Ready to Run, Walk or Ride at Miles For Matheny?

The 16th annual Miles for Matheny, the Matheny Medical and Educational Center’s annual fundraiser and a community event that can draw more than 1,500 participants, volunteers and spectators will be held Sunday, April 21, at Liberty Park in downtown Peapack.

The late Basking Ridge resident Lu Huggins was the impetus for Miles For Matheny back in 1998 when she started Matheny's Wheelchair Walk with the intent of creating a day out in the community for patients of the school and medical center that has called Peapack-Gladstone home.

That wheelchair walk and cycling ride grew into an event that attract to an event that each year draws back Matheny students, patients, families and friends from the community together to enjoy a day of camaraderie and fun.  “Our goal has always been to bring together the children and adults with disabilities with their able-bodied counterparts in a wonderful and uplifting day enveloped by the strong community spirit of our neighbors," said Steve Proctor, Matheny president.

Last year's 15th annual Miles for Matheny came home to Liberty Park in downtown Peapack-Gladstone, following two years away at nearby Natirar County Park. Each year, the annual community celebration is an important fundraiser for the Center for Medicine and Dentistry at the Matheny Medical and Education Center. That facility serves both inpatients and outpatients with major disabilities from throughout New Jersey.

Each year, many students from area schools compete in athletic activities and raise money for Matheny as well as volunteering to assist Matheny patients in taking part in the Wheelchair Walk and otherwise enjoying the day. volunteers are a necessary part of running the event, including the Friends of Matheny, who provided a Breakfast of Champions, and the Rotary Club of Bernardsville, which served a free community picnic to the crowd throughout the day.

According to Matheny, activities include:

• The Lu Huggins Wheelchair Walk. Friends and family members can enjoy walking alongside more than 100 Matheny children and adults who “wheel” through the streets of downtown Peapack to the cheers of community members and other supporters.

• 5K Road Race: USATF-NJ NBGP 500 point event.  Close to 400 runners will race through the beautiful Somerset Hills on town and rural roads in this USATF-sanctioned run.

• Five different cycling routes wind through the picturesque countryside, designed to accommodate cyclists of all levels. A highly challenging climbing cycle route, “The Hills of Attrition,” is renowned among endurance cyclists.

• Kids Fun Run. Children, ages 3-10, enjoy friendly competition where they all are winners. And they learn at an early age about “running for a cause.”

• Nourishment. Participants and supporters can enjoy the Friends of Matheny’s “Breakfast of Champions”, along with luncheon refreshments in the park.

Matheny Medical and Educational Center is a special hospital and educational facility for children and adults with medically complex developmental disabilities that has been based in Peapack-Gladstone for more than 50 years. All money raised at Miles for Matheny will benefit the Matheny Center of Medicine and Dentistry.

Major sponsors are: Poses Family Foundation, title sponsor; Partlow Insurance Agency; Peapack-Gladstone Bank; Porzio Bromberg & Newman, P.C.; Affinity Federal Credit Union; and WCBS-TV and WCBS Newsradio 880.

For more information or to register, log onto www.milesformatheny.org or call 908-234-0011, ext. 260.