Remember and run: Andrew’s Top Gun Run is this weekend
Andrew’s Top Gun Run, the annual 5k at the Grumman runway in Calverton, returns on what would have been Andrew McMorris’s 19th birthday, Saturday, March 29. The 12-year-old Boy Scout was hit by a drunk driver while hiking with his troop in Manorville in 2018.
“We started out doing walks, and then we moved into a 5k so we can really celebrate Andrew’s spirit, because he did cross country, and we moved it to the runways in Grumman because he wanted to be a pilot, and he used to ride his bicycle along that runway,” said Alisa McMorris, Andrew’s mother and co-president along with her husband John of the Andrew McMorris Foundation. “The Andrew’s Top Gun Run is an event that’s pure Andrew. He loved the F-14. He loved all of that. And the idea has always been to bring community together, to remember to hold space and to celebrate life and to educate and advocate for all the things that we’re doing to make sure this never happens to another child.”
There will be informational booths and complimentary food at the run. This year’s slogan is “Together we run, forever we remember. Fly high, Andrew.” The saying will be featured on the event challenge coins with a picture of Andrew in his scout uniform. All finishers receive a coin.
Along with the run, the foundation also advocates for tougher impaired driving laws, educates about the dangers of impaired driving in local schools, and encourages people in the community to make better choices.
The McMorris family also hopes to make conversations around grief and loss both easier and more commonplace, to help other mourning families cope with their burden.
“Having that pang of, ‘he should be here,’ that ache never goes away. One of the things that I like to talk to people about is making grief a conversation that we have and not be afraid to say names. I often tell people, saying Andrew’s name makes me joyous. I chose that name with my husband, and we love that name. We want to hear that name, and want to hear people talk about him and say ‘Oh my God, wouldn’t Andrew love this?’”
