4K for Cancer Runners enjoy pizza at Gepetto’s

Dozens of young adults running across America to raise awareness and support for young adults with cancer enjoyed a pizza dinner at Gepetto’s on Wednesday night June 21 during their rest stop in Burney.

4K for Cancer Runners enjoy Pizza at Gepetto’s

Twenty-eight runners from more than a dozen states are making the run. Many of them have had family members who were victims of cancer. They left San Francisco on June 18 and will finish in New York on August 5.

Runners run between 6 and 16 miles each day. Team members are partnered up with the same teammate for their day’s miles, but a different teammate each day.  Pairs are dropped along the route in two-mile increments. At the end of each segment they have time to rest in the support van. Every  3-6 days, the whole team stops for a rest stop.

Word of Life Church (WOLA) is hosting the runners while they are here. Kathy Newton helped to organize their stay. The runners arrived on June 20th. The 21st is a rest day during which they visited Burney Falls. On June 22, they will resume their cross-country run.

Prior to their visit, Ms. Newton gave a presentation at the Rotary Club of Burney-Fall River and Robert Moore, the owner of Gepetto’s, generously offered to provide them a pizza dinner.

The 4K for Cancer is a program of the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults,  a non-profit organization that changes lives by creating a community of support for young adults and their loved ones impacted by cancer.

Rachel Sortino from Omaha, Nebraska and Sandy Lam from Indiana are co-directors for this run. Abby Rentschler from Sabine, Michigan is the leg leader for the California and Oregon stretch of the run helping to plan places to stay along route.

Sandy Lam, Abby Rentschler, and Rachel Sortino

Ms. Sortino’s father is a cancer survivor. He took up marathon running and challenged his daughter to join him. Subsequently, they have run five or six races together. She has also been involved in the cancer support community. She decided to join the 4K for Cancer Run because it is an “amazing combination of the two.”

Ms. Sortino said, “Our goal is to raise awareness for the Ullman Cancer Fund’s mission to provide support and services for young adults with cancer while also raising money for those services.”