A New Summer Tradition

It’s summertime in Falmouth, and that means runners from all over the country will be making the trip here for the Falmouth Road Race. This year, however, many runners are getting an early start, thanks to the first annual Falmouth Flag Day 5k Race, which was held Saturday.

The Flag Day 5k is intended to raise money for the Falmouth Military Support Group (FMSG), a non-profit charitable organization that provides support for local soldiers abroad and returning home. A portion of the proceeds from the race will go to the troops, mainly those coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Founded in 2003, the FMSG is an active organization in town that has to date earned over $200,000 and continues to stay involved with local events and fundraisers.

Richard Sherman and his wife Kathy, both former co-directors of the Falmouth Road Race for the past 38 years, decided to take their experience with the popular event and apply it towards a good cause.

“The work of the Falmouth Military Support Group is fantastic,” said Richard Sherman. “They help soldiers and their families, so we decided we should do a little 5k for them and the work that they do.”

Despite a rainy and dreary day for the inaugural race, the first ever Flag Day 5k had a surprisingly large turnout: over 200 runners from all across the country.

“We’ve had a lot of support from the community for a first-year race,” added Richard Sherman. “We’ve been very encouraged by the support."

The community did indeed show, helping to add to the patriotic spirit of the event. With a massive American flag hanging from a fire truck and a custom-painted 1965 Ford Mustang emblazoned with red, white, and blue placed by the finish line, there was no shortage of pride.

Sherman, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, said he wanted to take the opportunity to spread the patriotic spirit.

“[We] believe in our country and we believe that we need to continually instill pride in America," Sherman said. "With some of the negativity that occasionally floats around in this country, we wanted to do something positive.” 

After the success of this year’s Flag Day 5k Race, next year’s has already been scheduled, starting a new tradition of local support for Falmouth's hometown heroes fighting overseas.