24 Hour Challenge Run - Est. 1999

Designed for hist school seniors, this was a mandatory event, and their final exam.  The instructor of these students was Tony Calabrese, and although I had known him for years, his presentation had lit a passion in me.  Feeling our students were capable of such a challenge if given the chance  with some guidance, I set out to develop the program for our students.

With hopes of getting two teams of 15 together our first year, I was full of enthusiasm when it came time to fire the first starting gun.  We had seven teams (110 students) that first run.  It was by far the best thing I had ever done and experienced as a teacher and was an emotional time for everyone!  Over the years the training is harder, the teams are smaller (less of a break between runs), the miles are more, the requirements are more strict.  But each year the program strengthens, the students run more miles, set more records, achieve more goals, learn and experience more, and the event runs smoother.  We consistently average 40% of the school running in the event, from a wide range of abilities and also personal reasons for participating.

After many years of Mr. Calabrese promoting his program to hundreds of teachers, I was the only one to take on the challenge to do it ourselves.  I am now taking that Tony shared with me along with the experiences I've had with our program, and presented this event all around the country.  Since then there are now many schools that run their version of the 24 Hour Challenge Run.  From high schools to elementary schools they are providing a positive educational experience that will last a lifetime.

• Families training together with engaged family time and involvement.
• Parents getting in shape - resulting in adult teams.
• Lundahl alumni of the run coming back as college students and forming alumni teams.
• 2nd graders excited about the run and looking forward to coming to Lundahl.
• Students training 9-10 months before the event.
• Unbelievable parent support for this event and during the run.
• Parents coming back to help at the event even though their kids are no longer at Lundahl.
• Seen on the channel 2 News seven times!
• Lundahl is identified in the community by this event.
• Students and parents that have been influenced by this event and have become marathoners, triathletes and Ironman athletes.
• University students and Professors from around the state visiting the event and using this as a model to what can be achieved by the students and professionals.