Jacob's Run memorializes lost son
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on September 6, 2017 5:50 AM
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Jacob Floars EVENT INFORMATION: • WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 16, at 11 a.m. • WHERE: Begins at Hometown Harley-Davidson in Winterville where it will ride through Fremont and circling back to Winterville. • REGISTRATION: Scott Woods' Motorcycle Shop in Goldsboro is selling $15 tickets and T-shirts as well as registering riders. For more information about donating, visit www.jacobsrun.info or call 252-289-5568.
When Jacob Floars died in a car crash in October 2010, at 17, to cope with the grief and memorialize their son, his parents launched a fundraiser in his name.
Jacob's Run, an annual bike ride for the past six years, has raised almost $85,000 for the James Connie Maynard Children's Hospital at Vidant Medical Center in Greenville.
And while the run and associated activities are expected to draw more than 2,000 participants this year, the seventh event will be the last.
The "farewell ride" will be held Saturday, Sept. 16, with the 70-mile round trip ride originating at Hometown Harley-Davidson in Winterville at 11 a.m.
The support of this community has been appreciated, said Allen Floars, Jacob's father -- from individuals and his church and businesses like Spike's Tavern, a sponsor from the beginning until its recent closure. Scott Woods' Motorcycle Shop in Goldsboro is now selling $15 tickets and T-shirts, as well as registering riders.
"That morning they'll get everybody signed up and take them to Hometown around 10 or 10:30," he said. "Around noon we take that group and go to Fremont -- they block off all the streets. We'll circle on back and take the same ride back to Winterville."
There will be something for everybody, he said -- including a chili cookoff with about 20 contestants and between 15 and 20 vendors.
He reflected on how the event has grown since it began.
"That first year, I brought the idea to my wife, we were separated at the time," he said. "We designed it as a memorial run, figuring 25 to 30 bikes would show up. That first year we had over 270 motorcycles.
"During that time I was going to First Pentecostal Holiness Church, those guys got behind me on this. My wife and I got back together. And every year it's grown tremendously. We'll have probably 2,000 to 3,000 show up."
At the outset, he could not have imagined how it would gain momentum in popularity, he says now.
"When we first started, my mom asked me how long we would do it. I told her, probably forever," he said. "I would love to get it so big, we'd have a football stadium.
"The ride itself started out and just kept getting bigger and bigger, but the people that go on the ride is about 300. I think this year we'll have a huge crowd -- we've got guys riding in from California, from Canada."
But as it has gotten larger, he said, it has consumed a lot of time and energy, he said.
"It's a yearlong responsibility," he said. "We're always planning and thinking and when you do a run as big as we have, that's a tremendous amount of time."
Spending time with his family -- which includes his wife, Catherine, daughter, Jessica Rose Overton of Eureka and 6-year-old grandson, his son's namesake, Jacob.
While the end of an era will be bittersweet, it is also appropriate, Floars said.
"It's is a number of completion, it's God's number," he said, referencing the biblical symbolism of the number seven.
Whenever he has doubted the decision, he said friends reminded him that God had created the heavens and the Earth in seven days, then He stopped and rested and said, "It is good."
"I started looking at it that way," Floars said. "We have met a tremendous amount of people who have lost children. We're thankful we have been able to help people in that way."
He and his wife have a heart for parents who have lost a child, which is why Jacob's Run has meant even more.
"I guess for me as a father it seems like I'm still able to do something for my son," he said. "I just feel like I can still give him something.
"I feel like he's still here, because we started this right after he passed, because we still hold onto him after seven years."
Jacob, a senior at Charles B. Aycock High School, was a special young man, his dad said.
"He was a really giving child," he said. "He loved giving to people.
"He was smart. He was a guitar player, just a really good kid."
This may be the last ride, Floars said, but he will still be involved in the community.
"I ride with the motorcycle ministry that's called Bikers for Christ (at First PH)," he said. "The one thing I realized was it gives us an opportunity to minister to people that come. I have seen so many people's lives change -- you see people come to Christ or see their families restored. That has been one of the biggest blessings.
"I'm kind of excited to see a new chapter in my life and what's going to happen next."
Donations for prizes that day are also being sought, he said.
For more information on Jacob's Run, visit www.jacobsrun.info or call Floars at 252-289-5568.