By John Flowers
Salisbury’s Chip Piper will have run more during the next 10 days than most of us will run in a year. And he’ll be doing it for an important cause.
Piper on Thursday, May 16, began running the first of 10 consecutive marathons in 10 days — a staggering 262 miles — as part of his annual effort to support nonprofit causes targeting substance use disorder.
His primary motivation: His late son, Michael, who died following a fentanyl overdose in July of 2020.
Piper, 55, over the past three years has collected pledges and donations for his participation in staggeringly long endurance races. It began with the Moosalamoo Ultra, a 36-mile trail race at the Silver Towers Camp in Ripton and Goshen —he raised around $1,100 for the Turning Point Center.
He’s upped the ante each year, both in miles and dollars raised for organizations helping folks battle addiction.
Last year, he ran five consecutive marathons in five days, in the process raising $30,000 for Turning Point and Jenna’s House in Johnson, Vermont.
This year, it’s a deca-marathon, again at Silver Towers, which began on Thursday, May 16, and will end on May 25. He’d like to equal or exceed last year’s fundraising yield.
While Chip churns his legs to complete this mega-race, he’s hoping folks will become inspired enough to contribute to the cause. Check out his GoFundMe website at tinyurl.com/4puvcfhw.
“Every donation counts, so if its $5, $25 or $100, it all helps build on our goal of $25,000,” reads a statement on his GoFundMe page. “The idea is to use this as a grassroots campaign to help fund organizations, especially with recovery coaching.”
You can find out more about the endurance race, his story and his fundraising efforts at trailrun4recovery.com. He said his long-term goal is to create a nonprofit called TR4R Health & Wellness, and work with the greater community to promote healthy activities.
When asked Piper how one trains for running 10 marathons in 10 days, he responded: “Alternative training 40-plus miles per week on roads, mountains, lots of vertical training. I also work with Hammer Nutrition Fuels & Supplements for Endurance Athletes, which helps me with supplements and products to use to fuel every hour of the run. All stuff I used in my training to make sure no GI distress or stomach issues.
“There is no carb loading; that is misinformation,” he added. “You eat healthy every day and consume protein for anything over three hours. They have supplements I used during training that worked well.”
Want to check in on Piper during the event? If you can’t be at Silver Towers, log on to trailrun4recovery.com/race-day-2024.
