Jordan's Run Returns To Sag Harbor Sunday

“In all of the instantaneous violence, Yale and Haerter never hesitated. They never stepped back. They never even started to step aside … with their feet spread shoulder-width apart, they leaned into the danger, firing as fast as they could work their weapons.”

The excerpt is taken from the speech, “The Last Six Seconds,” written by General John Kelly after the death of two marines, Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, a native of Sag Harbor, and Corporal Jonathan Yale, who were killed on April 22, 2008, trying to stop a truck loaded with 2,000 pounds of explosives from barreling into the entrance they were guarding at a joint security station in Ramadi, Iraq, in Anbar province. It’s read following the completion of every Jordan’s Run, a 5K created in Haerter’s memory by his mother, JoAnn Lyles, and her organization, In Jordan’s Honor.

This Sunday, July 31, will be the first time in two years that someone will read the same excerpt live and in person, as the race returns to Sag Harbor after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic — the race had been run virtually the past two years.

“We are so excited to have the run live again,” Lyles said. “We did offer virtual only the last two years and people made the best of it, either running locally on the same race route, sending finish photos or planning their own 5K route in their own neighborhoods. We dedicated a portion of proceeds to help the Sag Harbor Food Pantry and Fisher House, respectively, those two years.”

Jordan’s Run is one of many veteran runs across Long Island. Starting and ending at Pierson High School, the course was chosen to pass by important places in Haerter’s life, including his school, the village, the bridge named in his honor and the cemetery where he’s buried. One change for this year, Lyles said, is that there will be no deuce-and-a-half cargo truck that had served as the event’s stage in the past.

“Our usual three options are either off the road or sold since 2019,” she said.

Nearly 500 came out to participate in Jordan’s Run in 2019, the third annual event. Lyles is expecting those numbers to dip a bit, but is still expecting a decent-sized crowd.

“I think we will lose some of the momentum we had gained having the race a few years in a row,” she said. “Some people will have forgotten that it is held in July, or not back in the groove of a somewhat normal life with live events again.

“But those that do come out, especially from out of the area or another state, they come up to me and say, ‘What a beautiful town. What a beautiful race route that takes you over the Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter Veterans’ Memorial Bridge. So moving. A special day. We are coming to Sag Harbor again. We’re spending the day here.’”

Those who cannot attend the event live this year will still have the virtual option. Lyles said that many of her son’s friends who served with him, and other veterans, will most likely take that option — many veterans do a satellite run out of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California, Lyles said.

To sign up for the virtual option, or to register for the live race and get more information, go to elitefeats.com.

“We want to thank all of our sponsors for helping us to kick this off the ground again this year,” Lyles said. “We feel rusty [but] look forward to seeing everyone again!”

Proceeds from the run support In Jordan’s Honor, Ltd., a memorial foundation in honor of Jordan, and a pair of Pierson High School graduates who choose to serve their country through the military or law enforcement, as Jordan wanted to do, are given $1,000 scholarships each. This year’s recipients were Erik Marcello Guanga Soliz, who will become a police officer, and Lady Elisbeth Tirado-Toral, who will join the USMC and hopes to one day be an FBI agent.

Back in 2019, Benjamin Tupaj, one of the Marines whose life was saved by Haerter and Yale, read General Kelly’s speech. The Jacksonville, North Carolina, native who traveled to Sag Harbor to attend the event, explained why Jordan’s Run is so important.

“It keeps alive the memory of the amazing sacrifice of Jordan and Jonathan and exemplifies what it means to serve and what our American heroes are doing all across the world right now,” he said.