By Clint Wolf | BDN Connection, Wisconsin
The annual event to promote organ and tissue donation drew a healthy crowd at the Rock Restaurant Saturday morning.
About 135 runners and walkers had pre-registered for the event and a total of about 200 participants was estimated at the starting line when the run/walk began.
“It’s another beautiful day,” said Jeff Rath, father of Hailey Rath and co-founder of the event.
The Hailey Rath Run was established in memory of Hailey Rath, who died at the age of 13 in a car accident in December of 2005. Though she died young, she lives on though organ and tissue donations.
“She has touched 75 lives in the United States,” Jeff Rath said. “And her heart beats in the body of an 18-year-old girl in Michigan.”
Representatives from the UW Health Organ Procurement Organization were on hand to tell people how they can sign up to be organ donors, and some were even signed up online as donors at the event.
As for the participants, some had personal reasons for participate.
“Hailey was a friend of our family,” said Alex Hauri, who had turned out with Bill Hauri and 9-year-old Jackson Hauri to participate in the 5K jaunt.
But, for Ben Franzen, it was a good day to get a healthy run in.
“I run every day and when I heard about this, I said, why not,” he said.
The route was a bit different for runners and walkers this year. Normally, the run went through Riverside Park, but this year the construction project on Riverside Drive would have made the route through the park difficult. Instead, runners sprinted along Fourth Street on the west side of the Rock River and circled around back to the Rock Restaurant.
At the end of the race people could listen to music, make bids in a silent auction, enjoy food and drinks and take part in other activities.
For information about the Hailey Rath 5K Run/Walk, go to the website at www.haileyrath5K.org. For more information about organ and tissue donation, go to the website www.donatelifewisconsin.com.
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