On Saturday, June 6, the University of Minnesota athletics department was represented at the HopeKids sixth-annual Suburban Adventure Walk and Run at the Brandtjen Farm Community in Lakeville, Minnesota.
The Golden Gophers were represented by Chris Johnson, Rebecca, Weiland, and Devin Ste. Marie from swimming, Mo Walker from men’s basketball, and Matthew Jergenson and Titania Markland from men’s and women’s cross country and track and field. The student-athletes helped out with the event by serving lunch, talking and interacting with the children and getting signatures on t-shirts for donors from the HopeKids and their siblings.
The HopeKids Suburban Adventure Walk is a five or 10 kilometer run or walk in the neighborhood of Brandtjen Farm. Families can create fundraising teams to help sponsor their runs or individuals can run on their own. This year marked the sixth year of the Suburban Run, and the past five years of the event have raised over $375, 000 to benefit HopeKids Minnesota.
Many families and friends braved the rainy weather on Saturday to come participate in the event. The Gophers had a great time meeting the families and talking to some of the HopeKids there. After lunch, everyone gathered to watch one of the event’s biggest sponsors, Relentless, have members of its team perform heavy lifting tasks. One young man dead-lifted a car, and another man pulled a fire truck behind him as families and children lined up down the road to watch and cheer him on.
Relentless is a group of power lifters that hosted an event this past March where members competed to raise the most money for HopeKids. Relentless raised an impressive $196,000 for HopeKids, so it was exciting for the HopeKids organization and its families to watch and meet some of the power lifters at the Suburban Adventure.
The Gopher student-athletes look forward to the next event with HopeKids at the annual HopeDay Festival on Sunday, September 7th.
Source: http://www.gophersports.com/sports/student-affairs/spec-rel/060914aaa.html
