Donna and Sidney

Relay for Life 2007 at Barlow Park

Relay for Life

The first weekend in June the Cairns Toc-H branch entered a team in the Queensland Cancer Fund's annual Relay for Life to help raise money for cancer research.  The Cairns Relay for Life was held at Barlow Park and ran for 18 hours with over 300 teams participating in the event.  Over the month before the relay the Toc-H team held a raffle and sold chocolates to raise the $500.00 necessary to participate in the event.  In total the team raised $1,031.55 for cancer research and support.  The Relay for Life officially started on Saturday afternoon at a quarter to three with the survivors and carers walk followed by the team lap.  Each team needed to have one person walking with the team baton on the track at all times.  At seven o'clock there was a candle light ceremony, where participants wrote the names of loved ones on paper bags with a message and placed a lit candle inside the bag.  Then the lights were turned off and the sign of hope was lit and carried around the track for a single lap as a sign of hope for those suffering.  Over the next few hours walkers were entertained with live bands and radio, while the other participants were entertained with dancers and other performances.  At midnight the walkers changed direction and teams were given midnight entertainment to take their minds off the chill in the air and the thoughts of their nice warm beds.  As the early hours of the morning lingered, the amount of people walking disintegrated to a dismal low.  When the sun began to rise life came back to Barlow Park and the walkers changed direction for the second time, signalling the approximate end to the event.  At a quarter to nine on Sunday morning teams participated in the final lap of the relay which was another team lap followed by the closing ceremony and speeches.  During the closing ceremony some teams were presented with awards of recognition for raising the most money under a certain category.  Just after nine o'clock the final proceedings ended and all participants packed up and left, and the relay was over for another year and everyone got some well deserved rest.

By Kallum Lovelock
Cairns Branch, Queensland.