SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – KELOLAND’s Dan Santella will be one of 12 people running 437 miles across the state to raise awareness for suicide prevention this year.
The 437 Project started three years ago as a way to raise funds for The Helpline Center and bring awareness to mental health issues during Suicide Awareness Month in September.
Each year, 12 community leaders are chosen to run portions of the route and this year, KELOLAND reporter and anchor Dan Santella is one of them.
“I think it’s a worthy cause, worthy of our time, but also I’m running it and I’m a reporter, so it only makes sense for me to cover it,” Santella said.
The runners will depart from the west side of the state at 8 a.m. MT Thursday, Sept. 19 and will finish in Sioux Falls on Sunday around 1:30 p.m. CT. Santella will hit the road for the first leg of his run at 7:30 p.m. MT on Thursday where he’ll run 7 miles.
During the four-day, 437-mile stretch, Santella will run five times for roughly an hour each. His second leg starts at 12:30 MT on Friday with a 7.4 mile run, then a 9.8 mile run from 6 to 7:30 a.m. CT on Saturday. He’ll run for another 7.3 miles at 9:30 p.m. CT on Saturday before finishing out with a 4.7-mile run at 8:40 a.m. CT on Sunday.
In total, Santella is expecting to run over 36 miles.
“I’ve run three marathons in my life and I’ve been on long runs before, but I’ve never quite done something like this,” he said. “So it’s a challenge, but it’s something I wanted. I think also a lot of times runners benefit from having a goal.”
If anyone would like to follow along with Santella and the rest of the runners, the 437 Project website has a progress dashboard. Santella is also planning on going live on his Facebook during each of his runs to describe his surroundings and interact with the audience.
For his five runs, Santella is wearing a different headband with the names of 120 people who lost their lives to suicide. He will also be shouting out those people during his Facebook lives.
“Each headband has 24 names of people who reached out to me saying this person was lost to suicide and asked me to honor them,” he said.
After covering the 437 Project last year, Santella was asked to be involved again this year as a runner. He agreed and knew the experience would make for good KELOLAND News stories.
“I do some of my best reporting when I’m out on the road, and I think it’s where I find some of my most fulfilling reporting,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to that, but also running my legs, the camaraderie of being part of the team is gonna be really nice; the 12 of us together.”
Santella’s coverage on the 437 Project begins Wednesday night with a story on the group’s mission of suicide prevention. Throughout the next few days, stories on each of the runners’ motivations and the physical challenges of the run will air on KELO-TV.
Readers can also stay tuned for Oct. 3 when Santella’s Eye on KELOLAND about the project, their mission and the runners is set to air.
