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Support Team Brigham and hear three-time Boston Marathon women's winner Uta Pippig Wednesday, April 13, at 3 p.m. in the Bornstein Amphitheater.
This year's Team Brigham has quite an international flair attracting runners from Germany, Mexico and Guatemala, and drawing inspiration, motivation and training tips from Germany's Uta Pippig, women's winner of three straight Boston Marathons.
Runners William Smith, a Cape Cod native now working as a rural health care volunteer in San Lucas Tomilan in Guatemala; Gabriel Hernandez, a CEO of an adhesives company in Mexico; and Daniel Sandini, an engineer for the Mitre Corp. in Germany, are staying in touch with Team Brigham over the Internet as they train to run the 26.2 mile race.
“All 127 Team Brigham members are demonstrating world-class commitment to raise thousands of dollars for our community health programs while preparing to conquer Heartbreak Hill,” BWH president Gary Gottlieb said.
Hernandez, 29, said he was motivated by friend and second-time Team Brigham member Philip Dieffenbacher of Boston. “Running is my passion, and it is a privilege to help people by doing what I love,” he said.
For Smith, 50, now training along mountain trails in Guatemala after a childhood of jogs on Cape Cod beaches, supporting BWH community health programs is a way to say thank you to all the BWHers who have helped improve rural health care in Latin America. “Numerous doctors and students from BWH have come here,” he said.
Sandini is returning home to Massachusetts from Germany to make his second marathon run with Team Brigham after a year off last year. Sandini, a cancer survivor, is dedicating this year's run to his mother, Theresa, who died Feb. 18 after a long battle with cancer. His web page at www.justgiving.com lists his donors, including his mother four days before she died. “I hope to be well enough to see you off in Hopkinton. ILU XOXO,” she wrote.
Sandini wrote that he is running to raise money for BWH where he and his mother were treated. “They do unbelievable things for patients and perform life saving research,” he declared on the Internet.
To learn more, visit http://healthcare.partners.org/teambrigham