Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) Relay

SOME NOTES TO RUNNERS:

1. The NUMBER of teams will likely be capped to 3, 8 runners per team.
2. Team size may be adjusted to accommodate.
3. We may attempt to re-balance teams in order to keep it somewhat competitive and to keep the teams closer together for safety purposes. If that's necessary, it will be based mostly off expected paces, and we will work with teams to do our best to make everyone happy.
4. Rules may be adjusted/changed at any time to if deemed necessary by organizers.

We'll be starting in Cumberland, working our way to Pittsburgh. This will mean a very early morning drive for the ones starting the race. It'll be up to teams to decide on how they want to manage that; one large vehicle/van for the whole team, or splitting up into separate vehicles, with part/half the team starting earlier and the rest joining up/swapping out later.

Originally launched in 2018 by the local race organization P3R, the official GAP Relay was a premier, multi-day adventure race that captured the grit and beauty of the region's running community. The flagship event challenged teams of four to eight runners to conquer the entire 150-mile length of the Great Allegheny Passage, stretching day and night from Cumberland, Maryland, all the way to Pittsburgh's South Side Riverfront Park. With over 90% of the course traversing unpaved crushed limestone, it was a massive logistical feat that relied on continuous transitions, team support vans, and headlights to guide runners through mountain tunnels, over historic viaducts, and beneath spectacular fall foliage.

The beloved in-person event held its final formal iteration in the autumn of 2022, having raised over $100,000 for the Great Allegheny Passage Conservancy to support trail maintenance. Managing a continuous, 150-mile point-to-point race overnight across two states and multiple municipal jurisdictions presented enormous logistical, permitting, and organizational hurdles. In 2023, organizers pivoted the event to a month-long virtual fitness challenge, ultimately leaving a significant void for teams who missed the shared camaraderie, sleep deprivation, and intense physical triumph of the original point-to-point relay.

This year's race marks a small, community-driven, and completely unofficial attempt to revive that classic relay spirit. Operating without major corporate sponsorship or formal road closures, it is a low-key, grassroots gathering of passionate runners looking to pay homage to the original route. It is a return to the basics: a few dedicated teams, shared support vehicles, and 150 miles of trail stretching toward Pittsburgh, proving that the collective will to run together through the night is still very much alive on the GAP.