More than 35 students from the UA Manderson Graduate School in the Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration will run in the ninth-annual Mercedes-Benz Marathon in Birmingham Friday through Sunday.
An additional 10 student volunteers from the MBA program will help set up water stations and pass out water and energy gels to marathon participants, said David Drummond, a first-year master’s of business adminstration student and the organizer of the MBA marathon team.
“[The volunteers] will also be playing a major role in motivating the runners as they begin to tire,” he said.
The Big Sky Bread Co. and the MBA association are sponsoring the team, dubbed Team Manderson, said Drummond, who is participating.
The Mercedes-Benz Marathon helped to raise more than $1.5 million for local charities in the past, and last year it raised around $9,000, according to a news release.
Some of the charities the marathon sponsors are the Bell Center for Early Intervention Programs and Kid One Transport, said Jill Bledsoe, a first-year MBA student participating in the event.
“For more than 20 years, the Bell Center for Early Intervention Programs has provided treatment for children with special needs, including children born prematurely or with spina bifida, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and a variety of other genetic disorders through its therapy programs,” Drummond said.
The Kid One Transport is a nonprofit charity that helps transport children with special needs, as well as pregnant women, to doctors’ appointments anywhere in Alabama, Bledsoe and Drummond said.
Team Manderson started when Drummond and Bledsoe realized they had a common interest in running marathons.
“When you’re trying to get into the MBA program, part of the application process is being interviewed and giving a presentation about whatever you want,” Bledsoe said. “I had just run a half-marathon, and I was excited about it and had learned a lot, so I decided to give my presentation about how to train for a half-marathon.
“I started talking to [Drummond] and it turned out that he had done his presentation on the exact same thing,” she said. “We recognized there was a strong interest for running in our class and decided we should run as a group.”
Bledsoe and Drummond got together and put their plans into action.
Drummond said they received funding for 50 runners to participate. He said it is the group’s responsibility to take on these kinds of challenges in order to benefit others.
“Not only does this benefit the disadvantaged recipients of this type of charitable giving, it individually benefits the students by instilling a strong sense of accomplishment and confidence in themselves which will prove to be invaluable in their careers,” he said.
Bledsoe said she agreed.
“I personally really appreciate what the Mercedes Marathon does, because [the charities] assist children with special needs,” she said. “[Running in the marathon] is just a neat way to make an impact for people close by who really need help.
“We know who we’re helping, and it’s the local community,” she said.
