More on paddleboarder Tom Horton and his ALS fundraiser

Following up on today's story on Hermosa Beach's Tom Horton (linked here) on the "Paddling for Peacha with Sharks" event:

Pecha Horton spent 25 years as a third-grade teacher and was enjoying her life in retirement with your four grandkids before she started to have problems speaking. One day, she couldn't muster the strength to take the keys out of her car's ignition. Doctors thought it might have been a stroke, but they couldn't be sure. Finally, the muscles that quickly wore her down were diagnosed as ALS, but her quality of life had already deteriorated to a point where she died within months of the acknowledgement of the disease. She was 77.

Peacha, Tom's mother, is the focus of his fund-raising endeavor at the Catalina Classic Paddleboard Race coming up on Sunday, Aug. 30, where 100-some competitors will navigate through hand-numbing water temperatures, unpredictable ocean currents and not-so-swell swells can add or subtract two hours of paddling to their race time, depending on the conditions.

As for that part about the sharks . . .

"Last year during the race, there was a confirmed sighting of a Mako," said Horton, accustomed to dodging schools of dolphins or cutting through the waves created by cargo ships. "There's a lot of chatter about great white sightings, but it just adds to the anticipation. I think about it, but since we have escort boats for every paddleboarder, I don't worry about it."

Again, to donate directly to Tom's cause, go to his website (linked here).