Runners turn out as Relay for America passes Lafayette and Purdue, heading to D.C.
Cross-country, flag-bearing tour cut through Greater Lafayette Monday, on Day 15 of a 20-day route aimed for Washington, D.C., in time for July Fourth and America's 250th birthday.
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RUNNERS TURN OUT AS CROSS-COUNTRY RELAY FOR AMERICA HEADS TO D.C.
A U.S. flag that started in San Francisco a little over two weeks ago, aiming to get to Washington, D.C., in time for July Fourth, didn’t stop moving through Tippecanoe County Monday morning, even as runners in the cross-country took an hourlong, unscheduled detour into downtown Lafayette and through the heart of Purdue in West Lafayette.
Runners committing roughly 12-mile stretches, averaging 9:30 a mile, geared up at checkpoints early Monday to take turns carrying the flag for local segments on Day 15 of Relay for America.
Keegan Katz, a junior studying mechanical engineering at Purdue, was among a dozen or more people gathered at dip in the pavement at County Road 510 South, about a mile west of West Point, to pick up a run that hadn’t stopped since June 14.
There, church vans and family vehicles waiting for runners who had started the 187th of 250 segments between Williamsport and Attica several hours earlier mingled with fresh runners ready to pick up segment 188.
“I didn’t know anyone until we got here – now all my new best friends,” Katz, who learned about the Relay by following social media from Wyatt Moss, one of the Relay organizers, said. “I saw that he was putting on this event, and it was just a great opportunity to come out and run with the community and join a big movement. I just thought it would be really fun and really cool.”
A few miles away, standing in a parking lot outside Fred’s Mini-Mart in Shadeland, more than 2,300 miles into a 3,016-mile relay, Lauren Williams – one 17 people shepherding the event across the country – said the run started in San Francisco by picking off segments with one or maybe handful of runners showing up.
“The overarching mission was to unite Americans one mile at a time,” Williams said, as the crew that started near West Point passed with the flag along Indiana 25, heading for Lafayette.
“Movement is the one thing that has always brought people together and created community,” Williams said. “And regardless of your political beliefs or what you think of the state of America right now, the one thing you can do is move together. … The way that we are living that out is by carrying the U.S. flag all the way.”
The Relay for America was an idea from cofounders Wyatt Moss and Joe Nail, a pair of runners who met in 2024 while attempting to complete 50 marathons in 50 states in less than a year. In one of those marathons, according to the Relay’s backstory, Nail ran with a U.S. flag. As the nation’s 250th anniversary approached in 2026, Nail and Moss decided to expand that to a cross-country run that would invite runners to join along the way. (According to the Relay’s press, the flag Nail bought from a Tractor Supply in Texas for his first flag-bearing marathon is the same one tracing the 15 states in three weeks this time.)
“Our mission is that the flag never stops, not once, not one second,” Williams said.
She said the organizing team rotates 12-hour shifts through the day and night. Williams said that as word spread on social media about the Relay for America, more runners signed up and turned out to do one of the 250 segments by the time the run reached Utah – “then heading into Boulder, Colorado, we really saw a lot of traction there.” A turn through Sabetha, Kansas, a town of 2,500 near the Nebraska border, brought out more than 100 runners, she said.
“It really does spiral into this huge operation,” Williams said.
“We strategically wanted to go through a lot of small towns instead of big city areas, because we wanted to display what America has to offer,” Williams said. “I’ve had the pleasure of getting to meet just so many amazing locals who have so much pride for America, so much love for the country, so much love for their independence and their rights. That’s just been absolutely beautiful to experience and share with these communities. They’ve really put on a show for us.”
Sgt. Heath Colbourne, a U.S. Army recruiter in Lafayette, said he’d come to West Point for the Relay Monday morning with other military branch recruiters from the region. He’d come thinking the shift would be a series of one-mile intervals, rather than something closer to a half-marathon.
“My surprise,” Colbourne said, laughing.
So, after running the first mile, he was stationed at a county road intersection along Indiana 25 South, between West Point and Shadeland, with water for the rest of his crew, before he rejoined the run.
“Being here, it feels like a great honor,” Colbourne said. “I’m here because I love to run. But with the flag and everything around this event, it’s just a great honor to be a small part of it.”
For more
For a map of the Relay for America, go to www.relayforamerica.org/route. The Relay also has a crowdfunding page here: www.gofundme.com/f/relayforamerica.
Thanks, again, for ongoing support from Based in Lafayette sponsor Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Lafayette. For tickets and details on all the shows and events, go to longpac.org.
Thanks also for support from Purdue Convocations, presenting Shucked, Riverdance 30, KODO, Clue, Black Panther in Concert, The Wiz, and more! Single-show tickets are now available. Grab your favorite show today or create your own season package and save 10% with a PICK5 subscription! View the full season of dance, theater, music, and ideas, and BUY TICKETS today!
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