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The Gumpathon
6 Men, 2 months and 3530 miles across America
On September 10th 2010, six very special men from three of the world’s finest fighting forces started to run coast to coast across America to raise funds for injured service men and women on both sides of the Atlantic. During their journey the team ran across 16 States, 4 time zones and completed approximately 20 miles a day each, for 8 weeks. What makes this an even more significant achievement is that one of the team is a triple amputee.
The Gumpathon raised money for three service charities. In the UK - The Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund and Help for Heroes and in the US, the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. In completing the challenge, the team also become the first in which US and British forces have united to raise funds for such a cause.
This epic challenge was the brain-child of Colour Sergeant Damian Todd, Royal Marines who, after watching the film Forrest Gump in 1994, thought that running across America seemed like an interesting idea!!! After ten years of thinking about it, in 2007 Damian found a reason to put his plan into action when a close friend Mark Ormrod was left with serious permanent disability following his tour in Afghanistan. Mark became the first triple amputee of the war in Afghanistan and has recently published a book about his experiences, ‘Man Down’. Mark ran alongside the team despite his injuries.
The run started on September 10 2010, in New York City and finished on November 11 on Santa Monica Pier, just like the film. The following statistics relate to their journey
Facts and Figures
- Ran 3,530 miles; on average 20 miles each per day
- Completed the equivalent of 34 marathons each
- Crossed four time zones – Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific
- Ran through 16 states – New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California
- Ran through a total of 789 towns and cities
- Climbed ten mountain ranges – Blue Ridge, the Appalachians, the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, Allehegny, the Cumberland Mountains, the Rockies, San Bernadino and the San Gabriel Mountains
- Crossed three deserts - Nevada, Arizona & Mojave
- Got through 24 pairs of trainers (each pair lasting approx. 500miles)
- Faced minimum temperatures of 32F/0C and maximum temperatures of 120F/50C
- Completed their longest day on Day 35 with 85.42 miles between Cordell and Sweetwater, Oklahoma
- Climbed to a highest point of 7,527ft on Day 49 at the Grand Canyon
The route map is shown below: 
GKN were one of the ‘Business Sponsors’ for the event and contributed £2000 to the funds. In addition to this financial input, the following GKN plants hosted the Gumpathon Team, raised further funds and ensured the team were ‘fed and watered’ before continuing the run:
- GKN Hoeganaes, Cinnaminson, NJ
- GKN Hoeganaes, Gallatin, TN
- GKN Aerospace Engineering, Nashville, TN
- GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems (ATS), Garden Grove, CA
The following are summaries and photographs from the sites involved as well as GKN Rockford, who held their own Gumpathon BBQ and raised over $600!!!!!
On Saturday, September 11, 2010, GKN Hoeganaes, Cinnaminson, NJ hosted a dinner for the Gumpathon Group at the Collingdale, Pennsylvania Municipal Complex. Local residents, township officials and GKN Hoeganaes employees greeted the group. After a meet and greet and a hearty dinner, the group was presented with GKN Hoeganaes shirts and other souvenirs. It was a special day for all those in attendance to witness the strength and determination of this team of fine young men and women. We thanked them for their courage and wished them well on their journey through America.
Hoeganaes, Gallatin, TN and GKN Aerospace Engineering, Nashville, TN provided meals and met with the Gumpathon Team on September 30 at their campground near Nashville. We presented a check for $500 to the cause and really enjoyed meeting and getting to know the group. They seemed to enjoy the day off and time spent in the Nashville area!!!!
Staff at GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems (ATS) in Garden Grove, CA donated over $1500 to the Gumpathon coast to coast run in aid of charities supporting wounded servicemen in the US and UK. On Monday 8th November, Tony Salerno, General Manager and Larry Valenti, Director of
Human Resources at GKN ATS met with the six US and British Marines from the Gumpathon run at Big Bear Lake to present the check.
The team at the GKN Aerospace, Garden Grove facility sold Gumpathon bracelets to commemorate the event raising $750 which was matched-funded by a donation from GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems. Tony Salernocommented: “Because we are involved every day in creating equipment that helps protect serving men and women, our entire team feels a strong connection with them and wanted to contribute to efforts to ensure those that are wounded have the best support possible over the long term. It is a real honour and an absolute pleasure to give this $1500 check to this incredible group of American and British men and women.”
Photographs from each of the ‘hosted events’ are shown in the folders below:
| Site |
Link |
| GKN Hoeganaes, Cinnaminson, NJ |
Slideshow |
| GKN Hoeganaes, Gallatin, TN |
Slideshow |
| GKN Aerospace Engineering, Nashville, TN |
Slideshow |
| GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems (ATS), Garden Grove, CA |
Slideshow |
| Rockford |
Slideshow |
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