ZACH ENGLUND
Sports Assistant
The Graziadio School of Business and Management raced to the front of fundraising efforts Saturday with its “Running the Malibu Waves” charity event.
The Graziadio School works with the MBA’s Challenge for Charity, a non-profit organization that draws from eight West Coast business schools to raise funds and volunteer for the Special Olympics and other charities throughout the year. The two institutions put together the Challenge for Charity’s third annual event, three races that took place Saturday morning at Zuma Beach.
The event consisted of a 10K, 5K and children’s run, with all the proceeds going to the Special Olympics and the Children’s Life Foundation, two of the major organizations the Graziadio School supports.
“It’s all for the children,” said Andy Le, race chairman and second-year business graduate student at Pepperdine. “It’s a worthy, worthy cause, and we were able to raise a lot of money for our charities.”
Buses transported 125 children from the Children’s Life Foundation in Santa Monica to the sandy shores of Zuma Beach, where they enjoyed a day they will not soon forget.
The last race of the day had them jog, skip and hop a mile across the ocean tide on their way to the finish line.
“Even after the race, they stayed the whole day on the beach having fun,” Le said. “They also got medals and things for different contests, so it was definitely a neat experience for everyone involved.”
The largest sponsor of the event was Aviator Nation, a clothing brand that opened up the first of April.
The new brand heard about the race through Lindsay Ramar, a Pepperdine business student and part-time model for the new company, so it decided to donate to the cause. The run was also presented by The Malibu Bay Company.
Although it was the event’s third year, running on the beach itself was a new concept that proved to be somewhat controversial for a few of the runners involved. Running on sand is significantly more difficult, the runners soon discovered.
“Some people were like, ‘I’m going to kill you,’” Le said with a smirk. “One guy even said ‘whoever designed this should be hung,’ but a lot of people loved it. It’s something that differentiates our race from a typical road race.”
The overall turnout at the race, run simultaneously with several high-profile races, was less than expected.
Although only 300 people signed up, as opposed to 500 in last year’s challenge, the event raised more money for charity than ever before, as the entry prices were raised. Those in charge said they figured that residents of Malibu would probably be willing to donate more.
Maria Gascon, race director and first-year business graduate student at Pepperdine, said the race was a success.
“I think overall it turned out well,” she said. “A few didn’t really expect the difficulty of the run, but we still got a lot of positive feedback immediately after the race, so I think people seemed overall happy with it.”
Gacson plans to add more activities to the event next year, and she is considering moving the date so that it does not conflict with other programs. She also plans to involve the city of Malibu more deeply in the race, and said she hopes that “Running for the Waves” will become a familiar event to the inhabitants of the city.
“Pepperdine’s performance in its community service projects definitely reflects on the Malibu community,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll get some responses from the mayor and city council, and they’ll help get Malibu more involved in the event.”
04-05-2007