KAUKAUNA — If you see a solitary runner on the Kaukauna High School track late Friday and into the next day, it’s Luke Mantel of Kaukauna, who will be on a 24-hour training run ahead of his Run Across Wisconsin.
He’s raising money for Bigger Than the Trail, a mental health charity, which is a cause with personal meaning to Mantel.
Mantel has completed multiple run challenges (half-marathons, marathons, triathlons, ultra-marathons, Tough Mudders, Iron Mans, etc.) and is currently training for the run up the entire length of Wisconsin, which is approximately 355 miles, according to his wife, Emily.
He’ll begin his run across the state in Hazel Green, running all the way to to Sand Bay near the Apostle Islands.
On Friday, April 10, he is beginning a 24-hour training run beginning 8 p.m. on the Kaukauna High School track.
Mantel is collecting donations to benefit Bigger Than the Trail, and supporters can MAKE PLEDGES HERE and learn more about his journey.
Mental health has a very personal meaning in Mantel’s life.
“Years of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and self-hatred led me into what felt like a hole I couldn’t escape,” Mantel wrote in his biography on his Run Across America page. “Then I found fitness, and I started climbing out. After a few years of strength training, running became my outlet — a way to channel the negative energy and face everything life had put me through, head-on.
“Now, it’s my mission to instill that belief in others. That’s why I’m running across Wisconsin. That’s why every dollar raised goes toward giving someone else the support I wish I’d had sooner.
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