Anthony Lampros will have lots of company and support “in spirit” when he tackles the Boston Marathon on April 16. Lampros will be running Boston as a member of the Dana Faber Cancer Institute (DFCI) charity team. He has been accepting donations in honor of and in memory of cancer victims. He will carry the names of these cancer victims in a fanny pack through the streets of Boston, up and over Heartbreak Hill and across the finish line.

Lampros chose to run on behalf of the DFCI because of the implications cancer has had on his life: family members on both sides have been stricken by this disease. He applied to DFCI for two years before finally being selected. There are only about 35 to 40 slots each year and several thousand applicants, he said.

When Lampros learned that he had been accepted to run on the 2001 DFCI team, he set a donation goal of $2,001. He has been overwhelmed by the show of support and will have collected more than $6,000 by the time he goes to Boston. It’s just an indication of how prevalent cancer is in today’s society, Lampros said.

Lampros is superintendent of Black Rock Mountain State Park in Mountain City, Ga. He is a member of and trains regularly with the Highlands Road Runners Club of Highlands. Boston will be the 14th marathon for Lampros. His first was New York City in 1991. He has also run Chicago, Los Angeles and Disney World. His most recent was the Rocket City in Huntsville, Ala., which he ran earlier this year with other members of the Highlands club. To date, Rocket City has been his personal best at 3 hours, 29 minutes.

Boston, the oldest marathon in the U.S., holds a special place in the heart of most American runners. As a general rule, runners must qualify in their age group to be eligible for Boston. This posed a problem for Lampros. At 42, Lampros needed to run a qualifying marathon at 3 hours and 20 minutes to be accepted in the open field at Boston. A knee injury suffered during Park Ranger training when he was 21 keeps Lampros just a step slow, but with 13 marathons under his belt there is no doubt about his conditioning and determination.

Lampros was searching for an honorable way to run Boston.

“I would never run as a bandit,” he said, referring to runners who jump in along the course and run the race without being officially entered.

He learned about the charity teams that run the marathon each year and discovered the DFCI. After two years of applying and an exhaustive four-page application and months of raising money and training, Lampros is ready for Boston.

What he wasn’t prepared for in the beginning was the heartfelt support of those who donated to the DFCI. Out of deference to those cancer victims, for whom he was running, Lampros decided to carry the names of more than 150 of them with him during the marathon and then have the names placed on certificates. The certificates will be donated by Gap Graphics & Printing of Clayton, Ga.

While every penny of the $6,000 goes directly to ongoing research and programs at DFCI, Lampros realizes that $6,000 is a pittance in the fight against cancer. He hopes the symbolism isn’t loss, however. Because he is able, he will carry the names cancer victims with him over Heartbreak Hill. Because they are able, the DFCI and myriad other institutions will carry on the work against this disease that is so prevalent.

 

Back to Top
The Smoky Mountain News