GUTS to GLORY
Picking Up the Pace:
Students Run in Portland, Racewalk in Texas, Walk for
Organ Donor Awareness in San Francisco

By Susan Rich

Students Run Portland

A.C.Jaime and his racewalking team in Texas

The Organ's 'R' Us Kiddie Pede

Maida Mechanic was cruising an LA freeway, listening to the radio, when she heard the news that would change her life. The station was broadcasting a feature on Students Run LA, an after-school program aimed at teaching at-risk students on how to safely run a marathon and she asked herself, “Why not in Portland?”

Working with Portland Parks and Recreation and NikeGo, her version of the program, called Students Run Portland (SRP), stepped off at the 2004 Nike RunHit Wonder. “We recruited, trained, and provided free running shoes to about 500 students,” who participated in the 3.1 mile event, she says.

By training for age-appropriate distance events everything from a three-mile fun run to the Portland Marathon, students learn about goal-setting, discipline, respect, and fitness.

Now in its second year, Mechanic hopes SRP will eventually dovetail with the success of Students Run LA, where more than 95% of students complete the marathon, and more than 90% graduate high school (LA Unified School District average is 65%).

Last February, SRP was launched as a pilot program at Albina Youth Opportunity School, Open Meadow, Marshall, Roosevelt, and Reynolds high schools. Today, more than 30 teachers support the program, and they report a marked improvement in student attendance, appearance, completion of school work, and a positive, can-do attitude, she says.

SRP has garnered support from Portland Fit, a marathon-training company, and Portland Running & Walking Company, a local retailer. “Our marathon students train with Portland Fit on Saturdays, where they receive enthusiastic support from the running community,” Mechanic says.

About 67 SRP athletes are expected to participate in the Portland Marathon, slated for October 9, 2005.

Whether a marathon is a safe activity for our nation’s sedentary youths is continually debated. However, “All the kids have had a medical check before they can enter the program,” Mechanic explains. “And it is not expected that they will ‘run’ the marathon — realistically there will be a bunch of walkers, walking together, with their mentors and teachers.”

A.C. Jaime knows the secret to getting young people to become racewalkers. “You talk to them when they are third, fourth, or fifth graders. This is the age where they are most susceptible to try the sport. Any older, and peer pressure starts, other kids say it’s silly.”

Jaime adds wryly: “So if you cannot grasp a kid at that age, you have to wait until they are 50 or 60 years old,” when the sport again becomes appealing for different reasons.

Since the mid-1990s, Jaime has been involved in racewalking, beginning with himself. Always athletic, Jaime gained a lot of weight as an adult. When he decided to get fit again, he quit smoking, became a strict vegetarian, and hit the walking trail. In 1998 he became the Texas 5K Racewalk Champion in the 60 to 64 age bracket, and had open heart surgery three weeks later — the result of a lifetime of bad eating habits. Three days after surgery he was back to racewalking. He later qualified and participated in the Senior Olympics in Florida in 1999.

With an impressive walking resume snapped under his belt, Jaime turned his attention to teaching kids the sport. Hitting the elementary schools clustered around his home town of McAllen, TX, a town just seven miles from the Mexican border, Jaime and his staff, sometimes including Olympic racewalker Tim Seaman, host clinics for as many as 3,000 elementary school students.

Racewalking captures the imagination of several hundred students who eventually have to qualify for a place on the team. “We try not turn anyone away, but we have rules,’ Jaime says. Academic success is one of them. Parental participation is another. “We want parents to come in and help out, keep track of times, give water to the kids. We find that when parents are involved, they keep their kids involved.”

Over the years, Jaime has groomed top performers, including Roberto and Ricardo Vergara, 15-year-old twins who both have the potential to become Olympic contenders. Organ-Donor Awareness “Centipede” Walks in San Francisco.

What is 60’ long, sports a giant glaring eyeball, an equally large replica of a human heart, and is propelled by 26 tiny feet? The Organs ‘R’ Us (ORU) Kiddie Pede, a regular fixture in San Francisco’s annual Bay to Breakers footrace.

Last May this shambling critter was carried by 13 organ recipients, ages 1 to 16, walking to raise awareness that organ donors save lives. This year’s youngest participant was pushed in a stroller by her parents: Year-old Katrina Thang is in need of a heart and lung transplant, explains Jeff Shapiro, MD, and spokesperson for the nonprofit group.

“The children who walk this (12K) send a powerful message about becoming an organ donor and telling your family about that decision,” Shaprio says. “There are 88,000 people in the U.S. waiting for an organ transplant, of which 5,000 are children. Eighteen people die every day because an organ is not available.”

The goal of ORU is to promote organ donation through walking and running. The Bay to Breakers footrace is one of many events that goes toward achieving this goal. The Relay, a 199-mile run that resembles Portland’s own Hood-to-Coast, is another. For walkers, this year marks the first time they can participate in a scaled-down version of this event. The 128-mile course gives walkers a 70-mile head start on the runners and ends in the same location, just over the Golden Gate Bridge.

“Getting out and walking for the weekend is an adventure in itself,” Shapiro notes. “But when you do it for a cause, that makes it more important and special.”

Although registration is closed for the October 15-16, 2005 event, walkers should mark their calendars for next year. For more information, visit www.therelay.com.