Lisa Smith-Batchen is a very accomplished endurance athlete and ultrarunner whose powerful legs and incredible lungs have allowed her to run great distances under some of the most challenging conditions on the planet, but her heart might just be the most powerful muscle in her body.

With the launch of Lisas810.com, this incredibly gifted athlete has set her sights on raising funds and awareness for the plight of children in Africa who have become orphaned as a result of AIDS. To that end, Lisa will be running and biking 810 miles to support the AIDS Orphans Rising charity, which works hard to help the children whose lives are changed forever by this deadly disease. 

On July 9th, Lisa  will depart from Las Vegas, Nevada and run almost 160 miles through the desert to reach Death Valley. Along the way she’ll face scorching heat, cross mountains, risking dehydration and injury, just to get to the start of her race. Once she arrives at her destination, Lisa will take part in one of the most grueling endurance events on the planet by racing in the Badwater Ultramarathon, which is another 135 miles of running through Death Valley, one of the hottest locations on Earth, and the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. The race typically ends at the Mt. Whitney Portals, but Lisa will continue another 10 miles to the summit before she rests.

Then, in October, Lisa will return to Death Valley to take part in the Furnace Creek 508, a 500+ mile bike race, with more than 35,000 feet of elevation gain, that will once again test her dedication and endurance. The desert is just as unforgiving in the Fall, and with all that climbing, riders will deal with temperature extremes throughout the course.

For more information on Lisa and the cause she is working so hard for, be sure to check out her website where you’ll find more information about Lisa, her support crew, the Badwater and Furnace Creek races, and how you can help with the cause.

Good luck Lisa! We’re pulling for you!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 9:58 am and is filed under Adventures, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.