IRUN4ULTRA AWARENESS CAMPAIGN 2016-17

IRUN4ULTRA AWARENESS CAMPAIGN 2016-17:
Global Awareness Events and Educational Outreach

Hope So Bright uses a multi-prong approach to raising global awareness about ADHD. This includes annual ultra marathon campaigns, annual 5K HERO RUN/WALKS, Linda Sander’s documentary film, DESERT AROUND ME, and the HOPE SO BRIGHT ADHD & AUTISM DIRECTORY AND RESOURCE GUIDE FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

Sanders’ IRUN4ULTRA-AWARENESS CAMPAIGN uses marathon and ultra marathon races to bring attention to ADHD and autism. Ultra marathon running, in particular, beautifully represents that success is possible with dedication and perseverance. It is a compelling way to capture and inform an audience about ADHD without utilizing clinical terminology. Hope So Bright uses endurance sports as an analogy to a marathon runner’s experience to showcase the daily struggle of a learning impaired child and his/her family.

Beginning with the Marathon des Sables in Morocco in 2016, Sanders team of five elite athletes (including Marco Olmo from Italy, Carlos Sá from Portugal, Ricardo Mejía Hernández from Mexico as well as Harvey Lewis and Jason Schlarb (from the US), ran 156 miles (the equivalent of 5.5 marathons) in the Sahara Desert in April. Team IRUN4ULTRA took 2nd place at this race!

Sanders will participate in the Jungle Ultra, a 230K race through dense and difficult tropical terrain, mountain roads, and village tracks, from Peru’s Cloud Forest to the jungle below, in June of 2017. During this five-stage event, runners face humidity levels reaching almost 100% while traversing virgin forests and being exposed to diverse wildlife and numerous tribes of the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest. Runners are self-sufficient, carrying their own hammock, sleeping bag, food and supplies for the entire race, and replenishing a minimum of 2.5 liters of water along the way at check points and base camps. Sanders’ intention in going to this race is to raise global awareness about ADHD.

To raise worldwide attention about autism, Hope So Bright is sponsoring Moroccan-based elite ultra marathon runner, Mohamad Ahansal at the 18, 19 & 20 July 2017 Badwater® 135, considered the most demanding and extreme race on the planet, beginning at Badwater, Death Valley (20 feet below sea level) and ending at the Whitney Portal, at 8300 feet.

Sanders’ second documentary film will focus on the autism epidemic. It will include footage from the Badwater® 135 race and incorporate interviews with healthcare providers as well as educational specialists Sonia Dickson MA, and Robin Shipley, MS, co-owners of TranZitions, Inc., whose programs and services for learning challenged teenagers and adults teach skills, values, and a way of thinking that promote meaningful behavioral changes which result in success in the workplace and beyond.