Huntsville Therapeutic Massage Students Provide Relief to Marathoners!
Posted: Thursday, December 17, 2009
The Huntsville Marathon is a nationally recognized event, a 26 mile, 385 yard footrace. Each year there are more and more participants as the Huntsville population grows and the event becomes more popular. This year was the 33rd Annual Rocket City Marathon on December 12, 2009. There were 1312 entries with 1256 finishers (over 100 more finishers than last year). The top seed made a time of 2:27:12.
The 26 Virginia College at Huntsville students provided much needed massage relief to 160 marathon participants. An added bonus was the announcement that a portion of the marathon proceeds was donated to the Huntsville Hospital's Women & Children's Pediatric Oncology program.
"The VCH Therapeutic Massage students have provided massage support to this event for the past six years and we see no end for our community support," said Marc Ague, Program Director. "I am so proud of our students. They really worked hard to help as many of the runners as possible."
"This event gives our students such an amazing real world experience that they may never have had a chance for or may never see again," reports Tiffany Nabors, Instructor and Event Coordinator. Nabors added, "We had two of our senior students stationed in the medical room to provide immediate help to injured or ailing participants under medical supervision.
"We worked hard, but it was worth it. We got a chance to use many of the techniques we've learned and see how we can provide some immediate relief to the marathoners," said Emily Lester, a senior student.
Race Director Suzanne Taylor says, "We are really happy to have the Virginia College students helping out each year for the marathon. Of all the vendors and various support activities, we usually get the most positive comments about the massages."