The Great American 5000 is a virtual team run from San Francisco to New York City—and everywhere in between! Assemble your crew of up to 12 or 24 people, accumulate mileage, and chip away at the 5,000k (3,107-mile) journey. An online map will track each team’s virtual progress across the country and a leaderboard will display the standings in real time, with groups in open, female, and co-ed divisions.
Your team has until June 30 to complete the 5,000k trek—that’s as few as 33.4 miles per day for your team (1.4 for each individual)! Run, walk, hike—it can all count towards your team's mileage.
You can even make your achievement mean more by donating and helping raise funds for Feeding America, our official Race Charity.
The Great American 5000 officially kicks-off on Saturday, April 10. Updated for 2021, teams are no longer limited to a cumulative 24 hours of activity each day. Multiple team members can run at the same time.
You must track your run using one of the many GPS-enabled tracking systems (e.g., Strava, Map My Run, Garmin, Wahoo, etc.). From there you will upload your tracked run into the event’s site which will update the leaderboard and move your team’s dot across the course map. Manual entries without GPS will be permitted but are not encouraged for the sake of running validation. Details about inputting daily activity results can be found here.
The first team in each division to reach the finish line in NYC will win. Teams have until June 30 to complete the 5,000k trek. A team starting on April 10 can accumulate as few as 33.4 miles per day in order to finish by the last day on June 30.
You must join a team, but you can compete as a team of one or with up to 24 of your closest friends. Then you register as individuals. You should assign one team captain to set-up your team & then they will be able to share the team name & password (optional) for others to register & join. You will also be able to search for a team during registration & choose to join the team then. For more information, visit our Team Captain Info page.
Team Sizes:
Team Type
Registration closes on April 30 at 11:59 p.m. Entries are non-refundable, non-transferable (to another person and/or Sports Backers event), and cannot be deferred to another year.
Participant Items will be mail after registration closes. More details to come.
Feeding America's mission is to feed America's hungry through a nationwide network of food banks & engage the US in the fight to end hunger. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment has soared & food insecurity is on the rise. Food banks are seeing an increased demand, about 60% more than the same time last year. They estimate as a result of the pandemic:
$1 can help provide at least 10 meals to kids, families, & individuals facing hunger.
Feeding America Website Donate Become a FundraiserEach team member must track their run/walk/hike using one of the many GPS-enabled tracking systems (e.g., Strava, Map My Run, Garmin, Wahoo). From there they will each upload their tracked ride into the event’s site which will update the leaderboard and move your team’s dot across the course map. Manual entries without GPS will be permitted but are not encouraged for the sake of validation.
Specific details about inputting activities will be distributed via email to event registrants in advance of the event start on April 10.
Official leaderboard/map information to come
Submit Mileage
The Great American 5000 begins at the Golden Gate Bridge on the Pacific Coast in San Francisco and traverses 12 states on its 3,107-mile trek across the U.S., ending on the Atlantic Coast at the Empire State Building in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Along the way, you’ll pass man made structures like “The Bean” (Cloud Gate) in Chicago, run through national parks and more state parks than we can count, and see roadside attractions and oddities that are pure Americana!
Throughout your team’s journey, our team of experienced race organizers will be with your every step of the way! We’ll set up ways for you to stay connected with your team and highlight noteworthy portions of the virtual route you are completing.
Course Course Hightlights Course WebsiteThe only thing better than the Great American 5000 experience is sharing it with friends & family! Invite others to join you on your journey and earn the following rewards:
Let’s Go, RVA! Sports Backers' mission is to inspire active living in all corners of our community. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit org dedicated to advocating for safe & accessible bike & pedestrian infrastructure, offer free fitness classes, support run clubs during non-pandemic times at area schools, & develop fun, new participatory events for our entire community.
Now, more than ever, our community needs to be physically active. Due to COVID-19, we had to stop all in-person events & cancel all in-person programming in the Spring 2020. Since then, we have reimaged our events & programs bringing virtual & social distancing options to our region.
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