Dance Marathon to raise funds for hospital

Faculty, students and staff are invited to participate in the 2nd Annual Dance Marathon 5K. The Nov. 22 race will raise money for the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.

Kate Phelps, race director for the event and senior in communication studies, said she hopes there will be a large turnout to support the event.

“We are very excited,” she said. “We are hoping to have around one hundred participants this year. We have a lot of local businesses participating by sponsoring the event, including the Runner’s Market and Dick’s Sporting Goods.”

The 5K was created in order to foster more involvement on campus, Amanda Dail, who works in Dance Marathon’s media relations department and is a senior in marketing, said.

“The 5K got started to get more student involvement with Dance Marathon,” Dail said. “We had done a golf tournament in years past, but we wanted to bring it back on UT’s campus.”

Phelps also said that the course for the race is certified as a 5K track.

“The course is a certified course, so basically if you run a lot of 5Ks, you can use your time from the race in bigger races,” she said.

The Dance Marathon event is something that began back in the 1970s, Dail added.

“The philanthropy first began at Penn State University in 1973,” Dail said. “Today, 77 colleges and universities have a dance marathon event on their campuses. The dance marathon event at UT began in 1995.”

Dail said that students work on raising money for the event year-round through fundraisers, such as collecting cans at football and basketball games. The fundraiser culminates in the spring with the big event: the all-night dance marathon.

“UT students give a day of their lives for the life of a child,” Dail said. “Throughout its history here at UT, thousands of students have raised more than $900,000 for children with cancer and other blood-related diseases, making Dance Marathon the largest-run event that benefits the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.”

Phelps added that teams participating in the race have the opportunity to earn spirit points for the Donna Rainey Miracle Cup.

“You can sign up for the event on the day of the 5K, or you can go online anytime and print off the registration form,” Phelps said. “Also, T-shirts, food and gift items will be provided at the event.”

The Dance Marathon organization wants to raise more money this year than they did last year.

“Last year we raised $54,000, so our goal for this year is $60,000,” Dail said. “That is our goal for the whole event, not just the 5K.”

The 5K is open to everyone, and awards will be given out in different age groups, Phelps said. Registration forms for the 5K can be found online at the Dance Marathon Web site, http://www.utkdm.com.