Ultramarathon Runner Awards Hit and Run Survivor
Finish the Ride Santa Clarita began with a ceremony honoring the courage and determination of a hit-and-run victim who has turned personal tragedy into a movement to make the streets of Southern California safe for everyone.
Santa Clarita, California, May 16, 2016 (Newswire.com) - Meet John Radich, a 62-year-old ultramarathoner. Radish is one of the small breed of athletes who run races that are longer than the traditional 26.2-mile marathon: 50-mile runs, 100-kilometer runs, 24-hour runs and longer.
...And then there's “Badwater,” described by 60 minutes and CBS News as “the toughest race of all.”
"Winning this medal requires determination, perseverance and the willingness to do what's right, no matter the circumstance. Damian has shown this in his actions with Finish the Ride and SAFE and thus it's my honor to be able to give my Badwater medal to him."
John Radich, Ultramarathoner and Ambassador of The Way to Happiness Foundation
Badwater is the notorious 135-mile run beginning in Badwater Basin in California’s Death Valley at 282 feet below sea level and ending at 8,360 feet on Mount Whitney. It takes place annually in mid-July when the temperature frequently tops 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Few people, even among ultramarathoners, finish this grueling race that John Radich has completed 14 times.
John is an ambassador of The Way to Happiness Foundation, an organization that promotes good choices and social responsibility based on The Way to Happiness, the nonreligious commonsense moral code written in 1981 by author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard to provide a moral compass for anyone of any faith or creed.
Now meet Damian Kevitt. An avid bicyclist, Damian survived a gruesome hit and run collision in February 2013. Despite losing one leg and suffering more than 20 broken bones, Kevitt was determined to turn his personal tragedy into a movement to make the streets safe for bicyclists, runners and pedestrians.
Four months and 11 surgeries later, Damian, a staff member of the Church of Scientology Los Angeles, walked out of the hospital on a prosthetic leg, and launched a campaign he called “Finish the Ride.”
In January 2014, Damian also helped establish SAFE (Streets Are For Everyone), a nonprofit organization with the mission to use sensible, proven strategies to prevent hit and run crimes and the events leading up to them, thus making city streets safe for all.
One of the education programs Kevitt supports to accomplish the aims of SAFE is distribution of The Way to Happiness, because at its most fundamental level, hit and run crime is a moral issue.
On April 29, 2014, Kevitt was joined by more than 600 cyclists and hundreds of cheering supporters for the first annual Finish the Ride race. They rode with Kevitt while he finished the ride he began in February 2013 that was cut short by hit and run crime.
Finish the Ride has now expanded to a series of family-friendly events throughout Southern California, with the most recent held May 1 in Santa Clarita. The day’s activities included a 25-mile bike ride, 5K, 10K and Half Marathon runs, 5K, 10K, and 2K walks and events for rollerbladers.
At the opening ceremony John Radich presented his 2005 Badwater Medal to Damian Kevitt.
“Winning this medal requires determination, perseverance and the willingness to do what's right, no matter the circumstance. Damian has shown this in his actions with Finish the Ride and SAFE and thus it's my honor to be able to give my Badwater medal to him.”
Source: ScientologyNews.org
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