TAMPA, Fla. — The Boston Marathon is happening on April 21, 2025.
The Tampa Bay area has such a big running community, so it’s no surprise that local folks would travel to run Boston.
ABC Action News Anchor Lauren St. Germain sat down with Charlie Singer, who is making the trip north for the iconic race. Singer says the opportunity is about a lot more than crossing the finish line.
“It’s much more pleasant training here in the wintertime. It’s been fun running with the nice warm weather. I get to run in shorts and a t-shirt and watch dolphins in the morning, and my friends in the northeast are a lot colder,” said Singer.
Singer is one of more than 500 runners from across the country participating in the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a leading center of cancer research and treatment in Boston.
“As I was a young adult, my grandfather had cancer. My dad had cancer. Both are fine now, thankfully,” said Singer.
Together, the team running the marathon is working to raise more than eight million dollars for cancer research.
“Why is that so important to you?” asked St. Germain.
“I think cancer is something that touches many people directly or indirectly, and so the ability for me to use running as a medium to help raise money and make a difference is pretty cool, right? At my stage in my career, I am 30 years old, so I am not writing gigantic checks, but I have the ability to raise a nice amount of money through my running, which is a very cool experience,” said Singer.
He's no stranger to marathons, running once in Berlin, Germany, and the New York City Marathon four times, raising money for charity.
“Excited to be raising money for Dana-Farber for Boston. It’s always been on the list,” said Singer.
He had to raise more than $10,000 and far surpassed that goal.
“$16,000 would be a gigantic check for me to write, but for me to be able to kind of pull among my network of friends and family and coworkers to help make a larger difference is really cool to me,” said Singer.
To learn more about the Dana-Farber marathon team, click here.
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