Keeping the streak alive: elite group of runners will race in 47th Gate River Run

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Gate River Run streaker John Waller doesn’t diminish what the annual race means to him.

“My favorite run of the year every year is River Run,” Waller said.

The Gate River Run is officially sold out. More than 14,000 people will run through the streets of Jacksonville on Saturday morning. Among the thousands is a small group of 19 runners known as streakers, who have run the Gate River Run every year since it began.

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“I’ve always thought it’s pretty cool to be part of a pretty elite group,” Gate River Run streaker Patrick Gaughan said.

Waller can’t believe he will be racing in his 47th Gate River Run.

“We never thought it would go this long when we did it the first year in 1978,” he said.

Not many people can say they’ve done the same thing every year for almost their entire lives, but Gaughan and Waller are two of the 19 who each year run the Gate River Run.

“I readjust my whole life,” Gaughan said. “I spend a lot of time in West Africa doing medical mission work there and I come back every year to train for the River Run.”

For Waller, there is only one thing he’s done in his life for over 47 consecutive years: “Being married to my wife. That’s a good thing, 49 years.”

Gaughan ran his first race when he was 28 years old with a few friends. He decided to sign up just for fun.

“I signed up for a whopping $4,” Gaughan said.

After the first race, he was hooked.

“The fact that I’m still doing it 47 years later, still standing at the starting line is pretty exciting,” Gaughan said.

Waller’s streaker status almost ended abruptly in 2004 when he suffered a bicycle accident. But he was too determined to run the race.

“Doctors told me I may never run again, but that made me have the drive to try to push on and keep going on and never quit,” Waller said. “So I had to do it in a wheelchair and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done as far as running.”

As the years go by, the streakers age, too.

“My immediate goal is 50 years,” Waller said.

They say it will be the hardest decision to finally call it quits.

“The real question will be when I hit 50 will I decide to retire it or it will retire me. That’s the question,” Gaughan said.

Gate River Run streakers