Northeast Ohio 24-Hour (NEO24) VOLUNTEER Report

Everyone loves Larry Orwin. He's just that kind of huggable guy. This was the case before he began race directing the Northeast Ohio 24-Hour Run (NEO24) last year, and even more so now. This year's event was similar to last year's: an unqualified masterpiece. Larry did a superb job of ensuring this success. The runners were well taken care of, and they appreciated it immensely. I think Larry has a job for life.

There were some great and inspiring performances. Even though it was unseasonably hot once again this year, many of the runners did just fine despite that. There were several course records and numerous 100-mile finishers. Each runner had a story, and they were all worth hearing and knowing. One runner traveled from Mongolia just to participate.

I was happy to help. It wasn't too much during the year - only a few odds and ends to help Larry out. Two days before the race, Larry and I shopped for food items at Costco. On the day before the race, I helped load the truck. I worked at the Volunteer table most of the day on race day and night. I did get a short break to visit family at home and later for a 2 1/2 hour nighttime nap. Cleaning up, loading, and unloading the truck after the race was tough after the dearth of sleep. Luckily, we did have some help for that.

As much as I enjoyed helping out, watching the inspiring performances, and kibitzing with running friends, I asked Larry to not count on me for next year. Losing that sleep and all the lifting is tough for an old guy like me. Not only that, but we may have travel plans for this time of year in 2026. Next year's event is in good hands with Larry and (the rest of) his crew.

Troy Orwin (Larry's son), Dan, and Larry

To tell more of the NEO24 story, here is the email Larry sent to the runners:

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Don't cry  because it's over, smile because it happened 

Hello NEO 24/12 peeps,

We hope you are recovering well from our fun filled weekend together!

We've thanked all our fabulous volunteers and sponsors, so this email is aimed squarely at you and your crew. It's rather lengthy, so make yourself comfortable:

Thank you all for supporting our event in its second year! 

Our race committee worked super hard, incorporated feedback from last year and tried to put on a world class 24 and 12 hour event. 

The goal was to help you all go as far as you possibly could. Our apologies for the weather, as it is the one thing we cannot control. 

We thought moving the event out two weeks and into October would bring cooler temps than 2025, but that wasn't in the cards. 

The heat obviously affects running performance. Despite the heat we witnessed many astounding performances and you ALL SHOULD BE VERY PROUD of your accomplishments!

We hope you had fun, accomplished your goal(s), saw old friends, and maybe made some new friends.

Here is some of the data from the event, that we thought you might be interested in:

12 Hour Data (wasn't held in 2025)

• Number of runners: 26
• New Male course record: 69.72 mi - Isaac Barnes
• New Female course record: 51.79 mi - Alicia Belmont
• Oldest runner: 74 - Nica Shields
• Youngest runner: 35 - Jordan Houghton
• Average age: 52.5
• Total miles run by all runners: 1,051.8
• Average miles per runner = 40.4 mi
• Number of people who achieved 50 miles = 9

24 Hour Data

• Number of runners: 58
• New Male course record: 139.4 - Alec Cline
• New Female course record: 112.5 - Laurie Dymond
• Oldest runner: 83 - Michael Haviland
• Youngest runner: 26 - Joseph Brett
• Average age: 50.6
• Total miles run by all runners: 3,547.2
• Average miles per runner = 61.2 mi
• Number of people who achieved 50 miles = 41
• Number of people who achieved 100 miles = 11 
• Percent of runners who acquired 100 mile buckle = 19% 

There were so many cool stories behind each of our runners, but Batbold Ichinkhorloo from Mongolia really stands out. 

He had never been to America before, he and his wife travelled 6,300 miles to run our race and returned to Mongolia on Monday with his only

purpose to travel that far was to run the NEO24! Neither he nor his wife spoke any English. They would facetime with their daughter in Germany 

to translate since she speaks English as well as Mongolian. He texted me after the event, and using Google translate we could communicate.

He said "Great tournament, great country, great people". Read that over three times!

Maybe our world could be a little more united if we all ran together for 12 or 24 hours!

Batbold Ichinkhorloo and his wife with the Mongolian flag

We have most of our bills paid or at least accounted for and I'm really happy to share with you that we generated over $7500 of "profit" that will 

be dispersed as follows:

• 90% to Run to Share
• 10% to Friends of Breakthrough Schools
• $300 to Medina County Park system (for use of the beautiful park)

We thank you for leaving the park cleaner than when we found it and for cleaning up your campsites!

I started a Google photo album with all the photos I took and it can be viewed as well as added to here:2025NEO24 photos. Also, our fabulous race photographer: Stuart Siegfried will have

his official race photos posted on Facebook within the next week or so...keep an eye out for these beauties!

Our FB site has been active for all to see so I would encourage everyone to continue to post your pictures, race reports and comments. 

There were a few of you who weren't around to pick up your Awards - I will send out a separate email with instructions on how to do that later today.

Nothing is perfect, so we would love your feedback as that is the only way we can make the event even better in 2026. Please feel free to respond to this email if you

have actionable feedback for us.

Mark your calendars for October 3-4 , 2026 so that we can see you and maybe some of your running friends who haven't run our event before can experience everything that the NEO24 has to offer.

Thank you again, and recover well!

Sincerely,

Larry Orwin