The Adeona Foundation is thrilled to announce the second annual Team Adeona ING NYC Marathon Fundraising Team! This year The Adeona Foundation was selected as a Community Charity by the New York Road Runners, and are honored to be representing organizations that work in and in support of New York City. In addition to our team members (listed below), we are fortunate enough to have Marty Lawlor, Kristen Gastler and Nick Rowland joining us. After obtaining entrance to the marathon through their own efforts, each of them made the selfless decision to fundraise for The Adeona Foundation. We thank all the team members for their dedication to the Foundation, are extremely grateful for their efforts and long hours, and look forward to supporting them before and especially on race day!
Grant Hewit is a co-founder of The Adeona Foundation, and is proud to be a part of Team Adeona for the 2010 NYC Marathon. It will be his second time running all 5 boroughs, having put up a 3:52 in 2008. He attributes his last 5 miles to the knowledge that he had a peanut butter sandwich in his bag at the finish. Fresh off of the 70.3 Half Ironman in Bristol, NH, the NYC Triathlon and the Nation's Triathlon in Washington, DC, his reintroduction to racing in more than spandex is welcomed by Grant and all fans with half decent eye sight.
Find Grant's fundraising page: HERE
Ryan Walters is from Garden City, NY. This is his first marathon, having only completed half-marathons and triathlons previously. His most recent race was the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon, which he describes as “tougher than Sean Connery and Nic Cage made it look”. Ryan was roommates at Boston College with inaugural Team Adeona Marathoner Chris McCann, with whom he’s made a friendly wager regarding finishing times. Each of Ryan’s training sessions starts off with the Gin Blossoms’ “Hey Jealousy”. While fund-raising, he likes to remind people that there’s always money in the banana stand. Finally, he’s promised Adeona better race-day preparation than last year’s Miami International Triathlon… when he had to take a cab at 6am from his hotel directly to the 7am starting line.
Find Ryan's fundraising page: HERE
One of our “extra awesome runners” Marty Lawlor attained entry into the NYC Marathon through the lottery and has still opted to support The Adeona Foundation through his fundraising. Hailing from Morristown, NJ he plans to derive motivation for this year’s Marathon from his ‘99 first place finish in his age category (out of one runner) in the Morris Center YMCA 5K Run. In addition, the early morning rowing sessions during his college days should aptly ready him for the painful preparation necessary to cruise 26.2 miles in his inaugural venture into distance running.
Find Marty's fundraising page: HERE
Pike Howard will be running his first marathon and is excited about the opportunity to be a part of Team Adeona. The Baltimore native is a graduate of the University of Virginia and has decided, that while dance-offs on Saturday nights have been more than rewarding, the former UVA lacrosse player, could further challenge himself with something beyond the scope of a scene from the movie Zoolander. Pike is currently employed for Bank of America Merrill Lynch as an equity trader and is looking forward to what should be a great challenge and an exciting day.
Find Pike's fundraising page: HERE
This will be Kristen Gastler's first marathon. She ran the 9 + 1 races through New York Road Runner’s last year to qualify but wanted to add structure and a cause to her run so is helping raise money for the Adeona Foundation. She is a Denison graduate and has run in multiple half-marathons in the last couple years. Kristen is excited to be a part of the team and what should be a tough challenge, but rewarding experience.
Find Kristen's fundraising page: HERE
Hunter Merghart will be running his first marathon ever and is excited that he gets to commemorate the most athletic endeavor he's ever done, by far, in support of Team Adeona. Originally from Basking Ridge, NJ and a graduate of Colgate University, he previously made it 2 years in a row to the Charleston Bridge Run, although the 15 hour drive through the night the first year after missing his flight took a small toll. He plans to train exclusively on his Wii and will be tweeting/blogging and facebooking every 1/4 mile that he runs. Besides donations to the Adeona foundation, marathon mixtape music suggestions for the hopefully under 4 hour run are highly encouraged.
Find Hunter's fundraising page:
HERE
The Adeona Foundation wants to invite everyone to support Team Adeona in its inaugural year. In order to rally behind our fundraisers and help them overcome the challenge, all donations greater than $65 will receive a limited edition “Team Adeona” shirt to be worn on Marathon Sunday.
All of the funds raised by Team Adeona will benefit The Adeona Foundation’s Sports Initiative. This initiative focuses on raising money to provide deprived athletic teams and after school programs the tools they need to teach the confidence and character building life lessons that participation in these programs provide to children. The Adeona Foundation is a not-for-profit public charity recognized by the IRS under 501(c)(3) and all donations are tax-deductible.