Brian's Run is much more than a chance for a pre-holiday workout. Your fellow citizens, friends and neighbors dedicate their time for the opportunity to help those individuals who have financial difficulties brought on by life-altering disabilities.

Brian's Run was named for Brian Bratcher, a West Chester Henderson High School football player who sustained a life-challenging spinal cord injury at the age of 15 during a scrimmage. Brian was paralyzed that year, and his friends, their parents and the community as a whole wanted to help. They organized a race and hoped to raise $500. That first year, 2,000 runners participated and the effort raised $20,000 to help Brian with his expenses!

The turnout for the race and the response of the West Chester community far exceeded the fondest hopes of the race committee. Although Brian's Run was originally conceived as a one-time affair, the spirit that was evident on that first day could not be suppressed and people encouraged the race committee to make Brian's Run an annual event. The next year, 1979, we ran again for Brian and again the community responded - even greater than they had in 1978!

At the Awards Ceremony following the race that year, Brian himself expressed appreciation to everyone who had done so very much for him. He said that surely there were others who could benefit from our help and asked if we could hold Brian's Run 1980 for others. Following Brian's wishes, each year since 1979, we have selected others to benefit from the proceeds of Brian's Run. In 2006, the proceeds from Brian's Run were donated to The Second Mile, a charitable organization committed to helping the youth of the commonwealth and Chester County.