A WILD 2019 UNITED NYC HALF MARATHON TEAM
Elia Auchane smiles as she passes Mile 11 north of Times Square in Manhattan.
Our amazing team of 13 runners hit the streets of NYC on Sunday morning March 17th, adding meaning to their miles as they ran a half-marathon 13 mile (20km) route through the streets of Brooklyn and Manhattan to support our wildlife conservation work. Together the team raised over $13,000 to help protect elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards, hyena and other incredible species and their habitats in southern Africa.
As an official New York Road Runner (NYRR) charity partner, Wild Tomorrow Fund was allocated 12 charity runner spots for the 2019 United Airlines NYC half marathon this year, with an additional registered runner also joining the team to dedicate his run to African wildlife conservation. It was a record year for the race with an incredible 24,659 runners crossing the finish line!
Each runner ran to help protect the lives of threatened and endangered species in southern Africa.
Each runner that applied for a spot on the Wild Tomorrow Fund “Wild” team had wonderful individual reasons to want to run in support of elephants, wildlife conservation and Wild Tomorrow Fund. In total, we had 32 applications for 12 running spots. Each runner committed to fundraising a minimum of $1000 each in support of our work, and told us why wildlife protection was an important cause to run for.
Here are some of the amazing stories from our inspiring runners:
Claudia Morrow ran for Wild Tomorrow Fund for her son, Caleb, who is studying to be a zookeeper and has dedicated his life to working with and for animals. “Conservation and education about our planet's most vulnerable inhabitants is his passion", said Claudia who ran “for Caleb and for the animals who need our protection before it's too late.”
Steve Williams from Sydney Australia at the finish line!
Steve Williams from Sydney Australia had personally travelled to Africa and seen first-hand the threats faced by wildlife. He was also very fortunate to be able to spend time in Sumatra, Indonesia, at the Sumatran rhino sanctuary. Sumatran rhinos are critically endangered with fewer than 80 remaining. This is why Steve decided to run for the conservation of elephants, rhinos and other endangered species.
Wendy Brooke grew up in Zambia and is very concerned about conservation in Africa, and more generally about the state of our planet.
Fernando Pinto joined the team all the way from Sao Paulo, Brazil. He is concerned about the risk to the environment and wildlife all around the world, and dedicated his run for rhinos and elephants. He ran like a cheetah, finishing in a very fast 1 hour and 43 minutes!
Jerry Buckley joined the team from San Diego. He has been collecting elephant items from statues to ties and more, for over 40 years, making him very much an elephant lover. He ran for elephants, an animal he told us he admires for their beauty, strength, family values and emotional intelligence.
Bill Prahofer from Chicago dedicated his run to elephants. On a recent trip to Thailand, he visited the Elephant Nature Park in Chiangmai, home to elephants rescued from abuse. Spending the day with elephants living free and saved from other places of hurt and abuse was one of Bill’s most memorable days ever spent on a trip. “Wildlife conservation is something I've always been willing to support” said Bill. “It's not only important to us now; but for future generations.”
Thank you to our incredible team of runners. We look forward to more energetic events this year, dedicated to helping save wildlife and wild spaces in southern Africa. #runfortheirlives #wildtomorrow#UnitedNYCHalf
Check out a youtube clip of our happy wild runners at Mile 11, just north of Times Square with only 2 miles to go to the finish line in Central Park.