded by a sea of sweaty patrons in running gear – assume this is the end of their long run. Unbeknownst to most spectators, however, this is just the second day of a 5-day journey from Shanksville, Pa. to Manhattan’s Ground Zero via the Pentagon to raise money for the Tunnels to Tower Foundation (TTF) by Alexandria’s Old Town Run Club (OTRC).

By the time this journey's over, many of the runners in this approximately 20-person group will have run 5 straight days along a 485-mile relay.

The idea was hatched three years ago by Old Town Run Club organizer Onofrio "Ono" Margioni along with club member Eric Danesi who has organized a number of fun runs including the quirky Beer Olympics run commemorating Saint Patrick’s Day.

Margioni is an active-duty U.S. Navy Captain who was serving as a reservist in New York City when the World Trade Towers were struck in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Danesi, a military contractor, felt it was important to have a more public-facing event in Northern Virginia to give people an opportunity to experience the running of the flags honoring the victims of 9/11, wounded veterans, and the first responders on that day and beyond.

The first run in 2024 had approximately 45 runners in rotating shifts. Today, the rally has grown to approximately 70 runners. The operation is limited by logistics but grows “by raising awareness with the various communities we've worked with. Press helps, as does reminding people of the sacrifices made," Ono told us.

The event is designed to raise money for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation which primarily assists injured veterans and first responders and their families with mortgage-free homes. Through their personal fundraising page, the group has already reached their $20,000 goal and, as of press time, are continuing to raise funds.

There's also another objective to this relay that TTF can’t necessarily achieve from their office in Staten Island: To get the word out about the Tunnel to Towers foundation to communities outside of New York where much of the post-9/11 attention is centered.

One of the OTRC runners is Jessica Sprecht who has started her own similarly-aligned run club in Charleston, South Carolina. She posted on Eric’s Facebook wall, “For over a decade, I struggled to find a meaningful way to memorialize my friend Gilly who succumbed to his injuries in 2014 after serving as a Marine Sniper in Afghanistan. Last year, I found a way…. thanks to Onofrio Margioni and Eric Danesi with Old Town Run Club, Alexandria VA…. I am not exaggerating when I say the experience changed my life. I am grateful for the opportunity to do it again next month.”

“What people like Jessica have done is exactly what we’re trying to see accomplished," Margioni said. "We want to bring visibility for this cause all over the country and spread it to the areas we cover with our runs. To raise appreciation for our first responders and our injured veterans in the present.”

With stronger sponsorship and better logistical planning, the Old Town Run Club has also eliminated costs on the back end to make the 9/11 run more cost-efficient. The first year, the relay cost approximately $25,000, but is now approximately $10,000 less expensive, allowing more to go to charity. In the past three years, the group has restructured their entire running calendar so that all the funds from their races go towards this charitable budget.

This is also possible because the OTRC is full of enthusiastic runners. “We’re doing this to bring attention, respect the memories, and because we love running,” says OTRC member Nadia Ramos. “We are all friends. It’s a tight-knit community.”

With 36 years of running experience behind him including a stint in the New York Athletic Club, Margioni does his best to form an environment where novices, returning runners, and more advanced runners get the help they need. He makes sure to point out that he's not the only person with the experience to help advise. According to Margioni, the closeness comes from the group spending so much time together. They run several days a week and have a number of inventive running events throughout the year.

The Old Town Run Club can be found at oldtownrunclub.org. They'll be arriving at Ground Zero on September 11th and will walk the last mile of their journey. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation can be found at https://t2t.org. Since 9/11, Tunnel to Towers has been supporting America's first responders and military heroes. Do good and help America to Never Forget 9/11 and the sacrifices of its heroes.

Orrin Konheim is a freelance journalist who contributed professional bylines to over 40 publications in his heyday with beats in traffic, entertainment, culture, and track and field. He contributes the occasional article these days and writes to encourage the concept of paid journalism. He also accepts donations and subscribers for his written work at http://www.patreon.com/okjournalist.