1 Day for the K.I.A. will hold an ultramarathon Saturday on the Oval to raise funds for a scholarship for relatives of service members negatively affected by the military. Credit: Courtesy of Dylan Van Tassell
Students, faculty and staff will have the opportunity to make a positive impact at a 12-hour endurance ultramarathon on the Oval Saturday, hosted by 1 Day for the K.I.A. — an Ohio State organization that honors fallen military service members.
Funds raised during the event will benefit the Living Legacy Scholarship, which is given to a current or incoming student whose relative was killed in action, or K.I.A., went missing in action, was a prisoner of war or became disabled from serving in the military, Dylan Van Tassell, president and commander of the organization and an ROTC student, said.
Van Tassell, a third-year in engineering physics, said the event will run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with the idea of the ultramarathon being to move for the entire 12 hours. However, a participant also has the option to split that time between multiple people if they participate in teams of up to six members.
Van Tassell said the event previously ran a full 24 hours, which is where the organization name came from, but the time was cut in half to try to get more people involved.
“The point is to kind of suffer a little bit just to remember their sacrifice and raise some money for the scholarship,” Van Tassell said. “I think it’s a small thing I can do to give back to them so their memories don’t fade off as time passes.”
Anurag Rathore, a second-year in air transportation and an ROTC student, said the organization teams up with Fallen 15, which supports military families, for the ultramarathon and other events. He said he loves how the military community comes together for events such as the ultramarathon.
“That’s what the military is all about to me,” Rathore said. “I consider 1DK and ROTC my family.”
Van Tassell said the organization raises money for the scholarship through corporate sponsorships, donations and registration fees for the race. He said the organization has raised $168,000 in the past eight years, and with almost $2,000 raised for this year’s event so far.
Van Tassell said people can also donate to the organization and the scholarship fund by sponsoring a runner.
Marie Benline, marketing chairman for the organization and an ROTC student, said if a participant is unable to make it to the race, they can run virtually by recording themselves participating elsewhere and sending it in using Strava — a GPS cycling and running app.
Benline, a third-year in biology, said there are currently two sponsored runners for the event, but the organization hopes to have more by Saturday.
While the ultramarathon is the main event, Van Tassell said the organization was originally also going to hold a spikeball tournament from 1-2 p.m. at the Oval. However, he said the tournament was canceled due to a lack of funding.
According to the organization’s website, a sponsored runner can be funded for every mile they run, which will make the runner push themselves to run more and increase funds for the scholarship.
1 Day for the K.I.A. holds the ultramarathon event every year in the spring, and it also holds a 5K race in the fall to help raise money for the scholarship, according to the organization’s website.
Sam Kim, a first-year in engineering who plans to participate in the event, said he is excited to test his endurance while supporting a cause he believes in.
“My brother serves in the military and I know how hard their everyday lives are and the sacrifice they’re able to put in for us regular-day citizens,” Kim said. “It’s really amazing to see an event like this where I can try to symbolically show my gratitude and be a supporter, even from afar.”
Correction: The spikeball tournament originally scheduled for this event was canceled and will not be occurring. The story has been updated to reflect this change.
