Manuel Centeno

    Manuel Centeno was a street vendor in his home town of Managua, Nicaragua for most of his pre-teen and teenage years. He taught himself to read English with the help of a bilingual bible and a Spanish-English dictionary. After taking some English classes at the University of Central America in Managua, he applied for a scholarship to attend college in the USA.
    After being awarded a Walton scholarship, he came to the United Status in 1989 to begin study at Harding University in Searcy, AR. Manuel graduate from Harding in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology.
    Since 1995 Manuel has been actively involved in helping the peoples of his native country. Over the last few years he has actively coordinated and led numerous medical brigades and home building crews to the eastern region of Nicaragua. He most recently coordinated and managed a relief effort in the aftermath of Hurricane Felix.
    Once he started college in the USA, he continued running as a hobby more than as a competition. He also learned the sports of basketball, ping pong, tennis, racquetball, and swimming.
    In April of 2007 he met Chuck Dale who had just come back from Africa. Chuck was part of the crew for the team of runners that ran across the Sahara Desert, a 4,500 mile run. This run had the intention of raising awareness around the world about the need for clean water all around this desert. Manuel mentioned the Miskito indians in Nicaragua had a similar problem. This was the beginning of Agua Nicaragua and a great friendship.
    Manuel Centeno has since been training to run across Nicaragua in November of 2008. In October 2007, he participated in the Arkansas Traveler 100 Mile run where he placed 54th overall. In December 2007, Manuel ran in the Memphis Marathon where he placed 143rd in his group and 1151st overall. Manuel also participated in the Little Rock Marathon in March, 2008 were he placed 67th in his group and 1401st overall.

Little Rock Marathon, March 2008