The Running of the Gnomes
a "Small" online charity event in World of Warcraft
Retail Event Info:
When:
Running of the Gnomes is October 10th on Scarlet Crusade-USThe Run LEAVES the starting zone at 4pm Pacific, 7pm Eastern, 11pm GMT. So show up early!We will be in the starting zone all day hanging out with our fellow gnomies & more!Gnomes will be invited to guilds (not groups or raids as they are too low level to join! See here for more info!)
How:
Simply log in on the specified day on Scarlet Crusade in the Gnome Starting Zone, before the run start time and join us for the run.We’ll have the guild invites , and you just need to bring yourself!
Where:
We will then run from the starting line which appears in New Tinkertown all the way to Booty Bay by way of Ironforge, to the Tram.
Do I have to be level 1?:
No! However, there is a trading post objective that does reward you for being under level 15!
Isn't this a microholiday?:
Yes, but it's inspired by our event and supports our event, we give more info here!
NEW THIS YEAR:
The Great Gnomergan Run quest has seen some updates!There is now a vendor in the starting zone that sells guild and personal tabards so Gnomes no longer have to make a trek to Ironforge and the Vendor also sells shirts for transmog.This is a wonderful update alongside the barber and transmog stations that have been added over the last few years near the starting line!There are also some quality of life updates that will provide racers will assistance finding their gates as they run, and if you miss any, you will be able to easily go back and locate them!I won't spoil all of the surprises but it will be worthwile to run the race on foot and stick together with your fellow Gnomes this year, similar to the Run's sister event!
Toy:
Keen eyed players may have noticed a toy in their collections for the Great Gnomergan Race! Completing the Quest will reward players with this toy!We won't spoil everything yet but it's perfectly themed for our runs!
Trading Post:
There are 2 objectives in the Trading Post for October 2026.Join the footrace at New Tinkertown in Dun Morogh and then completing the Run which awards 100 Trader's Tender.Run as a level 15 or under Gnome in a Pink Mageweave Shirt and complete the run "in style" which awards 150 Trader's Tender
Can I be a Mechagnome?
While the trading post objective mentions them, for the basis of the event...They don't have pink hair 💔If you REALLY REALLY want to be one maybe consider a super cute transmog to help this hair color oversight! 🥰
Pink Shirts:
In addition to the shirts for you to buy for transmog: Every guild bank has 1,000s of pink shirts for you to withdraw and wear!We may also be passing them out in the starting zone.
Tabards:
Tabards were made BoP in Legion and cannot be traded!In addition to the new vendor at the starting zone: You can also mail yourself an Heirloom tabard from your other characters who have access to guild vendor or own one already. There are mailboxes in the starting zone.
Cross Realm Invites:
There will be absolutely no Cross Realm invites for this. You must be on Scarlet Crusade or it’s connected realm Feathermoon. I’m unable to facilitate people who are off realm. Simply roll a new character on the specified server and join in the fun that way!You can download and use a US trial account if you do not play World of Warcraft or your account is in the EU/Asia regions. If your account is inactive, you can use the Veteran Account Feature and play up to level 20! You may have to go through the intro questline if you do not have a max level character on the Trial or Veteran Accounts!
Trial & Vet Accounts:
Trial accounts cannot join guilds, but you can run along with us, and we do have some ways to count you all. You can also join our discord still!If you have not hit max level on a Trial or Vet Account you may have to do the new player scenario added in late BfA so plan accordingly.
After party:
Yes! On both Retail and Classic we always head to Orgrimmar afterwards to give out kisses, hugs and licks to...whoever is the current head of the capitol! …We’ve licked a whole lot of Horde leaders over the years to be honest.
Hashtags?:
RunningoftheGnomes & GnomeRun2026
Guilds:
Guilds:
Guild List 2026:
TBA! CHECK BACK SOONMore guilds will be announced on our social media and discord as needed if the guilds are overly full just before the event.
Why Guilds:
Because level 1s cannot join raid groups, and that would be a lot of raid groups anyhow, we opt to use guilds instead as we can coordinate more players via a guild. We will not be arranging any raid groups.
We ask that even while it’s hectic, or there’s multiple guilds, we ask that you only join the guilds we’ve confirmed for a variety of reasons:We use the guilds to give out directions during the runWe don’t want people to have unexpectedly negative experiences in a random guildOr be scammed with a false donation link.We do use them to have some idea of how many people are at the event too!Please do not make your own guilds. We will not be adding other guilds we are not in control of for the above reasons.You cannot pick your guilds, and if someone isn't inviting into one with the name you want, we won't be logging over to do so, they may be full, etc. It’s just whichever one we are currently inviting to when we are passing out invites! We’re sorry, and ask that you please help us by not leaving and joining guilds! There's thousands of you and only a few of us!We also will only be giving out invite powers to people we know as well.But! Whispering those of us spamming chat with instructions to do so the exact word INVITE will auto trigger our addon (thanks to Ellypse for making it!) to get you a guild invite unless you have a trial account and we're very fast at inviting!
Some of the Gnomes gathering for the very first Gnome Run!
History, Background & Other Info:
What is this event? I thought it was an in game micro-holiday?
The Running of the Gnomes is an event where the whole of the Warcraft community gathers on one singular server, Scarlet Crusade and rolls level 1 Gnomes to travel from the Gnome starting zone to Booty Bay to help raise awareness and funds for Charities that make an actual impact on Breast Cancer.What started out as a guild organized yearly migration was so popular with players and the community that Blizzard honored the event with a Micro-Holiday called The Great Gnomeregan Run that occurs yearly on the same date worldwide. The micro holiday provides players with a race course and NPCs to cheer them on!While the Micro-Holiday occurs everywhere the community and gathering of players is still held on only on Scarlet Crusade-USThe community event benefits charities we love, and gathers together people worldwide.
Are you still raising funds for charity?
Yes! You can check out our Tiltify or the charity info [on this site] for more about the Fred Hutch cancer center and our plans to also raise money for The Pink Fund!
Why Gnomes?
In Wrath of the Lich King Gnomes were one of the only Races with Pink Hair making it easy for everyone to coordinate.(Back then my guild also said no way to making 40 pink Mageweave shirts back then, lol, and then 150 people came the first year, and thank goodness we didn't go with shirts, that's a lotta shirts we would be making years later!!)They also fit the idea of something “Small” together adding up to something big when together.
Why Breast Cancer? isn’t there a ton of attention for this already?
And isn't this trivializing it?We all know October is breast cancer awareness month. And, moreover, likely every single Warcraft player has been impacted by cancer in some way shape or form.Using something cute, weird, and unusual makes starting a hard conversation easier sometimes. And the runs have come to provide a space for many of the community where they can yell into the void about loss and wins with cancer.Plus, we really realize that breast cancer isn’t just a "older woman's" issue like how it's been presented in the past. It truly can affect anyone, at any age. Knowing the signs of all types of cancers is important.
We try to work with charities and projects that don't always get as much attention as some others that shall go nameless, unfortunately.We feel even if the pink hair and cute outfits or all these Gnomes remind just one single person to check themselves to get a mammogram or encourage that family member who hears about to go in to the doctor and get any cancer screening, we've done a good job. Especially in a community where oftentimes many of us feel we’re too young for needing this sort of care.Plus it’s really hard to miss thousands of Gnomes doing anything, let alone thousands of Gnomes with the same colored hair stampeding through half a continent. Even out of game it gets people talking for a day or two.
FAQ's
Do I have to have pink hair?
No, but it's kind of the point of doing something as a big group together! Most people who pick a different hair color wind up switching because they realize it's more silly and fun as a group.
I was the first Gnome to Booty Bay what did I win?
Keep in mind this is a run to spark a conversation, honor others, do something fun, raise money. It's not a race-race. Staying together is a good fun option!There's also some benefits these days to sticking together!
Can I use a mount?
There's sometimes benefits to using the heirloom choppers for people who fall behind, or passenger mounts for helping people, but the server does better with less mounts and there's some benefits this year to not doing so!
Can I have a pet/use toys/trinkets and other fun stuff!
Absolutely...within reason.We do ask that if there's certain pets, toys or trinkets that cause zonewide disruption, influence on other players experience via debuffs or transformation, or chat spam, that you reconsider using them at the event as it causes lag and could cause server disruptions or strain.Note: Players caught using items, or spamming in a way to intentionally cause disruptions via other forms of communication that will impact play or cause disconnections for other players or are in other ways harmful to other players will be reported.
Why not (other cause/charity) or (can you do other cause charity)?
We've really increased the number of events we do year round since October of 2025! We have more events planned for a pretty wide variety of causes, some of which you all haven't seen us do before, into 2027!We're always open to suggestions, but we can also say that the best way to see a community event that you want to see is to plan yourselves too, there's only so many hours in a day but there's always room for more community gatherings! We started out as a guild of 40 people back in 2011 and persistence and consistency paid off with this event!
Can I be a Mechagnome?
While the trading post objective mentions them, for the basis of the event...They don't have pink hair 💔If you REALLY REALLY want to be one maybe consider a super cute transmog to help this hair color oversight! 🥰
Classic & Forever:
Classic & Forever:
There is not a plan for a Classic run this year as we know everyone is really busy enjoying the wide variety of game modes already available, various other games, and preparing for the upcoming expansion! We will let you know if we want to revisit the Classic or Forever Gnome Run in the future!Warcraft Forever challenge. (Check back soon!)
Charity Info:
This year we are raising funds for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center!!
They are a leading Research Facility that provides a wide variety of cancer research and treatment. You can read about their research here, and their breast cancer research [here] including various clinical trials on both pages.We selected this charity due to the reduction in funding for deeply needed research like this over the last few years.On Tiltify you can either donate an amount of your choice OR even select the "rewards" of how you would like to help the program. You get the gift of knowing that you are furthering Cancer Research in the specific way of your choosing instead of a traditional "reward".Options range from $1 providing a day of disposable gloves for a scientist to $50 providing 2 entire hours of a researcher's time and much more! You can even pic a wide variety of other options.
Donate to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
Our Fourthwall Merch Store items for the Gnome Run will also benefit our Friends at The Pink Fund!
The Pink Fund is a charity that directly helps people who are in treatment for Breast Cancer with the unexpected costs and financial strains of Cancer beyond medical expenses.They hope to help reduce the burden of financial toxicity and stress placed on those getting unexpected and vital medical treatment so they can avoid a greater risk of mortality, have a higher quality of life and mental well being and improve their quality of cancer care. This is done via a90 day grant to assist with things like housing, transportation and most importantly, insurance.For info about the Pink Fund, and how they use the donated funds, check out their website!
What about the Touhy Vaccine?
Dr. Touhy passed away before 2023's year's run but those who worked with him at the Learner Research Institute and at Anixa Biosciences are continuing to research a wide variety of different types of Cancers.When we started our fundraising efforts, the vaccine was in it's theoretical research stages, and now, Dr. Kumar has carried the Dr. Touhy's research across the threshold and the vaccine is in the second phase with a third phase planned. The research is now housed the publicly traded Anixa Biosciences. We're hoping to see a bright future for everyone with this research our community helped raise funds for! If we see that the team or other teams like Fred Hutchinson need more help in the future due to governmental budget cuts, we will revisit our assistance to them!
COntact us:
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