One of Romania’s top bankers and several other corporate executives will run the Los Angeles marathon on February 14 while also trying to raise money for the Hospice of Hope Romania charity.

Dutchman Steven van Groningen, one of the most respected bankers and top executives in Romania, will compete in the Los Angeles marathon for Team Hospice. He has been managing Raiffeisen Bank Romania, one of the top five banks in the country, since 2002. But besides banking, he is into sports and photography and has competed in many local and international marathons and Iron Man races.

A former rower, Steven van Groningen competed for the Netherlands at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984, where he also met his wife, Romanian rowing Olympic Champion Valeria Racila.

“I always wanted to go back to Los Angeles, the place where I participated at the Olympic Games 30 years ago. Running the L.A. Marathon while raising funds for Hospice Casa Sperantei is the perfect opportunity to revisit the city,” Steven van Groningen wrote on Team Hospice’s webpage.

“As honorary patron of this NGO, I know first-hand how important its cause is. Romania needs to develop palliative care services for everyone affected by terminal or life-limiting illness because every patient should have access to free of charge specialized services at the appropriate time,” he explained.

van Groningen hopes to raise some EUR 10,000 for the charity. His wife, who is also the president of Bucharest Running Club – the organizer of the Bucharest Marathon, will also run the L.A. Marathon to support the Hospice cause.

“For me, going back to Los Angeles has a special and deep significance, 30 years ago, also in L.A., I participated at the Olympics and I won the gold medal in the single sculls (rowing)…it was an incredible and overwhelming moment,” Valeria van Groningen wrote on her fundraising page.

Hospice is one of the best-known charities in Romania. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for the terminally ill and their families in Romania, Serbia, Moldova, and other countries in the region through increased provision of, and access to, palliative care services and training.

Its new goal is to develop its center in Adunatii Copaceni, which is dedicated to help the children with terminal illnesses get the care they need. “The need for a center dedicated to vulnerable children, children with life limiting and life threatening conditions but also their families is huge in Romania. I believe that by developing such a center we will create a model, a model that will be replicated in Romania and in the region. This is why I have decided to run the Los Angeles Marathon in the Hospices of Hope team,” said Valeria van Groningen.

Andrei Rosu, the only Romanian who has ever managed to swim the English Channel and complete the Arc to Arch Challenge, will also run the Los Angeles Marathon for Team Hospice.

Find more about Team Hospice and its supporters here. You can also donate for Hospice on the L.A. Marathon’s website here.

The Los Angeles Marathon is one of the top 10 in the world, with more than 21,000 people finishing it in 2014.

Raiffeisen Bank’s Van Groningen, Romania’s only rep. at Ironman European Championship

editor@romania-insider.com