OYSTER BAY, N.Y. — Kenyan runner and Olympic hopeful Stephen Sambu will try to break the Long Island 5k record of 14 minutes and 43 seconds at the second-annual Oyster Bay Turkey Trot on Thursday, according to an article by Newsday.
But Sambu, 25, is running for more than the honor of breaking the record; if he breaks it, the race organizer will donate some of the registration fees to help buy a water-purification system for his village of Berur in western Kenya, the article reported.
"People are becoming sick because of the water . . . and some people die from untreated water," said Sambu, who graduated in May from the University of Arizona as an All-American track star. "It tastes like dirt. It's mixed with a lot of stuff that floats across the road."
Vince Giambanco, founder of the Citius New York race team, is the race organizer; he arranged for people to bet on whether Sambu would break the record by pledging donations to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which Citius will match for the water purification system if Sambu breaks the record.
"If you can't get clean water, it's pretty devastating," said Giambanco, 26, of Manhattan, an assistant coach at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point.
Read the full article here.
