The SSOD race (Savannah Stone Stairs of Death race) is a unique, challenging race. This is a race that is ALL Savannah! It puts runners on Savannah River Street cobblestone and up those treacherous, steep, uneven infamous 33 steps in downtown Savannah.
The purpose of this race from the beginning has been to help out people we know that are experiencing hardship. The first two year’s of this race’s proceeds ($2000.00 total) went to the Gail Thatcher and family. Gail’s daughter, Layla, fought hard to survive cancer and, in the process the family accumulated a lot of debt.
The recipient of the 2019 SSOD race is Stephanie Moore. Stephanie is a colorful character (literally had pink hair when I first met her). She is an ultra runner, dog lover, nature lover…she has an immense love for life. At 29 years of age, she was stunned to learn that she had colon cancer. At age 33, she had stage 4 cancer. Stephanie has fought an incredibly hard battle…physically and financially.
For the November 9th race, we’ve set a goal to raise $10,000.00 for Stephanie. That seems like a lot of money but its a drop in the bucket for the expenses she’s endured. The SSOD race is capped at 65 runners. We simply cannot put more runners than that on the 1/3 of a mile loop that runners will be running from 1 to 2 hours. More than 65 runners and we’ll have a bottleneck at the stairs and people running into each other.
The registration for the SSOD race is $50 per runner. That $50 registration will be used to help pay the costs of the race which averages $2000 per year to hold. $50 times 65 runners gives us $3250. Take away the $2000 and we’re at $1250. This is where we have to become creative in finding ways to maximize the collection pot for Stephanie. We ask each runner to recruit sponsors for their race. Ask your family and friends and, total strangers to sponsor you, the runner, for your race. They can sponsor you per mile you run or a lump sum. Like I said, we have to be creative in this endeavor. $10,000.00 seems like a huge number but with 65 runners it comes down to getting approximately $185 per runner to reach that goal. That’s not a lot of money! We can do this.
This year, I again, plan to run the SSOD race and, raise money for Stephanie. One thing I forgot to mention is that after race expenses, the rest of the money goes directly to Stephanie Moore. After the race we hand her a check and she does whatever she wants with that money…it’s hers.
With this year’s race we’ll offer extra shirts to sell as a way of increasing the take for Stephanie. The shirts will sell for $20 each. We’ll also provide stickers to sell to the sponsors.
We have an opportunity here to run an incredible, challenging race and also, in helping out someone that could really use some help. This is a great opportunity to pay it forward and, challenge yourself at the same time. The SSOD race is tough but so are you! And, so is Stephanie!
Please register for this race and get your sponsors!
Use the following hashtag for social media posts regarding the SSOD: #ssod4stephanie #run4stephanie
Thanks so much!
peace.
Rough Runners
