N.H. man leads Florida-Maine benefit run

PORTLAND – A New Hampshire man is leading a team of runners on a 1,600-mile run to raise money for a summer camp program for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families.

Starting Tuesday, Matt Hoidal of Nashua, N.H., and nine other runners will run the equivalent of seven marathons as they take turns on the road from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Portland. The goal of the tag-team “miracle marathon” is to raise $150,000 for Camp Sunshine, the 17-year-old camp on Sebago Lake.

“Right now I can go out and run 15 miles. To maintain it over 12 days is the difference,” said Hoidal, 28, during a visit to Portland just before he left for Florida. “As painful as one marathon is, I’m willing to endure more for these kids.”

The runners plan to arrive in Portland on June 17. They will wrap up with a celebratory lap around Hadlock Field during the afternoon Sea Dogs game on Father’s Day, June 17, before heading out for the final 30 miles to Camp Sunshine.

The arrival highlights the opening of a new $6 million year-round facility at the camp.

For the past 10 years, Hoidal has been coming to Maine, where his parents have a cottage on Horne Pond in Acton. He decided to visit Camp Sunshine two years ago after hearing about it from a friend.

Hoidal and his brother, David, decided to help out by putting their love of running and their organizational skills to use. They founded Miles for Smiles, a nonprofit group that has put on several events to raise money for the camp.

“A lot of the families can’t afford a vacation or are afraid to leave their ill child with someone else,” said Hoidal, who just passed the Massachusetts Bar exam and hopes to set up practice. “They come to Camp Sunshine as a family and know that their child is in good hands.”

Hoidal started working on the run last fall. He’s written dozens of corporations about sponsorships and contacted runners around the East Coast about donations. He began hearing from runners intrigued with the concept.

One of them was Ron Paquette of Madison.

Paquette just turned 60 and is retiring this spring after 38 years of teaching high school. He has run 37 marathons and thought that this run sounded like a good adventure.

Paquette is not worried about running three hours a day. In recent weeks, he has been running twice a day for two to three hours. The only thing he worries about is the heat in the South.

It would take months to complete the 1,600-mile trip if the runners actually took turns. So Hoidal has divided the group into three teams, and each team will be responsible for a different 60 to 80 miles of the course each day.

“We’ll step every single mile from Florida to Maine, but we’re kind of leapfrogging each other,” he said.