Don Halke will take on the Ultra Grand Slam for Cancer

Doing ultras for charity is one thing, but how about the Grand Slam?!? Don Halke of Harrisburg, PA, will be running the Ultra Grand Slam this year to raise awareness (and money) for the American Cancer Society. He was inspired to raise awareness for cancer this year since it was the 25th anniversary of his father's death from colon cancer. After his friend of 40 years and best man at his wedding, Glenn Hoffman, was recently diagnosed with the same disease and began a successful recovery, he realized how far medical science had come.

The Ultra Grand Slam (aka The Grand Slam of Ultrarunning) consists of officially finishing the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, the Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run, the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run and the Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance Run all in the same year. The Grand Slam of Ultrarunning Award was established in 1986, when Tom Green was the first finisher. The deadline to sign up for this year is June 20, 2007 - there's still time!

(The 11 brave 2006 Grand Slam finishers at the Wasatch 100 - Darcy Africa, Dan Brendan, Bill Thom, Steve Douglas, Andy Knight, David Gordon, father/son team Keith and Gary Knipling, Mike Samuelson, Bruce Grant & Tim Englund; photo courtesy of run100s.com)

47-year-old Halke has run three 100-milers and 79 marathons, with respective best times of 25:12 and 3:28:33. You can read his 2005 Western States race report here. He started his ultra running in 2002 with a 9:26 finish at the JFK 50 where he "enjoyed himself way too much". If you see him at the races, be sure to cheer him on!

If you would like to help Halke in his quest, you can send a check to the American Cancer Society to 3211 N. Front St., Suite 100, Harrisburg, PA 17110.