Champion runner Alice Mason has come out in support of asthma awareness.
"I want to get the word out there that asthma makes lives harder and to urge people to get behind [the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation's campaign] Balloon Day," Alice says.
Balloon Day is the Foundation's annual asthma awareness and fundraising campaign that raises money for research into childhood asthma.
Alice, who has asthma herself, made headlines across Australasia and a huge impression in the world of running when she took second place in the women's race in the 15km Great Australian Run in Melbourne last November.
She beat a Romanian Beijing Olympics marathon gold medalist who came sixth and she left Australian world cross country champion, Benita Johnson (fifth), for dust. The women's race was won by Catherine Ndereba of Kenya.
Balloon Day 2009 is centred around Asthma Awareness Week from 4 to 10 May, 2009. On Balloon Day itself - 9 May - a number of events will be held by asthma societies, pharmacies, schools and primary and secondary organisations across New Zealand. About 1 in 4 Kiwi kids has asthma and the illness is the leading reason for New Zealand children being hospitalised.
Diagnosed with asthma at 14 years old, Alice says more research into childhood asthma will mean fewer kids have to go through what she did.
"Sure with good advice and sound management of my asthma, it doesn't get in the way of my running so much now, but it wasn't always that way."
