Ham-Concert Pianist-Jogger Completes 880-Mile Charity Run

Martin Berkofsky, KC3RE, performs at a benefit concert in Tulsa prior to starting his 860-mile jog to Illinois.

A map shows the final leg of Berkofsky's cross-country Celebrate Life Run.

Berkofsky operates 15 meter SSB from the Sangamon Valley Radio Club Field Day site at Glenwood Middle School in Chatham, Illinois. [Tim McDonough, N9PUZ, Photo]

The KC3RE CelebrateLifeRun QSL card. QSL manager is Murray Green, K3BEQ, 5730 Lockwood Rd, Cheverly, MD 20785. (Include a self-addressed stamped envelope--SASE--no currency.)

NEWINGTON, CT, Aug 21, 2003--Concert pianist and cancer survivor Martin Berkofsky, KC3RE, has completed his 880-mile Celebrate Life Run from Tulsa to the Chicago area. An ARRL member, Berkofsky set out jogging on April 9, his 60th birthday, to celebrate his recovery from cancer and to raise money for research into the disease. He concluded his marathon around midday August 20 in Zion, Illinois. There he'll perform a special concert today for cancer patients, their families and staff members at Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) Midwestern Regional Medical Center.

"How grateful I am for all of the support and help from so many radio amateurs," Berkofsky told ARRL. He singled out for special mention the Tulsa Amateur Radio Club and its president, Gregg Wonderly, W5GGW, as well as the Washington (Missouri) Zero Beaters, the Chicago FM Club, and his QSL manager Murray Green, K3BEQ. He also acknowledged "the countless radio amateurs who kept me company with on the road QSOs, many even driving out to meet me personally and to help me with road directions when my maps weren't clear."

Along the way, Berkofsky carried a quad-band ham radio handheld transceiver to chat with locals as he passed through their communities. He marked his daily position using APRS gear loaned to him by John Chamberlain, AC5CV, of Waco, Texas, and he also made some QSOs via EchoLink.

Berkofsky says he set a daily record of 23.1 miles on July 16. "Went through the wall, as runners would say," he told ARRL. "Could have continued even longer had it not gotten dark!"

CTCA and the Cancer Treatment Research Foundation (CTRF) sponsored Berkofsky's run and are benefactorsof the donations pledged on its behalf. CTCA says his run raised more than $80,000 for cancer research.

"How proud I am to say that Amateur Radio played such a large part in this," Berkofsky added. It also garnered extensive media coverage along the way, with nearly every local newspaper running a feature story on the pianist as he passed through their towns. In St Louis, Martin's Celebrate Life Run made the front page of the St Louis Post-Dispatch. He also received TV and radio coverage.

Following his Zion encore concert, Berkofsky will fly back to Tulsa for a Saturday night benefit for cancer patients at the CTCA hospital there. He'll return home to Northern Virginia next week, where he hopes to resume his hamming activity on 20 meters.

"I think it will take months to really understand everything that has happened," Berkofsky said. "What an incredible experience, what incredible lessons. I hope I come out of this as a better person."

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