Brad Jaeger Built A Visual Record Of Maryland Track One Meet At A Time In Order To Give Parents A Way To Follow Their Athletes

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

When Brad Jaeger started the web site Running Maryland in 2003, he did it as a labor of love for the sport and an opportunity for parents to stay in touch with their kids.

For more than 14 years, Jaeger and his family poured their time and finances into a site that promoted the high school cross country and track and field athletes in Maryland by filming races and displaying them on the site.

Jaeger retired from the site in 2018 and the Running Maryland archives are going to have a new home at RunnerSpace.

"He never had a sponsor, never made anybody pay for anything," said Jesse Jaeger, Brad's son. "It was all out of his pocket."

Brad Jaeger grew up in Saddle Brook, N.J., and paid notice to the involvement and support he saw from parents.

"Parents and family would always fill the stands, whether the meet was home or away," he said. "The moms would carpool and fix post-meet snacks for the athletes of both teams. Dads would always be there at the weekend invitationals and as many league meets as possible."

As an adult, in Maryland, with his own kids in school, Jaeger recognized the differences. Many parents no longer had the time to make it to meets.

Running Maryland was intended to help.

"We filmed races, took photos, posted results and wrote stories so families could relive the meets," Jaeger said.

The best payment was a hug or a thank-you, or a letter from a family member serving in the U.S. military overseas.

Running Maryland, a regional contemporary of DyeStat in those days, continued to innovate. Jaeger organized running and multi-sport events, such as a duathlon and 10K on the Charlotte Motor Speedway. In 2007, Jaeger was one of the first to successfully live-stream a meet, which he did at the Montgomery Invitational.

"The Runaround" was the first live radio show about running that aired on ESPN/CBS Radio on Mondays at 6 p.m. The first guest was Maryland's prep star at the time, Matthew Centrowitz, and over a two-year run the show included interviews with Ashton Eaton, Christian Taylor, Bernard Lagat, Marty Liquori, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Champ Page and many others. Video from these shows is part of the cache of content that is moving to RunnerSpace.

"He did it for the love of the sport. That was it," Jesse Jaeger said. "As a family, we traveled around every weekend, working at meets or putting on races. We were always together."

The Running Maryland family included more than the Jaegers — Brad, his wife Denise, and Jesse. Craig Amoss was there from the start. Louis Foudos and Greg Jubb were the site's technical experts. Sandy Bush and Darrell Cavey also lended their talents and were crucial members of the team. 

RunnerSpace is committed to preserving the history that Running Maryland collected and the content will be available HERE. A RunnerSpace +PLUS subscription is required.

The first videos, from the 2015 Maryland MPSAA Indoor Championships are uploaded. Many more meets will be uploaded in the coming months.