CANSA Relay For Life, 16th March 2013 (1)
“Relay For Life is a unique event that offers everyone in your community the opportunity to participate in the fight against cancer. It represents the HOPE that all of those lost to cancer will never be forgotten; those who are fighting cancer will be supported and that one day cancer will be eliminated. Today, Relay For Life is a recognised brand worldwide, with 20 countries celebrating the lives saved from cancer, remembering those lost and those fighting back…”
The community of East London came together on March 16th 2013 to participate in their own Relay For Life, to honour and commemorate loved ones lost to cancer and to celebrate those who have survived the disease. Thousands of people attended the event at the Jan Smuts Stadium and 230 teams participated in the relay itself. Each team, comprised of between 10-15 people, took it in turns to walk or run around a track overnight, keeping one team member on the track at all times.
The event was an emotional but tremendous success with various entertainment throughout the night: Parkside Church band, the Dunn Asher Congregational Band wowed the crowds with their variety of popular songs; Evita star Kerry Hiles performed a stunning set twice during the event and there was plenty of fun to be had with fire dancing, belly dancing and karaoke. Every hour on the hour there was a ‘scene lap’ which saw teams participating in crazy hat laps, pyjama laps and even cross-dressing laps! Teams were tireless and the camaraderie at the event was amazing.
There were 3,000 luminaria bags at the event, all individually decorated and representing those lost to or those who have survived cancer. All lit at the same time, the bags were an incredible sight.
Fundraising at the event came from sales of everything from cool drinks to boerewors rolls and one of the participating teams, the Nestle Bar One Champs, sold chocolate bars throughout the night and raised an amazing R72,000.
In total, an incredible sum of R710,000 was raised by the East London community for the event, an amount which will go far in assisting the Cancer Association of South Africa to continue the wonderful work that they do in the way of research, education, care and support.
Photos: Sandy Loppnow