Adam Nickel to be remembered by Crazylegs runners

More than 60 runners participating in Saturday’s Crazylegs Classic will be running in memory of Adam Nickel, a University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Pharmacy student who died after completing last month’s Little Rock Marathon.

It was recently learned that Nickel, an avid runner and accomplished marathoner, suffered from a rare and difficult-to-detect heart condition which contributed to his death.

He had been finishing his third year of pharmacy school and was looking forward to attending clerkships in Madison, Fox Valley, and Anchorage, Ala., before pursuing a promising career in clinical pharmacy.

To celebrate his life and memory, Nickel’s friends from campus and from Group Health Cooperative, where he had been interning, formed the R.A.N. (Remembering Adam Nickel) Team. They will run Crazylegs wearing special shirts and buttons.

Team member and friend Sarah Ann Balzar can be contacted at (920) 277-6646 to talk about Nickel’s life and upcoming plans to honor him in races throughout 2008. Members of the team will hold a pre-race gathering at 9 a.m. Saturday at the lobby of GHC-Capitol Clinic, 675 W. Washington Ave.

In addition, the School of Pharmacy has established the Adam Nickel Memorial Scholarship Fund though the UW Foundation to honor a pharmacy doctoral student with a passion for athletics and exercise and a commitment to helping others as evidenced by fund-raising activities or community service.

Donations can be made to the University of Wisconsin Foundation/A. Nickel Scholarship, Attn: Linda Halsey, P.O. Box 8860, Madison, WI 53708.