Raise Fun for Cancer

There’s a trio of events that Albertans can get involved in this summer, either as participants or sponsors. They’re as different as they are fun, and each benefits local cancer research and treatment.

Fundraising gets dirty in Calgary on July 22 with the Mud Hero Mud Run. At Rafter Six Ranch, mud heroes assemble to run six kilometres. That’s the easy part. Along the route, there are 15 outrageous obstacles, including rope climbing walls, an uphill tire run and dash through muddy, waist-deep water. The final obstacle is the “dirtilicious” mud crawl, where competitors get down and dirty. A party called the “mud bash” follows, and proceeds go to the Alberta Cancer Foundation.

Held for the past couple of years at Edmonton’s Riverbend arenas, Win for Skin is a street hockey tourney that has raised in excess of $28,000 each year for the Alberta Cancer Foundation in memory of Owen Schlosser. The funds from the game are going towards the Mary Johnston Chair in Melenoma Research at the Cross Cancer Institute to help retain top researchers and clinicians and provide them with resources to develop better methods of prevention, detection and treatment for melanoma. This year, Win for Skin is a three-on-three street hockey tourney in June, targeting a figure almost four times its previous accomplishments: $100,000.

In 2008, the World’s Longest Soccer Game lasted 33 hours and raised more than $28,450 for the Alberta Cancer Foundation. As it turns out, that event just wasn’t long enough. This year, organizers have targeted 66 hours and $100,000. If everything goes as planned, the Sherwood Park event will also come in at six hours longer than the current record holders to nail a Guiness World Record. Organizer Michelle Chambers reports that Sherwood Ford has pledged $20,000 and Strathcona County, $8,000, which means in just two donations, the event has already met 2008’s haul. The funds from the game are going towards a new PET/CT scanner at the Cross Cancer Institute. This new machine will provide high-resolution images that will allow medical staff to detect cancers in their earliest state, and it will also be able to image four times as many patients each day.

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