The Canadian Cancer Society held their annual Relay for Life Event at the ballpark last Friday night. It was a fantastic event from start to finish. Everyone involved was great to work with including the organizing committee, volunteers and participants.
Kathy Joshua of the organizing committee told me that the “survivor lap” which starts the evening off was an emotional event and she was right. To start the evening off, a large contingent of cancer survivors all wearing yellow t-shirts (team members and other participants wore white shirts) started the event at 7 p.m. by making one lap around the park as a group. The group was piped around the park by the Khartum Shrine Pipers and Drums group, which included a cancer survivor as you can see in the photo below.
When one stopped to think of what this group of people had gone through, just to make that trip around the warning track, was both humbling and inspirational at the same time. Here's a few photos of the survivors starting their lap.
Just prior to the survivor lap, Cynthia Neudoerffer and Hank and Lydia Venema cut the ribbon to officially start the 2009 Relay for Life. For those of you who don’t know who they are, please read my blog from March 9. They are the parents and sister of a little boy named Harry, or “Prince Harry” to those who knew him. Harry fought valiantly but lost his battle with cancer last August. While fighting the terrible disease, Harry and his family were at last year’s Relay for Life. Just prior to the cutting of the ribbon, Cynthia spoke about Harry and the rare form of cancer that would eventually take him from her and their family. She spoke about the importance of the relay for life event and what the Canadian Cancer Society means to them. It was a very moving speech to open the event.
Not everything went perfectly smooth on Friday night, Mother Nature flexed her muscles at about 6 p.m. when a close to 100 km/hr wind blew through the outfield, launching tents and just about anything else that wasn’t pegged to the field into the air. In the picture below, you can see the two Manitoba Lotteries tents (Manitoba Lotteries was a sponsor of the event). This photo was taken before the wind hit, when the wind did blow through, these tents almost ended up in the stands!
However, when 7 p.m. came along, the sun was shining, the wind calmed down and the first lap got under way.
Here's a picture of the pre-relay warmup that took place in left field, led by the "Chemo Savvy" group of survivors.
The field looked fantastic with all the tents set up.
Congratulations to the organizers, sponsors, survivors and team members. The Goldeyes organization salutes you for your continued efforts to help eradicate this terrible disease. I know the committee is already hard at work making next year's Relay for Life at Canwest Park even bigger and better!
For up to the minute information about the Goldeyes, check us out on Twitter at either http://twitter.com/Wpg_Goldeyes or http://twitter.com/GoldeyesGM.
Until next time…
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