UNIVERSITY PARK – The 17th Annual THON 5K was held on Pennsylvania State’s campus.
Several runners came out to take part in the event to raise money to directly benefit the Four Diamonds at Penn State’s Children’s hospital.
They will use to help cover 100 percent of the costs of patient care, as well as to fund critical, life-saving research.
THON is one of the largest 5K races in central Pennsylvania. The purpose of the race is to support a yearlong effort to fight childhood cancer. Participants can choose between completing a Competitive Run, or a Fun Run/Walk.
Throughout the scenic marathon route, runners will be cheered on by enthusiastic THON volunteers.
“The atmosphere is great, all these Penn state students coming together all for the cause of the kids,” said THON participant Kelsey Donehower.
Kids like 7-year-old Landon.
“My son, Landon, was diagnosed with stage four high risk neuroblastoma at the age of four, and so THON means everything to us,” said THON participant Katie Knepp.
This year marks Katie and her family’s third year participating in the THON.
She says if it wasn’t for the organization they would still be worried about how to pay for everything.
“You walk into an event like THON and everyone understands what you’ve been dealing with on a daily basis,” said Knepp. “So coming with my family has been really fun and to celebrate how far my son has come since he was diagnosed.”
This year the goal is to make the events more family oriented.
“Every year it gets bigger and bigger, just like THON gets bigger and bigger. More people hear about it from word of mouth and from it getting bigger each year building off of the progress we’ve made,” said one of the event organizers, Daniel Cooley.
The marathon is just the kickoff of the organization’s events this year.
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