24-hour run aids students, quake victims
By JERRY SOIFER
Special to The Press-Enterprise
Mieko Morita was trying to send a message of help halfway around the world from Corona to her native Japan. Ed Ettinghausen of Wildomar was trying to set a world record.
Morita, 47, of Santa Monica, and Ettinghausen, 48, were two of a group of men and women who recently set out to run and walk 24 hours around the quarter-mile dirt track at Auburndale Intermediate School in Corona to benefit the school's 100-mile club, which teaches life skills and fitness to children striving to run and walk 100 miles at school during the year.
Morita, who was born in the small town of Ashiya, near Kobe, also wanted to help the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
She covered more than 60 miles to raise more than $1,200.
Ettinghausen traversed four 26.2 mile marathons in 24 hours. He then intended to take part in the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday.
The other 24-hour participants included Steve Hernandez, 43, of Temple City; Laurel Kahn, 55, of Chatsworth; Mikey Lopez, 43, of Riverside; Rose Meiri, 29, of Reseda; Joe Nakamura, 32, of Upland; Erik Schnautz, 43, of Alhambra; Sol Shapiro, 49, of Corona; Christina Sorensen, 39, of San Francisco; Allessandro Struppa, 25, of Irvine; Daniel Struppa, 55, of Irvine; Bjoern Kampmann, 38, of Brea; and Darren Van Soye, 49, of Anaheim.
The run started Friday at 9 p.m. with the track barely illuminated by a pair of lights. Each participant carried a computer chip that was counted as it passed the start-finish line. Participants were allowed to stop for naps. They also were fed through the course of the day. It finished Saturday at 9 p.m.
The men, women and children who participated in the 24-hour run raised about $12,000.
No comments:
Post a Comment