A Humboldt man will be running four miles every four hours for 48 hours straight for the second year in a row, and he is doing it so his daughter can have a better life.
Jason Holtvogt says proceeds from the event which begins on Friday will go to research at the University of Edmonton to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes. His daughter and other members of his extended family are diabetics.

He compares the marathon to what parents of diabetic children go through, because their child’s blood sugar needs to be checked every four hours to make sure it isn’t too high or too low, or they could go into a coma. Holtvogt doesn’t consider himself to be a typical runner, but he says he is a typical parent. “When you are faced with adversity, it doesn’t matter what you were before, you are that now, so I guess now I am a runner.”

The proceeds from the fundraiser go to Dr. James Shapiro’s research. Holtvogt explains that Dr. began using stem cells and is able to manipulate them to become insulin-producing blood cells. It will be up to two years before human trials begin, and then another two years or so for the trials to take place. He hopes that within five years the results of the research will make his daughter’s everyday life drastically different.

There is a Dine & Dash banquet, live auction and concert, featuring Codie Prevost on Friday, to kick off the ultra-marathon.

Tickets can be found on eventbrite. Search for T1d4X4X48
The event website: https://www.t1d4x4x48.com/
DRIFCan is the registered charity for the research – the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation Canada