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A runner receives their medal from one of several volunteers handing them out at the finish line during the America First Ogden Marathon on Saturday, May 17, 2025.

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

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Volunteers help return runners' personal items during the America First Ogden Marathon on Saturday, May 17, 2025.

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

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Volunteers prepare orange slices for runners during the America First Ogden Marathon on Saturday, May 17, 2025.

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

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Volunteers distribute water at the finish line during the America First Ogden Marathon on Saturday, May 17, 2025.

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

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Volunteers cheer on runners during the America First Ogden Marathon on Saturday, May 17, 2025.

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

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OGDEN — The 24th annual America First Ogden Marathon has come and gone.

The races are finished, times tallied and more than 6,500 runners that participated in 2025 from the Ogden area, across the country and around the world are home or making their way there.

But it takes an army of volunteers to make the race a reality. Volunteers are sought from the community every year to do everything from coordinating welcome events and handing out medals to loading buses and making sure runners are safe and hydrated.

Last week, the Standard-Examiner sat down with five longtime Ogden Marathon volunteers to discuss their experiences with the event and what it means to them. These stories represent only a fraction of the countless stories among the nearly 1,000 volunteers that participated in this year’s festivities.

• Jeff Furton — 8-mile race and Kids-K lead.
• Nathan Stokes — Finish Line Festival production.
• Salena Ward — finish line food manager.
• London Moesinger — VIP coordinator.
• Carolyn Brierley — Hall of Fame.

‘I wanted to be part of more’

Brierley has been involved with the Ogden Marathon since the beginning — quite literally.

“I was the event coordinator for Ogden City and in 2000, Mayor (Matthew) Godfrey called me into his office and said, ‘I want to do a marathon,'” she said.

This year, she helped coordinate the Marathon Hall of Fame and volunteered in the information booth.

Ward said she started volunteering with the Marathon about four years ago and has held a number of roles in that time.

“Since then, I’ve done a little bit of everything — stuffing runner bags, cheering at water stations, stepping into leadership roles and now, I get to help lead the finish line food team,” she said. “Yes, it’s a lot of work, but my goodness, it fills my heart every single time. There’s just something electric about Ogden on marathon weekend you can feel the energy buzzing through the air.”

This year, she was in charge of a major component of the finish line experience.

“Race day, my role is to make sure every runner is taken care of at the finish line with plenty of food, fresh snacks, sweet and savory treats, and of course, hydration,” she said. “I lead a team of rockstar volunteers who help set it all up, keep it clean and organized, and most importantly, make it fun. We’re the last stop on a runner’s marathon journey, and we do everything we can to make sure it feels like a celebration.”

Furton — who also owns Daily Rise Coffee — said he’s been volunteering for the Marathon since 2006.

“We were a new business and I just wanted to be involved with the community and help out,” he said. “The Ogden Marathon just had a great community of people who were volunteering and I just wanted to be a part of it.”

He said his job entailed helping set up the start position for both the 8-mile race and the Kids-K.

Moesinger told the Standard-Examiner she has been volunteering for 14 years, all of it with the Ogden Marathon’s VIP program.

“The former VIP coordinator was a good friend of mine and she offered me an opportunity to come and volunteer as a VIP bus volunteer,” she said. “I was running the race anyway, but I would get to volunteer at the same time. I’d ride up with the VIP runners, give them an announcement and welcome, describe what their donation to the Ogden Marathon was all about and I’d help by passing out breakfast, collecting their belongings and making sure they had everything they needed for a good race experience. When she was ready to retire from the volunteer position, I volunteered to take over.”

She said she this year she would be helping to coordinate the experience for around 100 VIPs.

Stokes said he started volunteering for the Ogden Marathon in 2012 when he was just 14 years old — starting off with helping load runners on buses to their respective start lines early in the morning.

“I wanted to be part of more, and I appreciated, at such a young age that there were individuals in the GOAL Foundation who saw the hand of someone who might not have been a full-fledged adult, but they trusted that I could execute in this area,” he said. “When that works and you see the community come together or you see that a runner had a great experience all because you were trusted, that meant something to me as a kid.”

This year, he helped in coordinating operations along the finish line and the associated festival.

Transformation

Furton said one of the most enjoyable experiences for him is one that repeats itself year after year.

“Somebody crosses the finish line in disbelief that they’ve just accomplished a goal that they thought they never would,” he said. “I’ve watched some people who have progressed from the 5K onto running the full marathon and the huge transformations in their life.”

Stokes said a moment that sticks out to him comes from his years of loading buses.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever had the privilege of being in downtown Ogden at at 2 a.m. — most people are very dead asleep,” he said. “The city is quiet. Sure, you have the mutterings and goings on of people leaving 25th Street for the evening, but it’s dead silent and nothing but you and a couple of cars. Every time I watch these buses roll in — we’re talking 150 buses that appear out of nowhere — and then you see thousands of people pouring in at this one time. It’s two hours you go from a dead, empty, quiet city to packed full of people, operations, it’s hectic, you barely understand what’s going on but I always find a moment to just stand and look and see the life that has instantly been brought into an event and it really inspires the rest of the day.”

Ward said one of her more memorable experiences with the Ogden marathon actually came well after the races had wrapped up and the runners and fans had all left.

“We had extra food left over, and since I manage the finish line food, I got to load it up and deliver it to local shelters,” she said. “That year, I got there a little late and missed dinner service, so I pulled over on the side of the road and started handing it out to people who needed it. Bananas, oranges, cookies, popcorn, leftover race-day fuel became a small act of love for our community. I’ll never forget those sweet faces lining up, and how that moment changed me. It reminds me that this event is about so much more than running. It’s about community, kindness, and connection.”

Time and talent

Stokes said being able to volunteer with the Ogden Marathon has been especially personal to him.

“I have a seizure disorder that actually afflicted me when I was 14, and it was really debilitating,” he said. “It meant that I couldn’t do a lot of things that kids want to do. … To have an organization that I was allowed to be a part of, that felt like I could exercise my energies and they trusted me, they didn’t see me as the disability I guess I sometimes felt like I was as a kid. … Here were adults who, many of whom didn’t know I had a problem, and they trusted me.”

Ward said one of her favorite parts about volunteering is working alongside the GOAL Foundation staff.

“They are some of the hardest working, incredible people you’ll  meet,” she said. “They pour their hearts into creating events that bring this community together in meaningful, powerful, and let’s be honest, crazy fun ways. I love working with them. It’s full of laughter, teamwork. They make it feel like family.”

Furton said the GOAL Foundation volunteers are a great group to work with.

“It’s a community of like-minded individuals who all come together to do something great,” he said. ‘It’s not something for business. It’s just for pleasure and it’s a rewarding group to be around.”

Moesinger said volunteers for the event have always been especially dedicated.

“Every person that I have asked to be a part of the Ogden Marathon, its associated Kids-K or the VIP program itself, has been so willing to adjust their schedule and do everything they could to come out and be a part of this community event,” she said. “They’re willing to give up their time and talent and effort to cheer on these 6,500 athletes as they cross the finish line in their hometown.”

Brierley said one thing is ultimately true of major events and volunteers.

“As an event coordinator, I know that it’s not just staff that puts on a great event,” she said. “Every event relies on volunteers. If I have talents where I can help in any way, I’m going to do it.”