Scores Turn Out for 5k to Remember Clifton Youth

Hundreds of local runners and walkers were on hand Saturday at Robinson Secondary School for the first annual Adam’s Angels 5k run. The goal: to remember Robinson grad Adam Seymour and raise awareness about sudden cardiac death.

The Clifton native died of a heart attack last August, just days after his family settled him in at Lynchburg College, where he was to begin his freshman year. He was participating in a preseason training run with the college’s soccer team when he collapsed.

“It’s good to be back at Robinson and just think about the soccer field and playing with [Adam] and remembering all that stuff,” said former teammate Daniel Peek, an upcoming sophomore at Davidson College.

Peek said Adam’s death has changed the way he and Adam’s other friends think about life. “It’s made everyone appreciate things more,” he said.

“If Adam had had access to an AED [automatic external defibrillator], he might be here today,” Seymour told the crowd gathered outside the school. “We don’t know that for sure, but he didn’t get that chance because there wasn’t one readily available to him.”

Jim Seymour, Adam’s father and co-founder, with Adam’s mother, Beverly, of the Adam P. Seymour Foundation, presented Robinson Secondary School Principal Dan Meier with an AED following the run. One of three AEDs donated to the foundation by Seattle-based Cardiac Science, it will be placed at the athletic field, where the majority of sudden cardiac deaths among youths occur.

“CPR is great, and CPR helps people. AEDs save people, all the time,” Seymour said.

In all, over 400 runners, walkers and volunteers came out for the 5k on a day that was blessed with sunshine and mild weather. Most of them donned tee shirts that depicted a pair of wings and the message, “Adam’s Angels.”

Betsy Peck, whose daughter knew Adam, was out with her whole family to show support. “We even have our dog, Mandy, here,” she said.

For those who knew Adam and his family, the wounds are still raw. Jean Crosson, a Robinson parent, came out to volunteer for the race. “I just totally support always remembering him,” she said. “It was just such a devastating loss.”

According to Seymour, the foundation has raised over $15,000 in the past two months, including a $4,000 donation from Whole Foods Market in Fair Lakes. A silent auction at Saturday ‘s event raised $1,200. In addition to education and awareness about  congental heart defects and sudden cardiac arrest, the foundation supports heart research and provides scholarships to student athletes who demonstrate academic, civic and/or artistic achievement.

For Steve Ramsdell, whose wife knows the Seymours, the race offered the chance to do more than break a good sweat on a beautiful weekend morning. “A lot of running stores put on races,” he said, “but this [5k] combines purposes” by allowing runners to contribute to a greater cause—preventing the loss of more Adams to sudden cardiac death.