Katie’s Run draws 500 participants

Richard Tedesco

More than 500 runners and walkers have registered to participate in the fifth annual Katie’s Run fundraiser in New Hyde Park to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island on Sunday, June 22 at 9 a.m. 

The 5K run and 2K walk is held each year to honor the memory of cancer victim Katie McBride and raise funds for the Ronald McDonald House, where Katie’s parents, Michael and Jeanne McBride, spent several months while Katie was being treated at the North Shore-LIJ Cohen Children’s Center. 

“The Ronald McDonald House was our home for many months. It enabled Katie to have her family with her during all the grueling treatments,” Michael McBride said. “The assistance and support they provided over the course of those months was immeasurable. Organizing Katie’s Run is our way of showing our appreciation for all of their help and for the assistance they continue to provide other families in the same situation.”

The pre-registration for this year’s event already exceeds last year’s participation, when 483 runners and walkers crossed the finish line in New Hyde Park Memorial Park, according to McBride, who heads the Katie McBride Foundation and is director of the New Hyde Park Funeral Home.

“The numbers are up,” McBride said.

McBride began the event after his daughter, Katie, succumbed to a rare cancer known as Burkitt’s Lymphoma in 2008 at age 11.

Katie McBride would have been 18 years old on June 18 and McBride and his family will also honor her memory with a private mass in the Chaminade High School Chapel that day.

Katie’s Run features a flat course that starts near the New Hyde Park Funeral Home at 506 Lakeville Road and ends in Memorial Park at Albert Street and Lincoln Avenue. 

Pre-registration is available online at www.KatiesRun.com. Registration on the day of the race takes place in the funeral home parking lot from 7:30 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. Registration for the event is $30.

A free post-run celebration barbecue follows the run in Memorial Park for all the participants, followed by a Children’s Fun Run started by Ronald McDonald himself and an awards ceremony honoring the winners in their respective categories. 

Since 2010, the Katie McBride Foundation has donated over $54,000 to the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island through the proceeds of Katie’s Run. 

Katie’s Run is sponsored by the New Hyde Park Funeral Home, the Inn at New Hyde Park, Hall’s Carpet, the Greater New Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce, the New Hyde Park Gladiator Fund, the Sons of Italy Cellini Lodge and the New Hyde Park Lions Club.

Food at the event is donated by the Sakowich family from the Inn at New Hyde Park. Hall Carpet provides tents, tables and chairs, and City Line Florist, donates flowers for the female winners.

Guitarist and singer Brian Monaghan will entertain the event participants at the post-race festivities in Memorial Park

Participants are invited to a free pasta and beer party in New Hyde Park Fire Department headquarters at 1555 Jericho Turnpike from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday night, June 20. 

They can pick up their race packets at the pasta party or pick them up during registration on race day.

The Katie McBride Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 2010 with the mission to honor the memory of Katie and the families of all childhood leukemia victims and other life-threatening diseases. More information is available at www.KatieMcBrideFoundation.org.

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