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Hundreds sweat it out for literacy

Tamira Madsen  —  10/12/2008 1:44 pm

Katie Mouzakis was thrilled to accomplish two goals Sunday morning with her finish in the 17th annual Literacy Run/Walk in downtown Madison.

Mouzakis not only defended her 5-kilometer women's title, she also bested her 2007 time by more than 30 seconds.

"I'm happy with how well it went," said Mouzakis, whose time of 20 minutes, 18 seconds was a 37-second improvement compared to last year. "I did the run last year and I liked how well organized it was."

Mouzakis moved to Madison from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., nearly 18 months ago to work toward a graduate degree in biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin. When she finds time in her schedule, the 23-year-old said she's enjoyed honing her athletic skills with the thriving running community in the Madison area. Mouzakis serves as a volunteer assistant coach with the girls cross country team at West High School.

Though there are serious competitors in the event, Mouzaki said she also likes being surrounded by runners of different ability levels.

"The literacy run is really important because of the work they do to improve literacy in Madison and the Dane County area," Mouzakis said. "It's nice to see so many citizens out and participating even though they aren't serious racers. The crowd is really supportive of the cause, and it's a good atmosphere."

Mouzakis' finish was good enough for 10th overall out of 5K runners. On the men's side, Matthew Giesfeldt, 24, of Madison was the overall winner with a time of 16:40. Rounding out the top-three finishers were Jason Meekma of Wisconsin Rapids (17:02) and Madison's Dana Bartholomew (17:24).

The event, which benefits the Dane County nonprofit Literacy Network, drew more than 1,200 participants to three events: a 5K walk and 5K and 10K runs.

Jeff Burkhart, executive director of the Literacy Network, said the popular charity event is the biggest fundraiser for the group. After expenses, he said approximately $30,000 was raised in 2007. The Literacy Network caters primarily to adults and offers reading and English tutoring through one-on-one sessions and small group lessons.

Burkhardt said the unseasonably warm, sunny fall weather also was a big boost for the event.

"The weather is great, a little too warm actually," Burkhart said. "We've got a lot of sweaty runners coming through the finish line. This is our biggest fundraiser that we have throughout the year and helps drive all of our programs which are in community centers and schools."

Tamira Madsen  —  10/12/2008 1:44 pm