Ramanathan Gnanadesikan

Ram is a 54-year-old who has completed 105 marathons and 79 half marathons including marathons in all 50 states in the United States, the North Pole and in 23 countries. The Antarctic Ice Marathon completes his Grand Slam quest. Ram is a hiker and has conquered Aconcagua and Kilimanjaro. Ram is also the Chairperson of MarrowMinded, an USA based non-profit organization registering Asians and other minorities on the National Bone Marrow Registry. Ram's interest in running began in 2002 when he attended an information session for the ‘Team in Training’ marathon fund-raising program (run by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) after his mentor and MarrowMinded Chairperson Seema Chauhan died of Leukemia. He completed the 2002 Marine Corps marathon in honor of his friend and felt great. Ram met several honored teammates during training, and some of them were being treated for Leukemia and other blood cancer disorders. He made a commitment to run 100 marathons on Christmas Eve 2004 after reading a blog entry posted by his honored teammate’s mom. His honored teammate Alexandra Flowe was back at the hospital and was not doing well. Ram made a prayer for her to be cancer free and in exchange offered to run 100 marathons for her. Alex has been cancer free for the last 17 years and completed her last chemotherapy on June 11, 2005. Ram honored his prayer and commitment and completed his 100th marathon in Jerusalem on March 9, 2018. He also completed the North Pole marathon in 2018 in memory of his father Gnanadesikan Thuthipet while raising funds for the Michael J. Fox Foundation.