The Gold Mile

The Gold Mile is an experience for IU Health 500 Festival Mini-Marathon participants and it pays tribute to fallen service members and their surviving families (Gold Star Families). This motivational, mile-long segment of the Mini-Marathon course features patriotic décor and hundreds of volunteers lining Mile 6 at the backstretch of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, offering participants encouragement at the toughest peak of the course.

Dressed in gold shirts, these remarkable volunteers will greet Mini-Marathon participants while holding American flags, pictures, banners, messages, and sentimental items of their fallen heroes to recognize these brave men and women.

The Gold Mile provides Mini-Marathon participants with the opportunity to honor and celebrate the lives of service members who gave the ultimate sacrifice and connect with the surviving family members of the fallen. The tribute will provide inspiration, motivation, and support for participants and surviving family members.

The 500 Festival works with Survivor Outreach Services, a program designed to provide support to families who have experienced the loss of a service member, as well as other veteran, military, and family organizations to develop the Gold Mile and recruit volunteers to participate in this tribute.

The Gold Mile is supported by Jack and Debbie Goodpasture.

Gold Mile Volunteers will help cheer on Indy Mini participants with American flags, homemade posters, verbal encouragement, friendly hugs, and high fives as they start down the backstretch of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Volunteers will have to be onsite no later than 7:00 a.m. due to road closures and are able to pack up after the last participant comes through the Gold Mile, at roughly 10:15 a.m. Volunteers are welcome to bring anything with them, but there may be a bit of a walk from parking spaces to the inside of the track.

Contact Us

For more information regarding the Gold Mile, please contact info@500festival.com.