TEAM RIO was founded in the winter of 2004 by Diamond Rio's guitarist, Jimmy Olander and Modern Management's Renee Behrman-Greiman during one of their "I'll do it if you do it" conversations. Neither party remembers 100% committing to running the Country Music Marathon and Half Marathon in 2005, however they do remember crossing the finish line for the first time with twenty-five committed team members, an amazing cheering section and raising over $24,000.00 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee. 
Team Rio was born out of a dare and if Jimmy was going to lose a toenail, he was going to get pledged for it. Diamond Rio, long-time National Ambassadors for Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) and Behrman-Greiman, a Big Sister with the agency allocated BBBS as the team's benefactor. In the past five years over $425,000.00 has been raised for the Middle Tennessee agency. Team Rio Running/Walking for Big Brothers Big Sisters is celebrating its SIXTH anniversary and will have over 150 runners/walkers training with a purpose for the 2010 Country Music Marathon and Half Marathon! 
In addition to raising funds and awareness for the agency, a main goal of Team Rio Running/Walking for Big Brothers Big Sisters is to promote health and fitness to local kids. The youth team, TEAM RIO KIDS, partners with local schools to teach and encourage a healthier lifestyle and assist the kids with their training for the Kids Marathon. Team Rio Kids will train within their respective schools or with their parents to complete 25.2 miles prior to April 23rd when they will complete the last mile of the actual course and cross the official Country Music Marathon finish line. SGT Ken, Team Rio Kids Coach, provides training schedules and health tips in his weekly email newsletters, "SGT Ken Says." 
Team Rio's adult coach, Billy Smith, provides training schedules for the full and half marathon on a weekly basis and is available to team members one-on-one for any training or injury questions. Team members train during the week individually and meet for optional group runs on Saturday mornings (there is a smaller group of team members who cannot run on Saturday mornings that meet on Sunday mornings). Additionally, team members will receive coupons and promotional offers to assist in their training efforts and each week a prize is awarded to the team member that raises the most pledges in a seven day period. Team members are required to raise a minimum of $250.00 in pledges and Team Rio makes fundraising EASY for its members though www.teamrio.kintera.org. Team members can customize their own fundraising page through Kintera to send out pledge request emails to friends, family and colleagues.
Team Rio trains with a purpose:
- To raise awareness for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee
- To raise funding for Big Brothers Big Sisters Of Middle Tennessee
- To promote health and fitness to kids Team members make a difference in their community while reaching their personal fitness goals
Team Rio Trivia
- Over 133,767 miles have been run/walked
- 759 plus pairs of shoes worn out
- 769 plus blisters endured
- At least 55 sacrificed toenails
- 37,280 bottles of water have been chugged
