The Oklahoma Run to Defeat Diabetes event raised $45,000 and gave it all to Harold Hamm Oklahoma Diabetes Center.

Five hundred people participated in the inaugural event, which was started by an OU student with diabetes.

“To see something as an idea and then turn it into a realistic event ... was great,” said event director Ryan Fightmaster, entrepreneurship senior.

He said President David Boren, who is a diabetic, was eager to donate money to the event. The athletic department donated the use of Gaylord Stadium, the Norman police department sent officers to supervise the run for free and the OU Police Department donated barricades, according to Zac McCullock, race route director and international business entrepreneurship junior.

“It was really cool to see all the people on campus just say ‘yes,’” McCullock said. McCullock and Fightmaster are Sigma Phi Epsilon brothers.

Operations Director Bret Bones said 120 volunteers helped with the event, and most were from the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

“A lot of the people enjoyed it and are going to come back next year, they said,” said Bones, mechanical engineering junior and Sigma Phi Epsilon member. Sigma Phi Epsilon wants to invest in younger members to continue the event, Bones said.

Next year, they hope to have more runners and make the Oklahoma Run to Defeat Diabetes an even bigger event.