Charity Runner – His Burro is packed - he is ready to go

Lawrence Baxter, one-time resident of New York, originally from London, England, loves children. That love has inspired Baxter to run 29 miles uphill in high altitudes, attached by a fifteen-foot rope to a Burro carrying 35 pounds of weight.
Titled the Pack Burro race, Baxter will compete in the 55th annual competition considered the planet's &#8220highest, longest, roughest, and toughest” competitive event to raise money for St. Mary's Healthcare System for Children, located in Bayside.
St. Mary's provides care to 3,000 children with serious or life threatening conditions on any given day. They suffer from a range of conditions including, complications from pre-maturity, neurological, congenital, respiratory and orthopedic disorders, juvenile diabetes, traumatic brain injury and coma recovery, HIV/AIDS, cancer, and autism.
Baxter, who calls himself the &#8220Running Brit” is an advertising executive with Young and Rubicam Advertising agency who wants to &#8220give back,” and since he considers children the defenseless segment of the population, he is dedicated to helping the &#8220desperately sick kids” at St. Mary's.
&#8220It is life changing to see the kids and what the staff does at St. Mary's,” Baxter says. &#8220Life is not a dress rehearsal, you have to give back, I don't want to be in the autumn of my life and have regrets.”
Baxter takes a hands-on-approach to fundraising with a website (listing a wish list of needs for St. Mary's). On the list is everything from wheelchairs to tricycles. Baxter's demand for specific items comes from a disappointing experience.
Approximately six years ago, after winning $10,000 in a corporate charitable golf tournament, he learned that 70% of the award he donated to another charity went to that charity's administrative costs. Upon hearing that, Baxter vowed never again, he wants to know that the money is going directly to the people who most need the help.
Last year, he raised $25,000 for St. Mary's by successfully running the New York City marathon, this year he felt the need to do something bigger and better.
Scheduled to take place in Fairplay, CO, on July 30th, the Pack Burro race, according to Baxter, stems from the Colorado gold rush, when gold prospectors, upon finding gold would have to rush downhill to Denver to stake a claim. However, the race has reversed the process, requiring competitors to run uphill.
Baxter currently runs 18 miles-a-day to train for the race, without the burro, which has been donated to him by burro breeder and three-time world Pack Burro champion Imrie Curtis. He hopes &#8220that they will like each other when they meet, quickly striking a rapport.” Thus far, he has raised approximately $4,000.
For those wishing to sponsor Baxter go to www.runningbrit.com.