Monday, August 20, 2007
The Blue Planet Run passed through Lawrence Saturday morning on its journey around the world to promote safe drinking water. Runners representing two of the run’s four teams passed the baton at the Wells Overlook County Park entrance.
Brynn Harrington and Heiko Weiner, two of the 20 citizen runners participating in the event, made the exchange.
Harrington finished her 10-mile leg as she passed the baton to Weiner. They recited the message for the Run to remind the runners of their mission. Each runner will end up running at least 760 miles.
Weiner and Harrington are two of 20 citizen runners participating in the event. Weiner works in research and development for the Dow Chemical Company, which sponsors the run by funding all of the expenses for the runners. Harrington works for a nonprofit consulting firm in San Francisco.
Blue Planet Run relay members Brynn Harrington and Heiko Weiner recite information about safer drinking water during a baton handoff ceremony Saturday morning for the international relay. The twenty Blue Planet Run participants take turns running 10-mile shifts constantly keeping the baton in motion as they raise awareness for unsafe drinking conditions that plague over a billion people worldwide.
Harrington said she got involved in the race because the race for safe drinking water could be won. She said the run wasn’t about finding the solution; it was about funding the solution. She said that, unlike with other world issues such as AIDS and cancer, the technology to provide safe drinking water already existed.
Harrington said she had seen both sides during her run.
“I saw the contrast between the places that don’t have safe drinking water and the places with the capacity to donate,” Harrington said.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.1 billion people worldwide don’t have access to safe drinking water. It also estimated that diarrhea killed more children in the past decade than all of the people who had died in armed conflict since World War II.
Jin Zidell, founder of the Blue Planet Run, said he thought of the idea in December 2001.
He said he was walking near a lake that supplied water for his community just north of San Francisco when two runners passed in front of him. He said seeing the runners with the lake in the background inspired him.
“At that moment the words ‘run around the world for safe drinking water’ flashed through my mind,” Zidell said. “I have traveled a lot in the world, and I have seen a lot of situations. All those factors came together. It was an inspiration. I started educating myself about the issue and looking into what it would take to make it happen.”
Zidell said so far the Blue Planet Run Foundation had funded 135 water projects providing safe drinking water for 100,000 people. The Foundation holds a run approximately every two years.
This year, the Run began on June 1, in New York City and will travel through 16 countries before ending back in New York City on Sept. 4. More information can be found at blueplanetrun.org.
— Edited by Matt Erickson
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