The Nantucket Half Marathon will host the Second Annual First Responder Challenge on Sunday, October 12, 2025 at Bartlett’s Farm, 33 Bartlett’s Farm Road Nantucket.  Our Island First Responders will compete for the vaunted Scallop Cup!  We are inviting five teams this year to compete, the Nantucket Police Department, Nantucket Cottage Hospital, Brant Point Coast Guard Station,  Nantucket Fire Department, and the Massachusetts State Police and Commonwealth Affiliates.  The teams will run the Nantucket Half Marathon and an award will be presented to the first and second place teams.  You will need a minimum of seven runners in the half marathon to qualify for the Scallop Cup.  We provided a generous gift certificate to the top two teams at Island Kitchen for the teams.  If you have fewer than the team minimum we still will provide a discounted entry.  The team will however not be eligible for the Scallop Cup or the prizes.   

In addition, we will provide special entries for those competing in the First Responder Challenge with a registration code.  The registration code will be a discounted entry that is in line with the Town of Nantucket ethic policy.  That code cannot be used for the 10K or for family and friends.  Your team participants must be members of your organization.  Last year’s race brought a lot of comradery and spirit among the teams. The Coast Guard team won the cup but the NPD had a strong showing.

Team Scoring:  The scoring to determine the winning team will be as follows.  Age group placement will be added together and then averaged over the number of runners.  For example a first place age group finish will be a 1 and third place 3.  The scores will be combined and divided by the number of team members for a numerical average.  This scoring results in everyone contributing to the final team result.  The winning team will receive a $500 gift certificate to Island Kitchen and the runner-up team will get a $350 gift certificate to Island Kitchen.

Next Steps:  So what do we do next.  The Coast Guard (Lance Wiser) and Nantucket Police Department (Angus MacVicar) have team leaders from last year and we need to find those leaders from the other teams.  Gretchen Hull will be the team leader for Nantucket Cottage Hospital.  I will send registration codes to each of you for your team.    To the extent one of your team members has already registered we can adjust their entry fee to reflect the discounts provided.  Contact me Jim Meehan jmeehan207@gmail.com (860) 874-7929 with any questions.  Lets start recruiting your team and get training!