Look back at... International Rainbow Memorial Run

The final leg of the International Rainbow Memorial Run took place, of course, at Opening Ceremony of Gay Games VIII at RheinEnergie Stadium. This was preceded by a run to which all participants of Gay Games VIII and the people of Cologne were invited. Running, walking, and rolling from the Accreditation center at KoelnMesse on the right bank of the Rhine, across the river, to end at the AIDS memorial on the left bank of the Rhine.

In these photos, courtesy of Nicolas Datiche, Wostok Agency, you can see Lord Mayor of Cologne Juergen Roters, founder of the IRMR Brent Nicholson Earle, former Tom Waddell Award winner Lydia Zijdel-La Rivière, and Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham.

Memorial quilts exhibition opens

A moving display of memorial quilts from past Gay Games is on exhibition at the Spanischen Bau of the Rathaus (city hall) in Cologne for the duration of the Gay Games.

The latest addition to this collection, a quilt made by AIDS Hilfe Cologne, was unveiled by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, in a touching ceremony. 

Speaking at the opening were the Lord Mayor of Cologne, Herr Juergen Roters, and Brent Nicholson Earle, the founder of the Gay Games International Rainbow Memorial Run.

Thanks to Andrea Muller and Armin Lohrmann from Games Cologne, Darl Schaaff and Robby Davis from the FGG, the staff of the City of Cologne, and Heidi from AIDS Hilfe Cologne.

Gay Games issues downloadable highlights flyer

Games Cologne has created a downloadable "Highlight Flyer" that lists all cultural events, tours, cruises, parties, gay villages, ceremonies and some of the ticket sporting events (like Pink Flamingo and Bodybuilding).

The flyer is in German, but as they say "When in Koln!"

Click here to download the flyer (PDF)
Photo by Allice Cooperman from Chicago 2006.

Background on International Rainbow Memorial Run

The 2010 International Rainbow Memorial Run is a series of events to bring the Rainbow Flag around the world as a symbolic “torch” and symbol for AIDS and breast cancer awareness.

Kicking off from San Francisco, the “Athens” of the Gay Games, February 21, the Rainbow Run will travel to past Gay Games Host Cities Vancouver, Sydney, Amsterdam, New York and Chicago before reaching Cologne for Gay Games VIII on July 31.

The 2010 International Rainbow Memorial Run events pay tribute to the memory of artist Keith Haring, lesbian activist Rikki Streicher and Dr. Tom Waddell, the Founder of the Gay Games.

The run is organized and sponsored by:
American Run for the End of AIDS (AREA)
Federation of Gay Games
The Keith Haring Foundation (Keith Haring has been an honoree of the Rainbow Run since its first incarnation in 1990. The past six arrivals of the Rainbow Flag to the Gay Games have been sponsored by the Keith Haring Foundation, which has also granted permission to incorporate Keith's "little runner" into the design of The Rainbow Run every four years.)
NAMES Project Foundation
Gay Games VIII Cologne 2010
and the Front Runners clubs in host cities.

New York leg of International Rainbow Memorial Run

On June 19, New York Frontrunners welcomed the NYC leg of the International Rainbow Memorial Run as part of their weekly Central Park fun run. Here are some photos of the run, and the memorial moment in honor of those in the Gay Games family lost to AIDS and breast cancer.

The founder of the run, Brent Nicholson Earle, made the following speech:

On February 21st we launched the 2010 International Rainbow Memorial Run to bring the Rainbow Flag as a symbolic “torch” and symbol for AIDS and breast cancer awareness from San Francisco, the “Athens” of the Gay Games, to Gay Games VIII in Cologne, Germany [see our post on this leg HERE]. Since then the Rainbow Flag has been run in past Gay Games Host Cities – Vancouver, Amsterdam, Sydney – and this morning – New York!

Members of Front Runners New York and their friends passed this Flag to one another during their fun run in Central Park. Back at Rutgers Church where the club meets every Saturday, we held a Quilt Unfolding Ceremony. We read names of loved ones lost to AIDS, breast cancer and other causes – some of them pioneers of the Gay Games movement and the struggle for our rights. Then we left written memorials on this new Quilt made for us by Gert McMullin of the NAMES Project, as she’s done for the past five efforts to bring the Rainbow Flag to the Gay Games.

Gracing the Pride Rally stage today is her Quilt from Gay Games VII four years ago. The other is one of four Quilts she made for us to bring from San Francisco to New York in 1994 for Gay Games IV with the Rainbow Roll for the End of AIDS. Five other inline skaters helped me rollerblade this Rainbow Flag 4300 miles across the country!

Our Old Glory here has quite a history. Twenty years ago I was running her a thousand miles from San Francisco to Vancouver for Gay Games III. And next week she’ll join Chicago’s Proud To Run event [info HERE] before completing her journey on July 31st in Cologne for the Opening of Gay Games VIII!

Since 1990 we’ve paid tribute with the Rainbow Run to artist Keith Haring and Dr. Tom Waddell, the Founder of the Gay Games. In 1998 when we changed the event to a series of memorial runs and ceremonies and included breast cancer in our awareness campaign, we added lesbian activist Rikki Streicher as an honoree. She may have been tiny but she had a mighty influence.

And now we’re about ready to run into the Rally a section of the historic Mile-Long Rainbow Flag from Stonewall 25 in 1994! There isn’t time to thank all the people and groups who’ve contributed to the Rainbow Run but I want to offer special thanks to Heritage of Pride, the Keith Haring Foundation, and Front Runners New York. A week from today will be their 29th Gay Pride Run in Central Park! Thank you all so much – we’ll see you four years from now on our way to Gay Games IX in Cleveland, Ohio! Happy Pride, Everybody!

See all posts on the International Rainbow Memorial Run HERE.

Brent Nicholson Earle: Tom Waddell Award finalist

The Federation of Gay Game's highest honour will be presented during Gay Games VIII in Cologne, Germany during the opening ceremonies.

The Federation of Gay Games today announced the list of finalists for the 2010 Tom Waddell Award. The Award, which will be presented during Gay Games VIII in Cologne, Germany, symbolised by the Dr. Tom Waddell Trophy, recognises one man and one woman who have made outstanding contributions to the Gay Games and worldwide LGBT sport and culture. The trophy, a gift of Vancouver's lesbian, gay, bi and transsexual community on the occasion of Gay Games III in 1990, is presented every four years at each Gay Games in honour of their founder, Dr. Tom Waddell. (More about the award HERE).

Brent Nicholson Earle of New York, NY has been nominated for his contributions to the Federation of Gay Games' memory of those who have left us. In addition to instituting the Memorial Moment, a remembrance ceremony held at each FGG annual meeting, Brent is the creator and driving force behind the International Rainbow Memorial Run. This quadrennial event takes the Rainbow Flag, a symbolic "torch", from San Francisco, the "Athens" of the Gay Games, around the world to the city hosting the current Gay Games. As the flag travels through each former Gay Games Host City, not only does it herald the upcoming Gay Games, but it promotes both AIDS and breast cancer prevention, while honouring those in our community who have died of these diseases.

Sydney the next step for Gay Games rainbow flag 'torch run' from San Francisco to Cologne

Symbolic “Rainbow Run” will travel to New York, Vancouver, Sydney, Amsterdam and Chicago before heading to Germany for the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne

This Saturday, 27 February 2010, the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade will take on new significance for the world’s LGBT athletes. Local sports groups, led by Sydney’s Frontrunners gay & lesbian running club, will carry a special memorial rainbow flag during the parade as the 2nd leg of the International Rainbow Memorial Run (IRMR), the “Torch Run” for the quadrennial Gay Games.

Sydney was the host of Gay Games VI in 2002 and the Mardi Gras Parade is their annual “pride” parade. The parade steps off at 7:45 pm local time. Live TV coverage is available in Australia on Fox’s Arena Network. For more info, visit www.mardigras.org.au.

South African Olympian and Gay Games Ambassador Leigh-Ann Naidoo
at the International Memorial Rainbow Run in Chicago in 2006
(Photo by Kat Fitzgerald)

San Francisco

The Rainbow Run got underway last weekend in San Francisco, 21 February 2010, the birthplace of the Gay Games movement and host of Gay Games I and II in 1982 and 1986. A special ceremony at the National AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park was followed by a ceremonial run of the flag to San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium, home of the Gay Games I (1982) and Gay Games II (1986) Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Following that ceremony, the flag was shipped to Sydney, Australia, for the Mardi Gras Parade.

About the Rainbow Run

Every four years, the Rainbow Run helps the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) celebrate the lives of those who have graced the Gay Games movement and served or participated in the Games. “In many ways, this is our own ‘torch’ run,” said Brent Nicholson Earle, founder and organizer of the IRMR, “and we begin by renewing our connection with San Francisco, ‘our Athens,’ the city of our birth. We then travel to all past host cities to honor their role in the movement.” The event celebrates friends of the Gay Games lost to AIDS and other diseases, including US Olympian and Gay Games founder Dr. Tom Waddell.

Rainbow Run continues at Sydney's Mardi Gras

FGG member organization Team Sydney tells us about their entry in the Mardi Gras parade, which will also serve as the Sydney leg of the International Rainbow Memorial Run:

Team Sydney are one of the few entries that have been allowed to enter more than 150 people in the parade on Saturday 27 February, so we’re expected to make quite an impact.

Our parade entry opens with the “Red Section”, building momentum for Gay Games Cologne 2010. It will be led up the parade route by the Wett Ones in their shiny red convertible, followed by Sydney Frontrunners carrying the Gay Games Federation Rainbow Flag and finally Team Cologne: 20 Germans carrying LED helium balloons representing the sports being presented in Cologne this year.

The Rainbow Flag being carried by Sydney Frontrunners is the very flag that was carried into the first Gay Games opening ceremony in 1982 by Tom Waddell, the founder of Gay Games. The International Rainbow Memorial Run for Gay Games VIII started last weekend in San Francisco, home of the Gay Games [see this blogpost], and will travel through each of the host cities around the world during the lead up to Gay Games Cologne 2010, starting tonight in Sydney!

Following the Red Section is our float and choreographed marching group: The Age of Games: The sound and lighting truck will be transformed into a Greek chariot harking back to the founding of games, and opening the door to an exploration of the past, present and future of games throughout the marching group. Our marching group is comprised of members from Bentstix Hockey, Cheer Ignite Sydney, Freezone Volleyball, GLMA Martial Arts, GSquash, Outfielders Summer Softball League, Wett Ones Swimming, Rams Bowling, Rangers Football Club, and Spectres Basketball.

Rainbow Run begins in San Francisco

Roger Brigham's JockTalk column in the Bay Area Reporter is devoted to the start of the 2010 International Rainbow Memorial Run on February 21.

The calla lilies were in bloom (again) amid the stately eucalyptus trees surrounding the AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park as a steady downpour fell on the shoulders and umbrellas of a few dozen Gay Games supporters, local politicians, and the effervescent members of Cheer San Francisco. The windswept rain washed away the occasional tear as names of friends long gone or recently departed were read off, the growing patter of drops applauded the laughs brought on by humorous memories, and an a cappella tenor rendition of "Somewhere (A Place for Us)" warmed the cold damp of the gray Sunday morning.

In other words, the International Rainbow Memorial Run got the symbolic countdown to this year's Gay Games off to the perfect start in the birthplace of the Gay Games movement.

As always, Brent [Nicholson] Earle, an indefatigable runner whose every step seems both protest and celebration, was there to make the run, as the memorial run flag was ceremoniously carried along the short traverse to Kezar Stadium, where the Gay Games were born in 1982.

Continue reading on the eBAR website HERE.

Countdown to Cologne 2010: Gay Games International Rainbow Memorial Run begins journey from San Francisco to Germany

Special symbol of the gay rights movement will travel to past Gay Games Host Cities, arriving in Cologne in time for 2010 Opening Ceremony

San Francisco, CA - Less than 10 days after the Olympic flame was lit at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, the LGBT sporting world will begin its own countdown to the 2010 Gay Games that take place later this year in Cologne, Germany. The International Rainbow Memorial Run (IRMR) gets underway on Sunday, 21 February, 2010 at 10:00 am in the San Francisco National AIDS Memorial Grove.

Every four years, the Rainbow Run helps the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) celebrate the lives of those who have graced the Gay Games movement and served or participated in the Games. “In many ways, this is our own ‘torch’ run,” said Brent Nicholson Earle, founder and organizer of the IRMR, “and we begin by renewing our connection with San Francisco, ‘our Athens,’ the city of our birth.”