Photo credit: John Michael Maas, Global Water Challenge.

In February, New York City runners raised almost a half of a million dollars for Haiti, during the NYRR Run for Haiti event. In April, NYC runners will have another opportunity to join with others around the globe in running to help conditions in Haiti. Dow has teamed up with Live Earth for an event called “Run for Water.” Run for Water is a global event, in which runners will participate in a 6k race, to improve drinking water conditions in Haiti. From the event’s website:

The City that never sleeps will be coming together on April 18th as New York comes out to run Prospect Park at the Dow Live Earth Run For Water. 24 hours, hundreds of runs, celebrities, thousands of runners and funds raised to help solve the water crisis. Running or walking 6km makes the realities of water scarcity real.  Make sure you are with us as we highlight this world wide issue that affects all of us.

The New York City Installation of this event will be occurring in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park on April 18th. The registration fee is $50 and can be done through the event’s registration page online.Though the money raised from the event will be used to help improve drinking water conditions in various developing countries worldwide, “for each person who registers using Promotional Code “HAITI” Live Earth will make a special extra donation to Global Water Challenge (10% of all entry fees already go to support water projects worldwide – we’ll add $1 for Haiti relief). The special donation will go to Catholic Relief  Services, CARE, Population Services International,  and UNICEF to implement safe drinking water  programs on the ground in Haiti for earthquake survivors.” For the full details, please visit the event page on the Live Earth Website.

(Photo: NYRR)

New York Road Runners, is presenting the perfect opportunity for fitness conscious “global citizens” to lend a helping hand. Saturday morning, February 20th, NYRR is organizing a 4 mile walk/run to benefit the earthquake ravaged country of Haiti. The walk/run starts at 9:00 AM. In addition to the 4 mile race, a kids race will take place at 10:30. According to the NYRR:

All entry fees collected by NYRR will go to New York City’s Haiti Relief Fund, administered by the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, which is directing 100% of donations to reputable organizations providing relief in Haiti.

Online registration for the event is currently open, until 11:59 PM EST, on Wednesday night (February 17), after which participants will only be able to register on the morning of the event, in Central Park. Online registration may be done through the NYRR event page.

As an additional bonus for NYRR members trying to gain entry for the 2011 New York City Marathon, NYRR has announced that it will award double “9+1″ credit for this race. That means that the run for Haiti will actually count as two races toward the nine required for guaranteed entry to next year’s marathon. For additional details, including course map, please see the New York Road Runners’ event page.

According to Gothamist, there were 25,000 participants in this year’s Tunnel to Towers Run. The 5k race took place on Sunday morning the 27th. Even though the weather was less, than optimal, the turn-out was incredible. As if the massive turnout was not inspiring enough, the real inspiration comes from the event upon which the race was conceived. The Tunnel to Towers Run is a tribute to the Brooklyn firefighter, Stephen Siller, who on September 11 2001 decided to run through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, wearing 70 pounds of firefighting gear, to the World Trade Center. After arriving at Trade Center, Siller lost his life trying to save victims of the attack on the Trade Center Towers.  The race starts at the Gowanus approach to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and enters Manhattan on West Street.

In addition to the rainy weather, this year had an additional setback, at the UPS truck carrying t-shirts, and other items for the event, caught fire, and was partially destroyed. Management at the Hilton Garden Inn on Staten Island stepped in, as soon as they caught word of the incident, and offered to launder all of the salvageable t-shirts, so that they could be ready in time for the race.

All of the money raised from the event, goes to a charity, called Stephen’s House. The Tunnel to Towers run has raised $5 million so far, with the money going towards to burn victims and needy children. Stephen’s House, a new New York Foundling facility that will house teenagers, is almost complete; here’s information on how to donate.

[photo: Hilton Flores/Staten Island Advance]