About JTC Running  
                     

Founded in October 1975 as the Jacksonville Track Club, JTC Running is Northeast Florida's preeminent promoter of healthy lifestyles through running, fitness, and fellowship. JTC Running is the creator and operator of the Gate River Run, which since 1978 has been one of the leading road races in the country.  Its four different events encompass over 10,000 national and world class athletes, fitness runners, wheelchair athletes, walkers, and children.

JTC Running also conducts:
--  the Summer Beach Run, Florida's oldest race, in August; 
-- the often-grueling Winter Beach Run 10-miler and 5-mile companion event;
-- the Last Gasp cross-country race in December;
-- the Ginger Fannin Couples Relay, a benefit for Community Hospice of Northeast Florida;
-- the Caring and Sharing Hope 5 km, a benefit for RITA - a local breast cancer research foundation;
-- the Guana River 50 km Trail Run;
-- the Ravines Cross-Country Race;
-- the Fat Tuesday Two Miler, a benefit for the Gulf Coast Habitat for Humanity;
-- and a series of six free or nominally priced track meets for competitors of all ages and abilities
in the spring and summer.

As a long time member of USA Track & Field (USATF) and the Road Runners Club of
America (RRCA), JTC Running keeps involved in the national running scene and has hosted
national championship events for both organizations.  We hosted the 1982 RRCA
Annual Convention and assisted at the 2005 USATF Annual Meeting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

But JTC Running is more than races and conventions. It is a social club, with several annual gala events in addition to parties after most of its races.
  The annual Awards Banquet in late spring, honoring leading JTC runners and volunteers as well as noteworthy high school/college athletes and coaches, is very reasonably priced for JTC members and guests.
  Every summer, JTC members gather at Wolfson Park for a picnic before a Jacksonville Suns
baseball game. Tickets to the picnic and ballgame are discounted 30 to 50 percent for club
members and guests.  
  The JTC family picnic each Fall, provides a fun-filled afternoon for members, families,
and guests. 
  Social functions and running are combined in the chartered JTC bus trip to the
Paul deBruyn race in Ormond Beach in November. 

As a promoter of the next generations of runners, JTC Running supports high school track and
cross-country programs and awards scholarships that enable several high school athletes
to attend running camp each summer.   The Adidas Junior River Run training program
encourages youngsters to run 8 miles in the weeks leading up to the day of the Gate River Run
and culminates with a 1.3-mile loop around Alltel Stadium.  

In another community service effort, JTC Running frequently collects used running shoes which are
donated to local homeless shelters.