Run with us on Nov. 6, 2022!

On November 6, 2022, our team will return to the Lexington Battlegreen 5K/10K for our sixth year of participating in this fabulous running event! As in years past, this event offers several great options for runners and non-runners of all ages. It is also a wonderful opportunity to meet and welcome our exoneree team members, who every year inspire us to continue the important work of fighting wrongful convictions.

This year, we are dedicating our race to our dear friend and community member Ray Champagne, who passed away suddenly on July 12, 2022 in a motorcycle accident. Before becoming an integral part of the NEIP community, Ray fought for 41 years to overturn his wrongful conviction. He finally achieved his freedom on February 18, 2022, with the help of his lawyer and close friend, Lisa Kavanaugh, who is also a NEIP trustee and co-founded the RFI team.

Although his time in freedom was far too short, Ray devoted himself fearlessly and generously to developing resources and healing spaces for the growing community of people freed from wrongful convictions. He partnered with exonerees Sean Ellis and Victor Rosario to create the Exoneree Network, a welcoming and supportive community for wrongfully convicted people coming home. He overcame an intense fear of public speaking in order to participate in virtual and in-person events for audiences ranging from highschool students to appellate lawyers to state legislators. And in April 2022, he took his first airplane flight since 1974 to attend the annual Innocence Network conference, accompanied by a remarkable group of others recently freed from Massachusetts prisons and the advocates who helped them achieve their freedom. 

This year, we are aiming to raise $10,000 to support the New England Innocence Project’s Running for Innocence fund. The funds raised by this event will help pay for the investigators and experts needed to free innocent men and women still behind bars for crimes they did not commit. They will also help us build a supportive community for the wrongfully convicted by enabling recent exonerees to attend the 2023 Innocence Network conference in Phoenix, Arizona!

Event details:

When? Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022, 12:15 p.m.

Where? Lexington High School, 251 Waltham Street, Lexington, MA 02421?

What? Choose from 3 great options: 5K walk, 5K run, 10K run.

Team & fundraising details:

1. Register yourself for the walk/run length of your choosing by clicking “Join” and completing all of the registration fields.You can also make a donation to Running for Innocence during the registration process by selecting “Team Fundraiser” and selecting Running for Innocence.
2. Set up your own personalized fundraiser to help the team reach its fundraising goal by clicking “Join” and creating your own page that you can share with your network. Be sure to select “Running for Innocence” as the fundraising team you want to join.
3. Let us know you’ve registered by emailing rfi@newenglandinnocence.org. This will also allow us to easily check in with you as race day approaches, about logistics like team shirt size requests, bib pickup & more!