The starting line for the ROCCS. (Submitted by Clackamas Community College).

Oregon has more than 12 unique microclimates, ranging from warm-summer Mediterranean on the coast and semi-arid cold desert in Eastern Oregon.

Clackamas Community College President Tim Cook is going to run through them all.

On Monday, June 16, President Cook began a 1,500-mile run across Oregon that will include stops at all 17  Oregon community colleges, starting with Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Oregon. 

Cook will run, on average, a marathon a day. 

The running campaign, called “Running for Oregon Community College Students,” is focused on raising awareness about the basic needs of Oregon’s community college students. This spring, 38% of CCC students reported food insecurity and financial hardships make it far more difficult to achieve academic success. 

“Some have questioned why I’m doing this run and why I would subject myself to this, but our students deserve to be able to afford college and be able to pay for rent, child care, groceries and transportation,” Cook said in a press release. “If this run helps raise awareness and funding for basic needs, it will be worth every blister.”

When he isn’t running, Cook — joined by his wife Paddy —  will travel across the state, in an RV donated by Johnson RV. As he continues to connect each community college, CCC will provide further updates — especially once he arrives in western Oregon and makes his way up the coast and back home to Clackamas County.