NEW YORK -- Pop and screen star Madonna donned running togs for charity Monday, signing on as runner No. 1,000,001 in next month's CARE-Sport Aid '88 'Race Against Time,' a global benefit for the world's impoverished children.
'Saving the world from hunger and disease is a tall order, but saving a child from starvation or the measles is possible,' Madonna said at a news conference, appearing bare-midriffed in a skintight tank top and bicycle shorts.
'CARE makes it possible and all you need is a pair of running shoes.'
CARE, an international relief and development organization, will distribute proceeds from the Sept. 11 event in a worldwide campaign against poverty and disease that kill 15 million children each year.
Madonna was given a T-shirt and a tag bearing the No. 1,000,001. Organizers promised that no two runners would receive the same number and all participants will receive a T-shirt.
Simon Dring of Sport Aid, the event's British organizer, said current projections indicate 50 million people -- 20 million in China alone -- will run in what he called 'the biggest mass-participation event in history.'
Runners from 124 countries already have registered to participate in the 5-kilometer 'Race Against Time,' which begins with the lighting of a torch at the United Nations at 11 a.m. EDT.
'At that single moment in time, millions worldwide will, no matter what time of the day or night, start doing exactly the same thing for exactly the same reason,' Dring said.
'We believe that this will be a truly global event.'
Two children from each participating country were to be flown to New York for a parade before the race, which was to be broadcast worldwide on television and radio.
More than 20 million people in 89 countries participated in Sport Aid '86, raising $35 million for famine relief in Africa.
In the United States, runs were being organized in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, Denver, Miami, Seattle, Minneapolis, Atlanta and Orlando, Fla.
Registration costs $8 before Sept. 1 and $10 after that. Forms are available from CARE-Sport Aid '88, Department SA, 660 First Ave., New York, NY, 10016.
