“If you’re going to make it happen, you’ve got to do the work,” says John Mortimer, owner of Bedford’s Millennium Running, a race event management company that also provides a network of encouragement and support for the almost 400 members of its Running Club.
His business also offers shoes, shirts and everything else needed to saddle up at its Bedford store. A former Londonderry High School competitor, collegiate runner, and coach and professional runner, Mortimer does a lot of good work, and Millennium Running makes a lot of things happen.
The aptly named Millennium Running got its start on New Year’s Eve 1999 as Mortimer and a number of collegiate and other top runners put together the Millennium Mile in Hampstead. They wisely, and in the spirit of fun, plotted a downhill course.
“We were among some fast friends,” the former University of Michigan runner quipped. “We had 127 runners, including 72 national collegiate All-Americans. It was the last race of the millennium, and there had never been a sub four-minute mile run in New Hampshire. We wound up with nine runners breaking four minutes.”
Runners pledge allegiance before the start of the 2019 Citizens Bank Shamrock Half Marathon, Relay & Shuffle in Manchester.
At left: Millennium Running’s Jennifer and John Mortimer. (Photo by John Angelo)
On a level playing field, Mortimer’s personal best for the mile is 4:01 and change. That’s about the time it takes most of us to navigate the dairy aisle at Market Basket. His wife Jennifer, who heads the Millennium Running Club, is no slouch either. Her 2019 Boston Marathon time of 3:01.59 put her first among New Hampshire women in the event.
In fact, Millennium Running has garnered four top slots for New Hampshire runners in the last five Boston Marathons. Jen was a two-time All-American in college track and field.
The then-annual Millennium Mile eventually provided a lightbulb at the end of the finish-line tunnel for Mortimer. The 2000 Millennium Mile saw $5 entry fees given to a food bank. By the 10th running, Mortimer had created a scholarship in honor of his late parents, and the field now had a thousand runners.
“I can turn this concept into a business” he recalled thinking, “not by design, but by passion and fun and luck.”
Over $1 million for charity
Millennium Running took off in 2010 with a clear goal:
“We were going to produce events full time, do it professionally, and make some money for a charitable partner who can benefit from the event,” the owner said.
There was another goal, added almost immediately: to advocate for fitness and wellness to people of all abilities.
Since its inception, Millennium Running has raised over $1 million for charity by donating a percentage of its entry fees. The business’s 2020 designated charity was Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock (CHaD).
This year, it’s the Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester. Mortimer is proud of the fact that Millennium Running was able to donate $28,000 to CHaD and raise another $66,000 for area nonprofits in 2020, a trying year for every business imaginable.
“I’m a CHaD Dad,” Mortimer explained. “Our son Liam was born there, and our son Jack had services there.”
New England’s largest road race company had a bigger pivot than most during Covid. Running is an outdoor sport. Mortimer wound up on New Hampshire’s Covid Task Force, helping to write guidelines for the state.
“We developed virtual programs that didn’t exist in our format,” the owner explained. “We developed a Training in Progress Challenge and offered an enhanced version of our club for free.”
The business got a pandemic endorsement from Governor Sununu: “The creativity that came out of Millennial was phenomenal. You guys were the model of success.”
Millennium Running wound up with representation in 48 states and seven countries with runners logging enough miles in solo runs to circumnavigate the world 12 times. It was a stroke of marketing wizardry. Eventually the company reinvented the format of what a road race looks like for in-person races. Spaced time-trial starts allowed for distancing, but it took up to three hours to send every runner off. Millennium Running held the first outdoor running events in in the country starting on June 20, 2020.
“Rather than have 400 people in one event, we had 100 people in four events,” Mortimer explained.
“The challenge allowed our amazing staff to dig in and be engaged with important work and it provided a product to our customers that, I think, they needed emotionally and mentally,” Mortimer said.
“Millennium Running put together weekly themed running challenges to help give people an excuse to keep moving,” said Melissa Cummings, the running club’s 2000 Member of the Year. “So I kept moving more than I ever had. They promote the running club as a family.”
Cummings recently achieved her goal of finishing a 5K in 45 minutes.
The business owner refers to the Bedford store as a “running boutique,” and “fitology” as getting the right shoe for every runner. To do this, the business utilizes a 3-D scanner that measures arch, height and width. This is followed by a dynamic analysis of a runner’s gait on a treadmill and finally a road test. Aesthetics are the coda. A runner is going to be with his or her shoes for many miles. They may as well look good.
“We want to get to know you and your goals in life,” the owner said. “Are you a nurse who walks 20,000 steps a day? That’s an athlete, and we’ve got to get the right fit and the right shoe.”
Bedford’s Mark LaPrade, a three-time Millennium Running Delta Dental Points champion and a Running Club member since 2013, is training for the London Marathon in the spring of 2022. He addressed Millennium Running’s attention to detail: “I will be following a training program that I’ve developed through many discussions with John and other Millennium Running employees.”
‘We produce events’
Millennium Running now has 40 signature events — and Kentucky Derby Week almost pales in comparison to a Millennium event. Typical is the upcoming Oct. 17 Delta Dental Half Marathon that runners will navigate from Hopkinton to Concord, a downhill course from Gould Hill Farm to the State House.
For a pre-entry fee of $70 before Sept. 4, the first 850 entrants will receive a hooded long-sleeve T-shirt. All finishers will receive a medal with both the medal and a T-shirt featuring an attractive bright tri-color autumn leaf design. All runners, of course, receive a lightweight bib with individual numbers. The bibs are always artistically designed by Millennium in conjunction with sponsors and charities to advertise the same. Gear will be transported to the finish line, with registered runners completing the course getting a free shuttle back to Gould Hill Farm. The event will have the usual portable bathrooms, medical aid and water stops, with Dasani Water and Powerade provided by Coca Cola Northeast.
There’s more: Runners get a courtesy digital photo from AutoFair, a link to a video showing their finish and official results posted online. Cheering stations will be set up at Hopkinton Town Hall and Concord Hospital. There is also an option to run virtually for a lower fee.
“We promote healthy and enjoyable lifestyles,” said Mortimer. “Running is supposed to be fun. It’s hard work, but it’s also a celebration of the finish line. We don’t produce races. We produce events.”
