Register for MuggleNet’s 20K and Join Us for the Last Mile on the High Line
MuggleNet’s 20th-anniversary celebrations have included everything from our series of top 20 listicles and ultimate “Year in Review” articles to our recently launched Magical Books for Muggle Teachers campaign, a fundraiser to buy Harry Potter or other fantasy books for teachers, who can then use them in their curricula. Besides giving back to teachers, many of whom were responsible for instilling a love of Potter in us or our children, we also wanted to give back to our friends at Potterhead Running Club, a nonprofit with a mission to motivate fans to be more physically active while supporting other incredible direct-impact charities.
We last partnered with Potterhead Running Club in 2016 for the Fantastic Beasts 5K, when we helped raise money for END7, a campaign supported by Fantastic Beasts actor Eddie Redmayne and Harry Potter alumnus Tom Felton aimed at providing vaccines and cures to seven of the world’s most common tropical diseases, including hookworm, roundworm, whipworm, elephantiasis, trachoma, river blindness, and snail fever.
This time around, we are helping raise money for Potterhead Running Club itself! Over the past five years, thousands of Harry Potter fans haved logged over 12 million miles and donated in support of countless charities. This year’s causes include pancreatic cancer research, fan activism, animal rights, foster families, Alzheimer’s patients, anti-poaching, kids with cerebral palsy, and the homeless.
As a virtual run, MuggleNet 20th Anniversary Virtual 20K can be done anywhere in the world over as long a period as you want. Feel free to run, walk, bike, swim, or cartwheel your way to 20K, or about 12.5 miles. Everyone who registers for the event will receive a personalized digital bib and a beautiful platinum 3″ Time-Turner-themed finisher’s medal with a spinning hourglass on a custom dye-sublimated ribbon.
What really makes this virtual run special, though, is there’s also an optional in-person component. If you’re going to be in the New York City area on Saturday, October 5, we want you to do the first 11.5 miles on your own and finish the last mile with us! We will be meeting at the start of the High Line, a linear park that runs along what used to be a railroad track, on 34th Street between 11th and 12th Avenue, near the Javits Center. Come dressed in your best cosplay attire or magical Muggle clothes at 11 a.m. ready to walk, run, or wheel your way along this peaceful stretch of greenery above the city. As a bonus, you will receive a 20-year charm, pictured below, to add to your medal.
Registration is OPEN NOW and will remain open until Monday, October 7 at 6:00 a.m. EDT, but we encourage you to sign up early so that you can show off your medal in person! Those participating in the in-person component will receive both the medal and the charm at the event itself, while those participating in the virtual portion only will be shipped their medal. We hope to see you soon!
P.S. If you’re hanging out with us on the High Line, you may as well join us later in the day for our 20th-anniversary party, An Evening in the Pensieve, at Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square. VIP tickets sold out in the blink of an eye, but we have a limited number of general admission tickets still available.
