Nearly 400 people took to the track at Brennan Park Friday (June 22) for a 12-hour-long nighttime stroll, raising $112,000 for Squamish's third annual Canadian Cancer Society Relay for Life in the process.
"It went over really really well," said organizer Tamsyn Morote.
"We set another record. Our first year was $75,000 and last year we raised around $100,000, and then we topped that again."All 381 participants, who were divided into 41 teams, took part in the first lap of the night, which got underway at 7 p.m., before team members took turns around the track for the rest of the night.
"That first lap, that completely set the tone for the evening. It was amazing the number of teams that did something special and the energy they had, that stuck with us the whole night," said Morote.
The top fundraising team this year was Team Pura Vida, raising $6,538. Pura Vida also took top honours in the friends and family category.
Sea to Sky Community Support Services were the top community team with $1,822 raised, the Fighting Foresters took the corporate division with $3,700, Mamquam A was tops in the school division with $5,511 raised, and Diamond Head Medical Clinic raised the most money in the small business category with $3,658.
Morote noted that in addition to the Luminary Lap, with participants carrying candles around the track as a way to honour cancer victims as well as survivors, a number of other theme laps were added this year.
"These really kept the emotion and the excitement up throughout the night," said Morote.
One of this year's theme laps was a victory walk for cancer survivors.
"One thing we did that I thought was good was we gave all the survivors yellow T-shirts so they could be recognized and, in a way, honoured.
"For me everyone coming together for a solid goal an moving forward towards it, there's nothing more powerful than that," said Denise Imbeau, who MC'd the event. "This was one of the best events so far this year."
The Relay for Life is the Canadian Cancer Society's premier fundraiser with relays across B.C. expected to bring in a total of $6.6 million this year.
