On November 1st, nine runners embarked on a charitable journey to give a little back to the world in the One.....More.....Mile! Challenge. Organized by NEO Trail member Mike Keller, the Challenge was a fairly simple (yet grueling) exercise of adding one more mile to the daily run each day until the last runner quit. So on Nov. 1 they all ran 1 mile, the 2nd - 2 miles and so on. With runners entered from 5 different states they pressed on day after day until they started dropping out. With 9 runners and an entry fee of 20 dollars (all money to charity) they had raised 180 dollars. This was then augmented by a donation from Mohican Don Baun to 200 and then Mike and Josh Dillingham threw down the gauntlet that if anyone could make it out of November and make it an ultra, they would double the pot.
On November 29, two runners were still going, Ted Niemann of Columbus, OH and Erik Barr of El Paso, TX. Ted succumbed to shin splints on day 29 and Erik completed day 30, meaning he could pack it in, OR go for day 31 and double the charity pot. He made the ultra day and 400 dollars was split between two charities - Mercy Ministries of Fenton, MO and NAMI Hawaii. Ted was even interviewed by the Columbus NBC affiliate of Channel 4 and made it on the evening news. Erik also received a prize package supplied by the events sponsor Vertical Runner. This challenge will be run every November as long as there is interest and participation.
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