Tuesday, May 17, 2011

75/24/75

(The following was the text of a press release, which accounts for its being in the third person)

On June 4, during Gold Hill's annual Gold Dust festivities, Peter Fish, a 75-year-old resident of that city, will begin a 24-hour run in the hopes of running his age in miles.

Fish, a veteran long-distance runner, has accomplished this feat before, at the 2004 Medford Relay for Life, at the age of 68. This year it will be 7 miles harder.

His accomplishments include age group records in the Pear Blossom 10 mile, the Avenue of the Giants Marathon, and the Siskiyou Out Back 50K, as well as a 1350 mile journey run across the eastern United States. But this time he is not running for records. He is running to raise money.

Peter and his wife, Jan, have been spearheading a project to build a skate park in Gold Hill, in memory of their son Tom, who passed away in 2009 at the age of 27. Tom was an avid skateboarder, and nothing would have pleased him more than the creation of a park in his home town.

As it happened, the master plan for Gold Hill's beautiful sports park on the Rogue River already provided for such a feature, and the Fishes were able to get the city's approval to launch the project on an excellent site near the south end of the park.  They were also fortunate in getting the fundraising for the project under the umbrella of the Gold Hill Community Development Organization (Can-Do), a 501-C-3 organization.

Design for the park is being handled by Liquid Stone Designs of Gold River, Oregon, with the collaboration of a group of local skaters. The cost is estimated at approximately $100,000, of which Can-Do has already received about $24,000 in donations, mostly from family and friends. Grant applications are now under way, and donations from the community will be of the utmost importance for acquiring matching funds. This project is to be wholly paid for by donations and grants, and will not result in taxation of any kind.

Peter will start the run at 10 AM in conjunction with the parade, and then will walk up the bike path to the site (about 1/2 mile) with anyone that wants to see where it will be. Then he will return to town and proceed to the Hanby track, next to Patrick Elementary School, where he will run until 10 AM Sunday. The pace will be slow (mostly under 4 MPH), and people are welcome to participate if they so desire (especially during the night!). There is no fee, but donation boxes will be at the track and at an informational booth in the town, which will also have Skate Park T-shirts. There will be donation boxes and flyers at local stores for the week before the event.

For donations:
Checks may be made out to Can-Do, P.O. Box 1009, Gold Hill, OR 97525 (write"Skate Park" in the memo field).
For online donations, go to http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/peter-fish/gold_hill_skatepark

Contact:

Peter Fish
603 Dardanelles St.
Gold Hill, OR 97525
541-944-6970
wtc48@charter.net
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/peter-fish/gold_hill_skatepark