Blind Lead the Way in Race at CSUN : Benefit: About 400 walk or jog around the campus to raise $50,000 for scholarship and legal-aid programs.

The blind led the blind in Northridge Sunday and that’s exactly the way they wanted it in what was thought to be the first race ever sponsored by a group for the disabled.

“We thought it would be an interesting possibility for a disabled group to put on an event and invite non-disabled groups, as opposed to the other way around,” said John Hutchinson, director of marketing for the Northridge-based California Council of the Blind, the race’s sponsor.

About 400 exercise buffs, some led by the hand by sighted partners, walked or jogged around the campus of Cal State Northridge. The five-kilometer race, which drew participants from as far as New York City, raised more than $50,000 for the council’s scholarship and legal-aid programs and set a new standard of independence for the disabled, Hutchinson said.

“It’s a real self-confidence builder,” said Harry Cordellos of San Francisco, who is recognized as one of the nation’s top blind athletes. He won the first-place trophy for blind male runner.

Fred Strache, associate vice president for student programs at CSUN, said the campus was a logical place for the marathon because of its pioneer programs for the disabled, including the National Center on Deafness. CSUN’s disabled-student population of 1,000, including an estimated 70 blind students, is among the highest in the country for a mainstream university, he said.

Sunday’s “Walk and Run With a Difference” might have looked like any other race except for the Braille T-shirts handed out as souvenirs and an occasional guide dog.

Sighted runners helped the blind joggers navigate city streets surrounding the campus. The streets were temporarily closed to automobiles, but cracks, potholes and even raised fluorescent lane markers can be hazards to a blind runner, said Cordellos, who ran with Pfitz Etkins, a mathematics teacher from Beverly Hills.

Cordellos, a motivational lecturer, said he began running in 1968 after his brother ran in the 12K “Bay to Breakers” race in San Franciso the year before.

“I figured if he could do it at 200 pounds, I could do it at 168,” said Cordellos, whose tall, sinewy frame and smooth, sunburned face belie his 52 years.

Non-disabled athletes included Gladys Rasmussen, 52, of Monterey Park, who said she recently started walking for exercise and was attracted by the marathon’s charitable cause. The paralegal took third place for women walkers over 50. “Now I have an incentive to continue,” she said.

The $10 admission fee raised money for the California Council of the Blind. Most money raised, however, came from corporate sponsors. The funds will pay for the council’s scholarships for college students, its legal-aid program and a hot line for the blind, among other programs.