RIT Fraternity and Running Club Holds Annual 5K Fundraiser

Rochester Institute of Technology students and members of the Rochester community will lace up their sneakers on Saturday, May 6, at the fourth annual Karen’s Walk and 5K Run, co-sponsored by Phi Sigma Pi National Honor Society and the RIT Running Club.

Participants begin their dash for the finish line at 10 a.m. Registration is from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m. at the field behind the Grace Watson building. The festivities will wrap up with food, refreshments and live entertainment, also located behind the Grace Watson building.

The event is held in memory of Karen Decker, an RIT student who died from cardiomyopathy in 2002. Proceeds from the run/walk will benefit the Karen Decker Cardiomyopathy Fund at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle in which the heart loses its ability to pump blood and, in some cases, can disturb the rhythm of the heart, leading to irregular heartbeats or arrhythmias.

“Our goal this year, with the help of participants and the entire community, is to once again increase the amount we raise for heart-failure research so we can honor Karen’s legacy and have a significant impact on the health of women in the future,” says event coordinator Nikhil Nampalli, a fourth-year mechanical engineering major at RIT.

For more information about Karen’s Walk, including registration and a schedule of the day’s activities, go to www.karenswalk.com, or contact Nikhil Nampalli at (585) 350-5122.