Runners raise money for water

Runners need water. So do Third World countries.

“We run as a group every Saturday morning, then run on our own during the week ... I try to run 100 miles a month,” Joshua Ramsey, member of Team Living Water, said.

Team Living Water was formed by members of First Baptist Church of Garfield and members of the group are training to run the first Bentonville Half Marathon March 13.

A half marathon is 13.1 miles.

While training, the team is working to raise money for Living Water International, a nonprofit organization that installs sustainable water wells to provide safe, clean water in deprived countries.

LWI began in 1990, when a group from Houston, Texas, traveled to Kenya and saw the desperate need for clean drinking water, according to their Web site. The fledgling organization equipped and trained a team ofKenyan drillers, and LWI Kenya began operations the next year under the direction of a national board. Since then, LWI has completed water projects for 7,000 communities in 26 countries.

Over 350 existing wells were damaged or destroyed entirely during the recent earthquake in Haiti. LWI’s goal is the get those wells up and running again, and also install at least 150 additional wells in the upcoming months.

“Some of us that were runners ... heard (the race) was coming up so we thought why don’t we do thatas men’s group ministry. It grew after that, we wanted to make it a way that we can raise money for something,” Ramsey said.

The group has done most of their training at the Pea Ridge National Military Park. Two weeks before the race, they ran from the church to the park, around the tour road and back to the church - about 12 miles.

The half marathon team is made up of five members - Ramsey, Darrin and Denise Honn, Brad Sill and Leon Kelley.

Several people from the churchare also participating in the 5K race the same day. Each team member committed to raising $500.

LWI provided race shirts for the team, as well as water to hand out after the race.

Both Ramsey and Sill have run a full marathon - 26.2 miles - in the past.

The band that plays locally in the church, formerly known as Southern Cross, has changed its name to Jericho Down. They will be performing along the race course Saturday.