MAKING LAS VEGAS A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE

Local athletes help Sandy Hook

By Beth Fisher

CREATED Jan. 18, 2013

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  • A group of local guys are raising money for Sandy Hook victim families by running or biking 26 miles Video by ktnv.com

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Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) -- Twenty six.  That's how many miles marathon runners travel.  It's also the number of victims in the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting.  And some local guys who are making Las Vegas a better place to live took notice of that. 

Benji Zimmerman, owner of  "Further, Faster, Forever," decided to run or bike a mile for every victim and to encourage others to do the same.  "There is a running store in Nashville that put on an impromptu marathon and they raised a lot of money for the victim's families and I thought why can't our community do that. and so we just threw the idea out there online."
 
And the idea took off.  Hoping to raise a few hundred dollars, the online campaign has now raised $3,000 dollars and attracted people in almost 30 states. People are walking, running, or biking 26 miles, not always consecutively, to honor each victim. 
 
Doug Silk plans to run a marathon this weekend. "I'm going to have a picture on the back of my shirt which has all 26 vitims and their name. So each mile will be dedicated to a different victim and whoever else wants to ride or run this weekend so people will know it's not just about us."
 
If you want to participate, you can download that picture with the victims and the mileage to put on a t-shirt on furtherfasterforever.com.
 
And if you'd like to meet the guys to bike 26 miles in a group, they are meeting at Dunkin Donuts Saturday morning at 8:30.