The MRA Archive

The first Toyrun was held by the San Fernando Valley Charter of the Hells Angels in America 1973.

That first run, 200 bikes escorted two truck loads of toys from Griffith Park to Los Angeles city hall. 

A week after the first toy run in El Lay, a couple of clubs in Bergen, New Jersey named the Skyway

Riders and the Travelers held their own toy run.  “A number of residents here were terrified” the New

York Times reported, “But the worst never came.  There were no gang fights…or the assorted other

crimes depicted on television.”

Suddenly, people liked us.  They really, really liked us.  And, if you listened hard enough you could

hear bikers all over the country thinking, “What a great idea!”

Toy runs popped up like mushrooms.  The next year, 1974, there wasn’t a biker’s rights organization

or an outlaw club in America that didn’t sponsor a toy run.  By the time Harley-Davidson invented its

own club, the Harley Owners Group (HOG), in 1983 the toy run had become an institution.

 

In 1978 the MRA began their Toyrun with a small band of riders that met in Albert Park to pass on toys

to the Salvation Army. Since these humble beginnings, Toyruns have spread all over

Australia. More than 500,000 motorcyclists have participated

in MRA Toyruns which continue today. The traditional Melbourne Toyrun is now hosted by

the Victorian Motorcycle Council. Check out the www.toyrun.org.au website for

more details of a Toyrun near you and have a look through the photo history of Toyruns below.