DEATH VALLEY, Calif. – This past weekend, Southern Vermont College women's cross country senior Sarah Lampro (Otis, Massachusetts) did not to travel with her team to compete at the Western New England University Golden Bear Invitational, a choice not only condoned by head coach Kathleen Newton, but encouraged. Instead, Sarah went to Death Valley, California to take part in a 100-mile bicycle race to help support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
Coach Newton normally emphasizes runners being with the team at every race, but this is a different scenario. “Sarah told me about this before she even started running,” said Newton, “and I knew it meant a lot to her, her family and the diabetes association. This is a great thing she is doing; her teammates and I fully support her.”
Alongside Sarah on the ride was her mother, Wendy, who has now completed six 100-mile rides. Wendy Lampro started raising money for diabetes research back in 2010; since then, she has completed six rides all over the country including Burlington (Vt.), Lake Tahoe (Utah), and Death Valley. Wendy’s decision to start participating in these events was initiated after losing her sister, Kelly, to complications from type 1 diabetes in November of 2003 following a 28-year battle with the disease. This year, Sarah chose to join the fight.
“I decided to do this ride for everyone who is, or has someone, suffering from type 1 diabetes and knows firsthand how awful this disease is,” commented Sarah before heading out to the Golden State. “My Aunt Kelly was everything to me,” she continued, “and losing her to this disease was one of the hardest things my family and I have ever gone through.”
Last spring before joining the SVC cross country team, Sarah made the decision to invest in a bike and start training for the 2014 Death Valley event. Before the century journey, her longest trek was about 75 miles. The Lampro’s were accompanied this past Saturday by about 300 other participants in a ride organized by AdventureCORPS that started in Mojave and ended in Furnace Creek, California.
Since Wendy’s first ride in 2010, the Lampro family has raised close to $48,000 for JDRF, $18,000 of that coming this year alone. Leading up to the various rides, the family helps organize multiple fundraisers in and around their Berkshire, Massachusetts hometown. Wendy is also a member of the Greater Connecticut/Western Massachusetts chapter of the JDRF.
Sarah says that if it weren’t for her mother, she would have never gotten into anything like this. “Watching my mother put all of her heart into this cause is something truly inspirational,” Sarah noted after the grueling event. “Being a part of the process this past year, from fundraising to training, is something I would never give back. Although 100 miles in 100 degree temperatures was tough, knowing that we’re making a difference in a family’s life made it completely worthwhile.”
Sarah and her mother finished their first ride together in a time of six hours and 51 minutes on Saturday. This weekend’s Death Valley participants raised a collective $900,000 prior to the event.
Turning back to running, Sarah now begins to focus on training for the team’s next meet, the New England Collegiate Conference Championship being held Saturday, November 1 in Westfield, Massachusetts. But Sarah will continue to support JDRF and plans to enter more rides in the future. To make a donation in Sarah’s name, please visit ride.jdrf.org and use the search bar on the right side of the page to lookup “Sarah Lampro.” The Better Business Bureau recommends donating through JDRF as 84 cents of every dollar raised through the Foundation goes directly towards research for a cure and education about type 1 diabetes.