Chris Hanson '13 may be an All-American athlete, but he's recently been making headlines off the court by raising over $10,000 for "Miles for Moms," a program he started in September to raise money for breast cancer research. Hanson ran between five and 12 miles every day of October except for two for a total of 175 miles at the end of the month.
Hanson is a member of the men's squash team and enters his sophomore season with an impressive resume. This past summer, Hanson helped carry the United States to a third place finish at the World University Games, finishing ninth individually. In his freshman season with the Big Green, Hanson was named to both the First Team All-Ivy and First Team All-American teams while completing the year as the Big Green's No.1 player.
As squash training began this year, so did Hanson's "Miles for Moms" campaign.
The project initially began in late September when Hanson decided he was interested in starting a fundraiser.
"I had really gotten into running this summer, so I figured I would try and combine that and fundraising," Hanson said. "I came up with the idea to run as many miles as I could in a month and then see if I could get people to sponsor per mile."
The idea took the form of "Miles for Moms," a project that combined his recreational interests with breast cancer research, a cause he said is very important to him.
"My mom is a breast cancer survivor, and so is my grandma, so I wanted to pay tribute to them and to all the other survivors and people who have been affected by it," he said.
Hanson's original goal of 100 miles increased incrementally throughout the month, and he reached 150 miles on Oct. 29. Rather than be satisfied by this total, he decided raise the bar again.
"People were like, Good job, you're done,' and I thought, Well, I still have two days left,'" he said.
Hanson ran 12 more miles on the 30th and rounded out the month with a half marathon on Halloween to up his final total to 175 miles.
"[The half marathon] was a lot of fun for me," Hanson said.
Teammate Nick Sisodia '12 said he was very impressed with Hanson's endeavor.
"It's an amazing fundraiser he started," Sisodia said. "His family had to struggle with breast cancer, and it's really admirable that he's dedicated to his cause."
Hanson incorporated breast cancer awareness into the actual running of the project as well.
"The point was that I would do all these miles while I was wearing some sort of pink apparel to raise awareness, so I did most of the miles outside running around in a pink hat," he said.
Hanson said the biggest challenge of the project was juggling to stay on top of his schoolwork, squash training and "Miles for Moms" without missing a step.
"I also had squash and pledging and all sorts of other stuff, so it was definitely tough getting in all the miles at some points, but it was a lot of fun," Hanson said. "I had a goal to get to 150, and I wasn't going to let anything stop me from doing that."
Teammate Brian O'Toole '12 said he was impressed by Hanson's persistence and dedication to the cause, something he saw first hand joining him on some of his runs.
"Running that much in one month is something I can barely comprehend," O'Toole said. "I ran 10 miles with him, and I was tired after both times we ran. One of the times he went and ran again that night, so he's pretty unreal."
Squash coach Hansi Wiens said Hanson's project was a double-edged sword, because while Hanson was working to help breast cancer research, he was also running every day, sacrificing some of his efficiency in squash practice. He emphasized that Hanson was up for the task regardless.
"He didn't complain once about it," Wiens said.
Hanson's attention to fitness and technique in his squash training even in the midst of his "Miles for Moms" project was evident in his first test of the season, according to Wiens.
"We went to a scrimmage last weekend, and he played really well, worked really hard and showed that he can do both things help other people and do his regular business," Wiens said of Hanson's performance.
Wiens added that Hanson is one of the hardest workers on the team and regularly puts in extra time beyond regular team practices.
Sisodia described how helpful and important Hanson is to the team, beyond the effort he puts in to stay in shape.
"He's pretty much the best teammate you could have and one of the hardest, if not the hardest, worker I've trained with," Sisodia said. "He's also a great friend off the court."
Hanson said that his friends at Dartmouth were very important when looking for sponsors for his project.
"[My sponsors were] mostly Dartmouth students," he said. "Mostly just my friends and a couple of my family members donated. Actually, a couple teachers from my hometown found out about it, but it was mostly just asking my friends to spread the word, and whoever wanted to, donated."
Hanson said he does not expect "Miles for Moms" to be a one time effort. He plans to do it again soon and potentially make it even more successful.
"Hopefully, I'm going to do it next year or maybe in the spring when I don't have squash or pledging because I think I could get the word out a bit better or run a some extra miles if I didn't have other stuff to do," he said. "But definitely again next October."
All donations will be sent to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
