Nebraska Football Road Race marks 10 years of supporting cancer research

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – The Nebraska football season is almost here but on Sunday, the team turns its focus to the Nebraska Football Road Race.

It’s an annual event where hundreds of participants, including the entire Husker football program, race for a cure for pediatric brain cancer.

2022 marks the 10-year anniversary of the event, and for Amy Christensen and her family, this year means even more.

“So Cole was our son, born in 2009, diagnosed in 2010 with brain cancer,” Christensen said. “We went through a long journey of treatments, surgeries and in 2012, he passed away.”

Ten years of the Nebraska Football Road Race, and 10 years since the Christensens lost their son, Cole.

The road race serves as a place of community for families like the Christensens each year.

“You get that amazing feeling of community, and the excitement of the road race really just connects Team Jack and Husker football, Husker sports together,” Christensen said.

The event raises money to help treat kids just like Cole.

All proceeds benefit the Childhood Brain Tumor Initiative at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

“It gives me hope for the future, for the kids that we know that have been diagnosed, and for the kids that, you know, we don’t know about yet, ” Amy said.

The road race reminds players like offensive lineman Ethan Piper that there is so much more than football.

“I feel really humbled just getting out and talking out to the public,” he said. “Just to raise awareness for what the road race is and help bringing [awareness] of what’s going on here outside of football at Nebraska.” 

Piper said his team takes pride in the event each year, excited to come together for something other than the game.

“Every one of them looks forward to this event,” he said. “It’s something that, you get so caught up in, like, two-a-days and lifting and you want to get eating right and doing the right things, but it’s a good way to just take a step back and focus on what really matters in life: raising money for people who need our help.”

Christensen said the race “brings hope to all of us that we will find a cure, that we will find better treatment options in the future.”

“And these funds, these activities that we’re doing are going to get us there,” she said.

The deadline to register for the event is Saturday at 6 p.m.

You can register at huskers.com/roadrace.