Dick’s-A-Thon

The Dick’s-A-Thon is a circumnavigation of Seattle via the classic hamburger drive-in, Dick’s, making a 26-mile loop of the city while eating the famed Dick’s menu items along the way. It is a grueling test of 3 areas of fitness: physical, mental, and gastrointestinal. All proceeds are donated to the Mountaineers and Washington search and rescue organizations.

It started with a silly idea…
On April 21, 2018, Ian and Connor completed a 20 mile run around Seattle and ate at all 5 Seattle Dick’s along the way. Connor was moving to Santa Barbara the next day, and the brothers decided they needed to have one last, classic Seattle hurrah. Friends and family joined them along the way. Despite Ian and Connor having a lifelong competition at anything remotely athletic, the first Dick’s-A-Thon was a lighthearted way for the two to spend the day together and see Connor off.

On August 20, 2022, Ian went on a solo trek through the Cascades and didn’t return. In the days and weeks after we lost Ian, we came together to think of how we could honor Ian’s life. Ian was completely authentic, driven in his passion for the outdoors and in life, uncompromising with the things that were important to him and blissfully unaware of the things that weren’t. As we struggled to cope with a loss too big to comprehend, we poured our energy into recreating the Dick’s-A-Thon, a run that had become an epic story in Ian and Connor’s friends’ minds. We trained for a run for which no training plans had been made, and on October 22, 2022, the twins’ 30th birthday, we came together for the first annual Dick’s-A-Thon. Over 100 people joined us to celebrate Ian, and we donated $32K to Washington search and rescue organizations.

We’re coming back in 2023 with bigger goals and excitement to grow the Dick’s-A-Thon. We’re excited to partner again with our founding sponsors, Dick’s and LifeStance, and build partnerships with new sponsors. Ian was an avid mountaineer and was passionate about guiding friends, family, co-workers, and even strangers on trips through the outdoors that they never imagined they could do. He took us to awe-inspiring places and instilled confidence in us that we could achieve whatever we set our minds to. Ian’s motto on these treks was, “I won’t let you quit the first time I hear you say ‘I quit.’” This year, we’re establishing a scholarship fund with the Mountaineers for aspiring outdoors-people who don’t have access to the resources or skills to get outside. We also plan to continue supporting 5 different Washington search and rescue organizations.