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Mary O’Donnell 5K Race to Cure ALS on August 14th to benefit The Angel Fund for ALS RESEARCH
Mary O'Donnell 5K Race to Cure ALS on August 14th to benefit The Angel Fund for ALS RESEARCH
The 2nd Annual Mary O’Donnell 5K Race to Cure ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) will be held on Sunday, August 14th at Pine Banks Park in Melrose, MA. Proceeds from the race will benefit The Angel Fund for ALS Research and its research at the Cecil B. Day Laboratory for Neuromuscular Research at UMass Medical Center.
The race will be held in memory of Mary O’Donnell of Melrose, a loving wife and mother who lost her courageous four-year battle to ALS on November 1, 2014. She was 51 years old. More than 600 runners and walkers attended the inaugural event in 2015.
Born
in Boston and raised in Belmont, Massachusetts, Mary Pomer O’Donnell was the
sixth of 12 children of Frank A. Pomer and Margaret (Flatley) Pomer. Mary
graduated from Belmont High School in 1981 and received her Bachelor of Science
degree from The College of The Holy Cross in 1985 and her Law Degree from
Suffolk University in 1994. She married Bill O’Donnell on June 9, 1990 and made
their home in Melrose.
Mary was a homemaker who took great
pride in taking care of her family. She was the devoted and loving mother to
her five children, Tom, Jim, Matt, Luke and Maria. She enjoyed going to the
beach, was a person who enjoyed the simpler things in life and never took
anything for granted. She cherished the quiet times with her husband and
enjoyed attending all the activities that her children were involved in whether
it be school functions or sporting events.
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Registration for the August 14th event begins at 8:00 a.m. with a 9:00 a.m. race time. The registration fee is $30.
Advance registration can be made online at https://theangelfund.org/mary-odonnell-race-landing-page/.
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T-shirts will be provided and awards will be presented to the top three male and female finishers. The top three finishers in the following age groups will also receive awards: 14 and under; 15 –19; 20-29; 30-39; 40-49; 50-59; 60-69; 70-plus; and wheelchair division.
Donations to the race can also be made online via FirstGiving.com at www.firstgiving.com/angelfund/2nd-annual-mary-odonnell-5k-race-to-cure-als or by mail by sending a check made payable to The Angel Fund/Mary O'Donnell 5K Race, and mail to: The Angel Fund for ALS Research, 649 Main Street, Wakefield, MA 01880.