Getting to Know RunVermont’s

Anthea Dexter-Cooper

By Corey Burdick

Whether you’ve been a runner, spectator, or volunteer at any road or trail race, big or small, then you know, communication and attention to detail are paramount to a successful event. And at Burlington-based organization RunVermont, executive director Anthea Dexter-Cooper is the person leading the charge. I had the chance to get to know Anthea recently and am excited to share more about her running and career journey. Enjoy!

How long have you been the executive director of RunVermont and what has been your greatest challenge and success so far? I started in November 2024 and I think RunVermont’s greatest challenge so far has been figuring out volunteer recruitment. We have brought in a seasonal employee, Liz Champagne, to be the volunteer coordinator and alleviate some of the needs from year-round staff (Joe Connelly, Moe Brown, and Lauren Miller) and members of the race committee, but it is hard to find hundreds of people that have the capacity and interest to devote an entire day to volunteering. 

And my greatest successes have been working with the team at RunVermont to make incremental improvement on two big goals: reducing the environmental impact of RunVermont events and creating more opportunities for live programming. An example of a cross-section of those two goals is a group run and plog (jogging and picking up garbage) followed by a sustainability panel that took place on April 29.

What is your running background? What inspired you to begin and what keeps you going? I started running because my parents ran. I have very vivid memories of doing kids’ races while my mom was running and spending what felt like hours waiting for her to finish, which, in hindsight, is kind of funny because my mom was a pretty accomplished age-group runner. 

One of my very first memories of being at a race (and this is especially interesting because I grew up in Manhattan) was the Vermont City Marathon & Relay in 1994. I would have been nine years old, and my mom and aunt were doing the marathon, while I did the 3-5 person relay with my dad and some other relatives and friends. I was supposed to run the last leg (the glory leg!) and cross the finish line, but someone got sick and my dad picked up an extra leg but didn’t want to run them back-to-back because it would total 9.9 miles, and he had never run more than 10 miles, so I did the 6.6-mile out-and-back leg on the Burlington Beltline. At the time, I felt like I had never seen that many people running in my entire life!

While running has come and gone as an important part of my life since the early 90s, it always reminds me of family. Whether that’s my parents and aunts and uncles, or my spouse, who I met running, or my kids who are now the ones getting dragged along for what feels like hours, or the friends that felt like family in the years between law school and moving to Vermont. My story is aligned with RunVermont’s goals and efforts around how to engage youth and support running as a lifelong activity from an early age through the balance of your life.

What has been your favorite race that you’ve participated in and/or favorite distance? I frequently joke that I’m not an objectively fast runner (and setting the record here that it does not matter how fast you run) because what I really like is to start and then just continue running and walking along for hours. My new backcountry skis say, “further not faster,” and I ‘ve never felt more seen. 

My favorite distance is going to be an ultramarathon, probably 36 or 50 miles. I have not done one since before getting pregnant with my first kid in 2018, but I’m registered for the Moosalamoo Ultra (36 miles) in Goshen, VT on Aug. 1, and am very excited. And whether or not I worked at RunVermont, the M&T Bank Vermont City Marathon is my favorite marathon and the only one that I have done more than once – three times, not including that 1994 relay. 

What’s your favorite RunVermont race or series? I absolutely love the community of participants that come out for the winter Freezy Cheeks 5K Series and view the creation of that series and the open-start concept (things I can take zero credit for) as the silver lining of Covid-19 for RunVermont. All three races (and hopefully it is four races next season) are at different breweries and allow for participants to start at any point between 11am and noon, meaning that they can have a true race experience if they start right at 11am, or they can have a more casual outing with friends. It also allows us to be more inclusive with things like allowing strollers and not having a course limit. It’s good for people like my parents who are aging runners, and/or walkers, and people that are new to running and participating in races.

How has your prior career helped you in your new job? I was a lawyer for almost 15 years before starting as the executive director of RunVermont. Most recently as an attorney working on clean energy and climate change for the nonprofit Conservation Law Foundation and, before that, drafting laws for the Vermont State Legislature as an attorney in the Office of Legislative Counsel. Organization, juggling multiple obligations, clear communication, logical thinking, consensus building, and working as part of a team are all skills that have translated well.

What are you most excited about as you continue on this journey or in this role? Any hints of fun things to come? Going to put it out there and hope that it manifests but working with other race organizers in Vermont to bring back a one-mile race, with some new twists, in Burlington. 

Sustainability – One thing I have been particularly impressed by as you have come on board is your efforts to make races more sustainable. Could you speak a bit to these and other initiatives in the works specifically and why it matters to you/RunVermont? This is an area where I’m not trying to push the team to be zero-waste overnight, but rather to make incremental improvements upon the long history that RunVermont has had when it comes to reducing race waste. 

Here are some big things that I’m particularly proud of from the last 18 months:

Bringing on Wasted* – Port-o-potties that are diverting urine to make fertilizer, minimizing transportation emissions with collapsable port-o-potties, and using bamboo toilet paper). Bin There, Dump That – Residential dumpster rentals that are going to help us better clear the course for the M&T Bank Vermont City Marathon & Relay during the race. And, UnTapped: All Natural Athletic Fuel – Maple syrup based fueling from Chittenden County.

M&T Bank embracing environmental sustainability with giveaways and providing custom cans of Chug Water and reusable silicone cups for the finish of the M&T Bank Vermont City Marathon & Relay in 2026.

Having all of RunVermont’s 2026 medals be made in the United States – Wood coaster medals from Michigan for Half Marathon Unplugged (April) and recycled steel medals from Massachusetts for the M&T Bank Vermont City Marathon & Relay – and packaged for shipping in ways that minimize the use of single-use plastics. Also, recycling 139 pounds of old race medals and so many bags of single-use plastics.

Working with Thuja Outdoor Clothing on some race merchandise, including beanies made from the scraps generated by making hoodies. Using no single-use cups for the Freezy Cheeks runs and instead working with HydraPak.

Working with amazing sustainably minded brands on sustainability panels and other events/initiatives: Bivo, Chug Water, Darn Tough Vermont, Paradis Sport, Thuja, UnTapped, and Wasted*. Transporting unused food from after the 2025 M&T Bank Vermont City Marathon to people suffering from food insecurity. To learn more, visit runvermont.org.

Corey Burdick is a Vermont-based runner and writer. She ran her first 5K in 1998 and came in dead last, but that did not deter her from pursuing the sport further. Since that time, she’s raced distances from the mile to the marathon. Her work has appeared in the Burlington Free Press, and in many magazines: Here in Hanover, Woodstock, Bluedot Living, Best of Burlington, and Edible Vermont.