OK, hikers, take a knee! Coach Miller here, and —

Coach Miller! Has a nice ring.

— we’re here to see how many of you would like to really challenge yourselves and help a great cause at the same time.

The challenge: hiking a 28.3-mile stretch of the Foothills Trail in one day.

The great cause: CureSearch for Children’s Cancer.

CureSearch is a non-profit that raises funds for research into children’s cancer on behalf of the Children’s Oncology Group, a consortium of 210 hospitals and 6,500 physicians, nurses and researchers worldwide. (Hospitals in this group treat 90 percent of kids with cancer in the U.S.) Not much more than needs to be said to support its Great Cause standing, though you can read more about CureSearch’s efforts here.

CureSearch is new to the public fundraising game. Until a couple years ago it looked mostly to grants and philanthropic donations. Then, two years ago it started doing walks, and this year decided it wanted to branch out. Now, the obvious go-to active fundraiser is the ubiquitous 5K. Despite their overexposure, they continue to grow in numbers. CureSearch wanted something off the beaten path.

“We were looking at new ways to make it interesting,” says Jim Steiner with CureSearch’s Southeast Office in Charlotte. “We wanted to make it different. And we wanted to offer an ultimate experience.”

Despite hiking’s popularity — about 38 million Americans hike at least once a year, according to the National Sporting Goods Association — fundraising hikes are a relatively untapped market. “It seemed especially good for this part of the country, where hiking is so popular,” Steiner says.

Thus was born Ultimate Hike. (The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has a similar event, Extreme Hike for a Cure.)

In this, its first year a dozen Ultimate Hikes are scheduled nationwide on such epic trails as the Superior Hiking Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Tecumseh Trail and our own Foothills Trail. In fact, one of those hikes has already been held, on May 14 by an Atlanta contingent of Ultimate Hikers on the Foothills Trail. That hike drew 50 hikers and raised $150,000.

“We try to keep the number of hikers limited,” says Leah Bartlett, CureSearch Regional Development Manager in Charlotte. “We don’t want to wreak havoc on the trail.”

In a nutshell, here’s how Ultimate Hike works. About four months before the hike date, CureSearch begins holding biweekly training hikes to whip its Ultimate Hikers into shape. In addition to the training hikes, led by hiking coaches, Ultimate Hikers get a supplemental training schedule. Coaches send out weekly emails with tips and updates, and are available to answer any questions an Ultimate-Hiker-in-training may have. Then, come hike weekend hikers get hotel accommodations for two nights (the night before the hike, the night of the hike), transportation to and from the trailhead on hike day, aid stations at three locations (providing hydration, energy bars, first aid, etc.), Ultimate Hike wicking shirt, pre-hike pasta party, post-hike victory breakfast.

Back at the beginning, you may recall, I referred to myself as Coach Miller. Yesterday, I interviewed for and got the job as one of two volunteer hiking coaches for the Raleigh Ultimate Hike contingent. I explain more about the hiking and training aspect of Ultimate Hike at our sister site, NCHikes.com. But let me share one quick insight to put the Ultimate Hike experience in perspective.

Sunday evening I was talking with my buddy Irving in Louisburg. A former marine and longtime activity advocate, Irving had been feeling actively adrift of late. I mentioned Ultimate Hike, which sparked a story about a “hike” from his Marine days. It was an epic, all-day trek during which they were supposed to march in lockstep. At one point, Irving — and the guy behind him — made a brief misstep. They feared immediate retribution, but nothing — at least not immediately. Then, at hike’s end as the platoon was yards away from the mess hall, Irving and his buddy were told to fall out. “Please make it just be 100 pushups,” Irving secretly wished. Instead, he and his buddy had to body roll about 75 yards over hot gravel. He told the story like it happened yesterday.

I explained that this would not be the motivational approach used by Ultimate Hike. Peer support, encouragement, helpful (hopefully) advice, no rolling over hot gravel.

A challenge, certainly.

Likely one of the hardest of your life.

* * *
Interested?

There are two Ultimate Hikes scheduled for October on the Foothills Trail. For Triangle-area hikers the hike will be Oct. 15, for Charlotte hikers, Oct. 22.

Informational sessions will be held in both locations throughout July. Here’s the schedule:

Raleigh

• Wednesday, July 6 | Great Outdoor Provision Co. | 6:30 pm
• Thursday, July 7 | REI – Durham | 6:30 pm
• Tuesday, July 12 | REI – North Hills | 6:30 pm
• Wednesday July 13 | REI – Cary | 6:30 pm
• Thursday July 14 | The North Face | 6:30 pm
• Saturday, July 23 | Historic Yates Mill | 9 am

Charlotte

• Tuesday, July 12 | Great Outdoor Provisions| 6:30 pm
• Wednesday, July 13 | REI – Northlake | 6:30 pm
• Wednesday, July 20 | Bass Pro Shop | 6:30 pm
• Thursday, July 21 | REI – Pineville | 6:30 pm
• Saturday, July 30 | U.S. National Whitewater Center | 9 am

Photo: Atlanta’s Ultimate Hikers on a training hike.