This year the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program, one of the first endurance events benefiting a charitable cause, celebrates its 20th Anniversary. I participated in TNT in 2001 and walked the Anchorage Alaska Marathon. In fact this is what I had to say about the program:
While I had walked 5K’s and done other type of fundraising, Team in Training is what really got me hooked on fundraising events. There are so many great things about TNT, I cannot begin to describe it!
Crossing the finish line at that marathon is still one of the best moments of my life. Even though I have done other events since then that was my first biggie and will always be remembered fondly. It impacts the participants and most importantly helps the Society make strides in research and services for people going through Leukemia & Lymphoma.
Check out this video that shows the history and impact that the program has made.
The Corona del Mar, California charity CureDuchenne had a team running in the O.C. Marathon this past Sunday. The team of about 70 runners represented the charity wearing neon green capes.
Debra and Paul Miller founded CureDuchenne after their son was diagnosed with the Duchenne muscular dystrophy in 2002.
According to The Daily Pilot (Newport Beach & Costa Mesa, California):
CureDuchenne raised about $45,000 last year, making it the top charity fundraiser to participate in the marathon. “We were so pumped last year and so hyped up. It was really a fantastic feeling,” [Debra] Miller said.
The CureDuchenne Crusader program actually lets parents and other supporters choose whichever sport they enjoy to raise funds for the cause. Whether it’s running, soccer, bowling, tennis or anything else… Crusader can choose their own sport and have fun supporting a cure for this disease.
Participants commit to raising funds to help find cures for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and the Foundation commits to covering the costs of their transportation, accommodations, race entry fees, and entertainment. Read more… »
15 brothers and sisters in Ireland are soon to become the largest number of siblings to compete in a marathon. The O’Donoghues will run the Dublin City Marathon in Dublin, Ireland on Monday, October 29th. Nine brother and six sisters are participating.
“It’s crazy because no member of our family has ever run or even walked a marathon before, so it is a huge challenge to undertake,” said Ruth O’Donoghue.
The family hopes to raise $50,000 for Down Syndrome Ireland while running the marathon. Their nephew Mark was born with Down Syndrome.
The siblings Siblings Noel, Mary, Therese, Adelaide, Pa, Margaret, Willie, Kieran, Joe, Robert, Cronan, Jimbob, Brenda, Kevin and Louise are between the ages of 32 and 52. They decided to aim for the Guinness World Records when the youngest family member received a copy of Guinness World Records for Christmas and noticed the listing for the largest number of siblings to run a marathon.
Members of Team World Vision were easy to spot at the Chicago Marathon in their orange and white. This year’s race, held on October 7th, was a hot and humid but that didn’t matter to the over 500 members of Team World Vision who ran for children in Africa.
One team member said “seeing the athletes so vulnerable, crying out for water or anything to drink was like experiencing just a tiny yet terrifying taste of the vulnerability which those for whom we are fundraising face every day.” Read more… »
Anastasia Sowinski ran her first marathon when her mother was diagnosed with leukemia in early 2002. Sowinski, a Brookfield, Illinois resident joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program. Sowinski raised five thousand dollars and on the first anniversary of her mother’s death, ran her second marathon.
Sowinski has also ran three other marathons since her Team in Training days. So she has five marathons completed out of her goal of fifty, one for each U.S.A. state. She has run marathons in Alaska, Chicago (Illinois), Miami (Florida), Cincinnati (Ohio and Bloomington (Indiana).
She is preparing to run the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday, October 28th in Arlington, Virginia. On December 1st she will run the Memphis Marathon in Memphis, Tennessee. Sowinski’s goal is to run three to four marathons each year.
For the Marine Corps Marathon Sowinski is raising funds for A Running Start, a charity that helps African children obtain a U.S.A. university education and to use their athletic abilities.
Tim Borland is running multiple marathons during a 63-city A-T CureTour. Boreland began running on Monday, September 3rd in California at Disneyland. He will complete his marathons with the New York City Marathon in New York, NY on Tuesday, November 4th. Boreland hopes to raise $2 million dollars for the A-T Children’s Project.
In every city Borland visits, he stops at the home of a child with A-T. A-T is ataxia-telangiectasia, a rare genetic disease in children. A-T causes severe muscle control due to brain cell death.
“Everybody thinks it’s crazy,” Borland said. “And it is. I would definitely never undertake something like this … for fun or to try to prove something. It’s all about bringing hope to families all around the country.”
About one in every 40,000 children in the U.S.A. is born with A-T. Approximately 500 children in this country have the disease. There is no cure, or ability to delay the progression of the disease.
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Members of Team World Vision were easy to spot at the