Robbie’s Run still going strong

A burst of summer weather brought hundreds of runners to Levy-Lakeside Elementary School on April 30 to participate in The 12th annual Robbie’s Run, a Merrick-based 5K race to benefit Forever 9: The Robbie Levine Foundation. Daniel Haddock, a senior at Calhoun High School, was first to step over the finish line, followed by Matthew Gemma, a senior at Mepham High School.

The foundation is named after a fourth-grader at Levy-Lakeside who died in September 2005 when his heart stopped during a Little League practice. Robbie could have been revived if there had been an automatic external defibrillator on the field and an individual trained in using it. Jill and Craig Levine, Robbie’s parents, started their foundation with a goal of preventing the number of deaths caused by heart failure. Forever 9: The Robbie Levine Foundation donates AEDs to schools around the world and offers AED, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first-aid training in middle and high schools across Long Island. Robbie’s Run is the foundation’s largest fundraiser, collecting an annual average of $35,000 that goes directly toward the foundation’s efforts.

Robbie would be a junior in college this year. Since 2015, the year he would be a freshman, the race has include “Robbie’s Run on Campus.” College students who could not be home for the race participate by ordering a custom t-shirt and taking a picture of themselves running five kilometers anywhere on their school’s campus. Jill Levine, the founder of the foundation, said that she received a number of pictures from Robbie’s Run alumni who participated at their respective universities.

Levine added that there was a big presence of Kennedy High School students, where her son, Joshua, is a senior. Teams of teachers from Kennedy and Levy-Lakeside also competed.

In addition to the main race, there was a half-mile Fun Run for children and a one-mile Mini Run for those who want more than the Fun Run, but less than the 5K.

“We’re very appreciative of the Merrick community for supporting the foundation and supporting the race,” Levine said. “It’s nice that this is twelve years later and it’s still going strong.”