Goalie joins run for Down syndrome
Jaime Durant of Albany wasn’t concerned about her lack of sleep returning to work Monday after raising money for the National Down Syndrome Society as part of a 260mile relay from New York City to Washington D.C.
She ran the race Friday through Sunday — March 19 to 21 — and returned to work bright and early Monday morning to her job as an Albany kindergarten teacher. In a phone interview after a long day at school, her voice still resonated with excitement.
“The kids keep me pretty busy, so I didn’t have time to think about being tired,” she said.
The former Shaker High School and College of Saint Rose soccer goalie discovered her love of helping those who are less fortunate as a volunteer for Topsoccer when she was in youth soccer.
Topsoccer (The Outreach Program for Soccer) is a community-based training program for all athletes with intellectual, emotional and/or physical disabilities. Many Capital Region soccer clubs dedicate funding and encourage coaches, team managers
and youth players to volunteer time to support the program through the U.S. Youth Soccer organization.
That desire to help children with disabilities provided an inspiration to Durant when she saw an Instagram post seeking volunteers to join a running team to raise money in support of the National Down Syndrome Society. NDSS calls itself the leading human rights organization for all individuals with Down syndrome.
The 27-year-old, who teaches kindergarten at All Saints Catholic Academy and has worked as a special ed teacher, has run the race the past two years. Last year she trained for the March race but it was postponed and made into a virtual event in October because of the pandemic.
“This year was just a brandnew experience,” she said. “Some of the people I met I’ve been Zooming with for almost two years now. So to finally meet them was really cool. We had people from all over … Delaware, Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida and Tennessee.”
Her students and the school community at All Saints Catholic Academy in Albany supported her both during last year’s virtual race and the 2021 run.
“They helped me raise money,” she said. “They’ve been so supportive. I even did a quick storytime with the kids during the race on Friday just so I could see them.”
The team of 26 runners tackle the various legs of the course and drive with other team members from checkpoint to checkpoint. Those taking a break from running cheer on the team as they drive past teammates throughout the relay.
Each leg is mapped out and completed by two team members who run at a similar pace. Durant said she and her partner ran segments of anywhere from 3 to 6 miles at an 8:30-9:15 per mile pace. She ran 33 miles over the course of three days.
“Sleep was hard because you have so much adrenaline,” she said, referring to the time spent “resting ” in cars, when it wasn’t her turn to drive. “We were all exhausted and we would be like, ‘I can’t believe we have to run again.’”
The finish line Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial — on World Down Syndrome Day — was worth every bit of pain.
“We had a large group of people waiting for us. Family members and people who just came out to support Down syndrome and raise awareness,” she said. “It was just so cool to see so many people supporting not just us but Down syndrome.
Durant’s fundraising page is at https://give.ndss.org/jaimedurantndss. Donations will be accepted through Wednesday (March 31). So far she’s raised $900 out of a lofty goal of $3,500. NDSS’S fundraising goal for the marathon is to raise $100,000 and this year’s event has raised just over $90,000, according to NDSS advisor Jessica Kuss.