HERO Walk on the Ocean City Boardwalk Set for Sunday

In just its second year, the HERO Walk on the Ocean City Boardwalk attracted about 2,000 participants and raised $125,000 last fall.

Event organizers for the HERO Campaign, a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing drunk driving tragedies by promoting the use of designated drivers, are planning for an even bigger turnout for the third annual event on Sunday.

The Ocean City event will start 11 a.m. Sunday (Oct. 6, 2013) on the Boardwalk at Sixth Street. 

Register starting at 9 a.m. at the Ocean City Sports and Civic Center (just off the Boardwalk at Sixth Street).

The course for the non-competitive 3-mile walk is entirely on the Ocean City Boardwalk and starts at Sixth Street and includes a turnaround point at 20th Street. The event included food, entertainment, trophies and prizes for top fundraising teams and individuals.

Lindsey Petrosh, former Miss New Jersey, will sing the National Anthem and be grand marshal. 

For more information on how to donate, create a team or walk as an individual, visit the Hero Campaign website.

The HERO Campaign was established in memory of Navy Ensign John Elliott, who lost his life to a drunken driver in July 2000. Elliott had graduated two months earlier from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD, where he was named the outstanding HERO (Human Education Resource Officer) of his class.

The HERO Campaign is active in five states, including New Jersey, where Elliott lived and was president of his graduating class at Egg Harbor Township High School.

The inaugural walk in 2011 included 800 walkers and raised a reported $100,000.