Longtime Aspen local seeks fundraising, prestigious medal across world

May Selby is on a mission to secure the Abbott World Marathon Majors Six-Star Medal, but she’s not going to do it alone.

Instead, she’s heading Down Under to take on the 2025 TCS Sydney Marathon, her fifth Abbott World Marathon Major and 48th marathon, with the local Chris Klug Foundation to promote awareness for organ and tissue donation.

“It just feels like you’re part of a greater cause,” Selby said of running in partnership with the CKF. “They do really meaningful work.”

This will be her second time fundraising for the CFK and dedicating her miles to “raising funds and celebrating the gift of donation,” according to Destiny Perez, youth media coordinator for CFK. 

“Why CKF? Because there are more than 103,000 people in the U.S. awaiting a lifesaving organ transplant,” CFK’s Executive Director Jessi Rochel said. “Every eight minutes, someone new is added to that waitlist, and 17 of these people die each day waiting. And while 95% of U.S. adults support the idea of organ donation, only 48% are actually registered as organ donors. Yet, one person has the ability to save up to eight lives as an organ donor and improve up to 75 lives through tissue and eye donation!”

While the foundation is based in Aspen and has runners joining the team from all over the world, Selby and Rochel will be the two in Sydney from Aspen. 

Selby originally moved to town after college in January 1994 and has worked with The Little Nell since December 2014. She’s been part of the running community, which she says she appreciates how it spans generations of people in the valley, and she references the extensive running calendar to train for her marathons. She kicked off this season with the Basalt Half Marathon in late May, benefiting the Basalt High School cross country running teams.

“I love all the trail runs we can do here,” she said. “And I love the running community.”

Selby never originally set out to acquire the Abbott World Marathon Majors Six-Star Medal. But after starting on her marathon journey, it started to happen naturally.

“I’ve run 47 total marathons,” she said. “I just realized I was running the World Marathon Majors along the way.”

She has completed New York City, London, Chicago, and Boston, with Tokyo and Berlin still ahead. Sydney was recently added to the World Marathon Majors, although its completion doesn’t count towards the Six-Star Medal, which only includes completing the original six locations.

The Little Nell, where she is currently director of VIP Experiences, will be sponsoring the CFK team for the 2025 TCS Sydney Marathon.

“We are so proud to sponsor May as she takes on this significant endeavor in support of the Chris Klug Foundation,” Henning Rahm, general manager at The Little Nell, said. “Our team at The Little Nell is a family — we encourage our employees to pursue the things they’re passionate about, and in this case, it’s passion in combination with an excellent cause.”

Those interested can also help support Selby at sm25.grassrootz.com/chris-klug-foundation/may-selby.