Five years after the tragic death of Georgetown senior Daniel H. Rigby in an off-campus house fire, students will once again honor his memory in the fifth annual Run for Rigby and the fourth annual Rigby Ball.

“Both events bring together students, alumni, friends and family to honor [Rigby’s] memory and promote fire safety and awareness,” Run for Rigby Co-President Jillienne Jordan (NHS ’09) said.

Run for Rigby is a five-kilometer road race and alternate one-mile walk through Georgetown’s campus and the surrounding neighborhood of West Georgetown. The Rigby Ball is a semi-formal event held at Thunder Grill in Union Station on the night of the run to celebrate Dan Rigby’s life.

The current race course was designed last year by Joel Ziebell (COL ’10). Both the Advisory Neighborhood Commission and Department of Public Safety had to approve the design in order to ensure that the route would neither go off campus nor interfere with emergency vehicle transportation routes to and from local hospitals. A team of Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service EMTs will be on hand, in case any participants are injured. A committee of 18 students, led by Assistant Director of Off-Campus Student Life Raymond Danieli, helped to organize volunteers and promote the event throughout the school year.

Trophy House Treasures, the family business of William Marks (COL ’09), supplies the T-shirts and cups that are given to all the runners. The Department of Intramural Sports at Yates will lend Run for Rigby a timer to record the runners’ times.

Zoe Seder (MSB ’09) and Patrick Coughlin (COL ’09) were responsible for finding sponsors to fund the activities. Run for Rigby looks for monetary donations, gift certificates, apparel and equipment that can be used during its events.

“We are fortunate this year to still maintain a good number of sponsorships because of the economic condition,” Jordan said. “There have been only a few stores who were unable to help because of the economic downturn and have been instructed by corporate not to participate in donations throughout August.”

This year’s sponsors include The Hoya, Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union, The Corp, The Tombs, Clyde’s, Saxbys Coffee, Wisemiller’s Grocery and Deli, Domino’s Pizza, Tackle Box, Lululemon Athletica, Georgetown Running Company, Vineyard Vines, Red Bull, Café Bonaparte, Pizzeria Uno, Qdoba Mexican Grill, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Garrett’s Restaurant and Railroad Tavern, Georgetown Cupcake, and CustomInk.com. In addition, the Georgetown University Grilling Society will be grilling food after the race for the runners.

Run for Rigby also collaborated with Party For a Cause to host a cookout for fundraising and advertising on March 28, before the Georgetown men’s lacrosse game, and Rhino Bar and Pumphouse will host a promotional event on April 2. The club also used advertisements to spread the word.

The proceeds from Rigby weekend will go towards establishing the Daniel H. Rigby Memorial Scholarship Fund and promoting off-campus fire safety in Georgetown.

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