Runners around the world are rallying to raise money for victims of the devastating bush fires in Australia, and that includes at least two events in the Denver area.
Australian ultrarunner Samantha Gash has created an inviting runners around the world to participate on the weekend of Jan. 18-19 by running a half marathon or 5K. The cost of registration in the virtual event is $50, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund.
Participants can run their virtual races by themselves or hook up with community runs. As of Wednesday afternoon, 4,435 runners had entered, raising 256,000 Australian dollars ($177,000 U.S.). Denver community runs for the relief effort include one starting at the Berkeley Running Co., and another in City Park. Both are set for Jan. 18.
“I found myself watching the news 24/7, pretty much, over the past couple of weeks, feeling quite a lot of despair about the state of crisis with the bush fires all across Australia, and it was monumentally getting worse and worse,” Gash told The Denver Post. “There was a lot of outrage, and I just felt that I needed to take some type of action. I had this idea, whilst I was actually on a run: I wonder if we could get my running community to take part in a virtual run which potentially would engage people all around Australia and maybe in some parts around the world.”
Gash has a history of using running for fundraising. She ran non-stop across Australia’s Simpson Desert in 2012 to raise money for a children’s education initiative, ran South Africa’s Freedom Trail to help women in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2014, and ran across India in 2016 in support of World Vision, an international humanitarian organization.
She took her Relief Run idea to a friend who helped her create a website, which was up and running within a couple of days.
“Realistically, I thought we would get about 200 registrations, and I thought that would be a decent individual effort,” Gash said. “Within the first 24 hours, we had raised over $100,000 (Australian). The take-up in the U.S. has been really positive. It’s been overwhelmingly beautiful in the face of a lot of adversity. It’s been optimistic and positive for people to see the power of everyone collectively pulling together.”
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Denver runner Amy Woolridge, who is organizing the Berkeley Running Co. event, also felt compelled to do something and the Relief Run gave her a way.
“Like most people following this, it’s really stressful to watch from afar the destruction that’s happening and not feel like you can do anything to help because it’s so far away,” said Woolridge, co-founder of Denver’s Citius RC running club. “Even if it’s in your backyard, it’s really hard to feel like you can make a difference. I love to run, and I love my running community. When I saw my running community globally was doing this, I thought it’s something we can do and feel like you’re making a small impact.”
The other local event, the Australia Relief Run Denver, has and is hosted by Troy Coleman.
