20-year tradition to memorialize 9/11 holds its final race

ABINGTON, Mass. (AP) — A road race that began 20 years ago to memorialize the victims of 9/11 finished its final iteration on Sunday in Massachusetts.

The Jeff Coombs Memorial Race was created in 2002 in honor of Jeff Coombs, the Abington father who was a passenger on American Airlines Flight 11.

The race has garnered as many as 1,400 people each year and it raises about $50,000 for the Jeff Coombs Memorial Foundation, which helps provide support to families across the state affected by death and illness, the Brockton Enterprise reported.

Christie Coombs, the organizer of the race and Jeff Coombs’ wife, said five years ago she decided to end the race on its 20th year.

“I wanted to wait until I was ready to go,” Coombs said. “At 15 years, I decided to bring it to an end, and I found I was surprisingly calm.”

Coombs said this final race seems to have gathered the biggest crowd she has seen in Abington over the last two decades.