Sweetheart Run in Tulsa to benefit Champ Camp

By SARA PLUMMER World Staff Writer
Published: 2/9/2012  2:32 AM
Last Modified: 2/9/2012  4:54 AM

Dina Ledbetter has become a runner in the past few years, even coaching others in the sport.

This Saturday she’ll once again lace up her running shoes for the annual Sweetheart Run, but this race means more to her than a good finishing time.

Ledbetter and her husband, Cary Ledbetter, have had two children born with heart conditions. Their first, Clinton, was born in 1991 with heart disease.

“After a year of trying to fix his defect, he passed away in 1992,” Dina Ledbetter said.

Six years later, their daughter, Jessica, was born with a heart condition as well, but hers is manageable and not as severe.

When Jessica, now 14, was old enough, she attended Champ Camp, a weeklong summer camp for children with heart conditions and their siblings.

“She loves it,” Ledbetter said. “I hear all the stories.”

Champ – or Children with Heart Abnormalities with Much Potential – Camp is staffed with doctors and medical personnel. It is held every year at the Shepherd’s Fold Ranch campgrounds in Avant in Osage County. The camp is sponsored by St. Francis Children’s Hospital.

For the past few years, part of the proceeds from the Sweetheart Run have benefited Champ Camp.

Between 200 and 300 people participated in the first Sweetheart Run seven years ago, and about 1,500 are expected to register this year, said Kate Critchfield, events coordinator at Fleet Feet, which organizes the run.

This year, a 1k fun run is being added. It’s shorter than the typical 1-mile fun run, so children who attend the camp can participate, too.

“It’s a very manageable distance. Nothing overtaxing,” Critchfield said. “The kids get a giant kick out of the fun run. They feel it’s their own race.”

Hope Chitwood, a former camper at Champ Camp, will be running Saturday, too.

Chitwood, who was diagnosed with aortic stenosis and a heart murmur, went to camp every year as a child and young teenager.

“I absolutely love it. It was an environment where we could be comfortable and feel normal,” she said, adding that it wasn’t unusual to see campers comparing scars from heart surgeries.

Now she’s the camp director at Shepherd’s Fold and helps organize Champ Camp for the nearly 60 children who attend every year.

The camp has the usual summer camp activities, including horseback riding, swimming, water fights and games. It charges families just a small part of the actual cost, Ledbetter said, so the funds raised through the Sweetheart Run, as well as through direct donations, are helpful.

At the camp, “They get to be normal, they get to ride a horse, get to play sports,” she said. “There’s nothing else like it around here.”

Sweetheart Run scheduled Saturday downtown

What: 5k and 10k races and 1k fun run benefiting Champ Camp, a summer camp for children with heart abnormalities and their siblings. Participants can also run both the 5k and the 10k, or the “Double.”

When: Saturday. Registration opens at 6:45 a.m. The 5k starts at 7:45 a.m., the 10k at 8:30 a.m., and the 1k fun run at 8:35 a.m.

Where: Start and finish in front of the Fleet Feet store at Second Street and Frankfort Avenue.

Cost: In-store registration Thursday and Friday costs $28 for the 5k and 10k, $13 for the 1k and $39 for the Double. Couples registration costs $55 for the 5k and 10k or $79 for the Double. Race-day registration fees increase by $2 to $5, depending on the race. Register at either Fleet Feet location, 418 E. Second St. or 5968 S. Yale Ave.

For more: Find more race information at tulsaworld.com/fleetfeet.

Help: Donate to St. Francis Children’s Hospital at tulsaworld.com/stfrancisfoundation.

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