麻豆社区

Relay for Life organizers are hoping the outstanding weather in the Yukon capital continues to roll into the weekend, with the Whitehorse event on the schedule for Saturday.

"I've checked a few times, but it gives me a heart attack every time,鈥� local Canadian Cancer Society community giving coordinator Alanna Bennett said of the weather forecast for Saturday.

Seventeen teams are currently registered to take part in the weekend event 鈥� rain or shine.

Registration will remain open online at www.relayforlife.ca until Friday night, but interested participants can also file their paperwork at the event.

People can register as individuals at a cost of $20.

"It's pretty intense,鈥� Bennett said of the Whitehorse event. "People actually bring RVs and set up camp all around Shipyards Park. We try to make it a festival atmosphere.鈥�

Several ceremonies will take place throughout the day, symbolizing a different theme such as survivors and those lost to the deadly disease.

Two walking paths will be available 鈥� one around the skating rink and the other around the exterior of Shipyards Park.

Bennett said goals include having approximately 130 people participate Saturday. Last year, the event raised $79,000.

The annual fundraising event for the Canadian Cancer Society will take place at Shipyards Park on Saturday, running from noon all the way to midnight.

The Relay for Life is a 12-hour event that sees individuals and teams set up base at an athletic track or public park with the goal of keeping at least one team member on the track or pathway at all times throughout the event.

In Dawson City last weekend, 87 people divided into nine teams and managed to raise something over $26,000 at the northern town's Relay for Life.

From a standing start, a group of volunteers managed to organize the event in just six weeks. Organizer Stephanie Cleland was particularly pleased that this intense effort over so short a time could have generated so much interest.

The dike and Front Street area was busy with walkers from noon to midnight while local musicians provided a soundtrack from the Front Street Gazebo.

For Cleland, the standout team was the combined medical clinic and EMS groups' MASHing Out Cancer team, on which three of the male walkers volunteered to do their laps dressed in drag as Klinger from the 1970s and 80s television show that re-runs daily in Dawson on the History Channel.

From the Robert Service School came a group of boys and a school custodian who shaved their heads to raise additional money for their walk.

Cleland had special praise for the Pelly Moonlight Walkers team from Pelly Crossing.

"They always come here when we do this, and then they go to Whitehorse and also do it there,鈥� she said.

With files by Dan Davidson