Active Desi - Miles For Greater Good - 2023

DESCRIPTION
“Active Desi” is a social group initiated in Charlotte NC, whose mission is to focus on fitness, well-being and active lifestyle for people of South Asian origin living abroad.  Needless to say, this challenge is open to EVERYONE because our goal is to promote a healthy lifestyle by bringing this event to our entire community”. 

Under the “Miles For Greater Good” program, we periodically organize events and challenges that are exercise, fitness or wellness related and contribute to the greater good.

ABOUT THE RACE

Our third event under the "Miles for Greater Good" series is

“2023 miles for Greater Good - Virtual Race!!!

Join us in this worthy cause with a fun challenge! 

Form a team of upto 5 people and cover 2023 miles by the end of December 2023 OR challenge yourself to individually complete 2023 miles by the end of the year.

Recruit your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers to choose the challenge and come together safely to make it fun!

Registration starts on Jan 1 2023, and ends on March 31, 2023. Miles completed to date in 2023 before registration can be retroactively added towards the goal of 2023 miles!!  Make every mile count towards your wellness and towards a greater good!!
The challenge is easier than you think! Since your miles can be added from Jan 2023, a 4-person team can complete this race with an average of less than 1.4 miles per day!!!

For overall wellness the American Heart Association recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day.

In keeping with our mission to MOVE.INSPIRE. DO GOOD, we can ‘do good’ for our own wellness and also do good for society.
“Go Alone or Go Together - Just do good” 

PARTICIPANT DETAILS

ADULT (18 yrs and older)
SINGLE PARTICIPANT
EVENT: RUN + WALK + BIKE* (FOR SINGLE PARTICIPANT ONLY)
Race Fee per participant: $55

Registration: Registration ends March 31,2023 at 11:59pm EDT. 
TEAMS
EVENT: RUN + WALK ONLY (TEAM OF 2 TO 5 PARTICIPANTS) *
Race Fee per participant: $55

Registration: Registration ends March 31, 2023, at 11:59pm EDT.

YOUTH (17  yrs and under) & FAMILY
EVENT- RUN + WALK + BIKE* (ALL OF THESE OPTIONS ARE AVAILABLE FOR TEAMS OF 2-5)
Race Fee per participant: $55

Registration: Registration ends March 31, 2023, at 11:59pm EDT.

*BIKE OPTION IS AVAILABLE FOR INDIVIDUAL, FAMILY WITH YOUTH PARTICIPANT and YOUTH ONLY GROUPS

WHAT YOU WILL RECEIVE
Each participant will receive a completion medal by the end of the year.  Rest of the proceeds will be contributed to “Miles for Beautiful Smiles” to distribute to the charities mentioned.  Optional T-Shirt that sport the Active Desi Logo is available at additional cost

Youth participants will additionally receive 25 voluntary hours for their race participation & promoting awareness via our event page, the mission of the charities supported. An electronic certificate will be provided for each of the youth participant after the end of the race.

CHARITIES WE ARE SUPPORTING FOR 2023

Details on each of the non-profit(s) we support through this virtual race are on the link below.

PARAGUIDE

Paul Harrold and Shannon Houlihan are both triathletes and the founding members of Para Guide since 2016!

Para Guide is currently the only Charlotte-based organization that provides support for walking/running, cycling, and swimming for adaptive athletes (all three disciplines of triathlon).  It is the only organization that provides these services for the 9,000 blind individuals that live in Charlotte.  They serve people of all genders, races, ages, ethnic background, and socio-economic background.  We serve children as young as five years old and all the way up to 80+ years old.  Para Guide is able to serve blind and visually impaired individuals, Deaf, Blind individuals, and mobility impaired individuals (all “Athletes With Disabilities”), in all three disciplines (walking/running, cycling and swimming). They believe in accessibility for all, opportunities for all and equity for all!

For more details, please check out

https://www.paraguide.org/

Contact : shannon@paraguide.org

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Our 2021 and 2022 Story

In 2021, we initiated a program called “Miles For Greater Good” to leverage our mission to raise funds and support non-profit health, fitness, and wellness organizations supporting South Asian communities.  In its first year we planned and contributed the funds to "Miles For Beautiful Smiles'' which in turn supported three non-profit organizations 

• South Asian Heart Center, California.
• Breast Cancer Hub (BCH), North Carolina.
• Kiran Inc, North Carolina

Here is what we accomplished for Greater Good in 2021:

Total number of race participants -173
Total dollars donated to charities: $6750
Number of Charities supported through our race: 3

In 2022, we supported two non-profit organizations 

• Kiran Anjali Project (https://kaproject.org)
• Hand in Hand USA (https://handinhandusa.org) 

Total number of race participants -64
Total dollars donated to charities: $4000
Number of Charities supported through our race: 2

FAQs:

I am all pumped up, how do I register for this race?

You can register for this race using the signup button using your Runsignup account

Who can sign up for the race?

Anyone can participate in this event. For participants younger than 17, parents or legal guardian take the accountability for making sure the youth can participate without risks of injury.

Do I need to set up an account to register for this race?

This race has been set up using the RunSignUp registration event. You will need to set up an account with RunSignUp if you don't already have one

Can I register my team on the RunSignUp page?

Yes. You will need to first set up your team's name and then request your team member to sign up under the Team created by you.

How many participants in a team?

You can have anywhere from 2 participants to upto 5 participants in a team. Every member in the team will need to register to participate.

How do I log my miles?

Your miles are based on an honor system. However, for tracking your team you can manually log your miles by entering your miles on the RunSignUp page.

Does everyone in the team have to log the same number of miles equally?

Not necessarily! It’s the team's discretion!

When do I start logging my miles and what miles count towards this challenge?

You can start logging your miles after registration. Miles can be recorded retroactive from Jan 2022. If you are a solo/ Youth teams or Family with youth participants you can log your Run, Walk and Bike miles (multi-sport). For adult teams of 2 - 5 you can ONLY log your walk and run miles. “Bike miles will not be allowed for “Adult Teams”.

Stay tuned by following us on Facebook and Instagram!

How can I get in touch with the organizers?

You can get in touch via FB or Instagram or send an email to activedesi.races@gmail.com and we will try and answer your questions by the next business day or ASAP!

BE SAFE and HAVE FUN!!