vancouver opera was proud to participate at CIBC's run for the cure this past sunday. and you could not ask for a more perfect morning: gorgeous blue sky and warm sun that complimented all of the positive energy everybody brought with them.
we were going to kick some breast cancer butt!
VO's team of 14 volunteers met bright and early at the starbucks down by the international village, a couple of blocks away from the starting line. armed with fuel, in the form of coffee, we joined the thousands of people who were making their way to concord pacific.
some of our runners opted to run the 1K route, while others challenged themselves with the 5K circuit. there were people of all fitness levels at the run. some ran with children or babies in strollers. some ran with their dogs.
alot of people dressed up in costumes: pink sunglasses or boas, pink sequinned cowboy hats, even a man cross-dressing in a shocking pink wig while wearing a satin taffeta dress with a plunging neckline. a sea of pink and white gathering at the starting line.
most everyone there was running for someone they know who were battling or have battled breast cancer. vancouver opera was there in support of ingrid chiang who's in the midst of battling breast cancer. ingrid was accompanied by her husband, mike neal and their daughter kyra blair. katy garden, another vancouver opera volunteer, was running for her mom who had beaten breast cancer.
after an energetic warm-up led by the good folks of canadian breast cancer foundation, the run began. it was amazing to see the 10,000 runners all make their way across the starting line.
it wasn't very long after everyone crossed the starting line that the first trickle of speedy runners were coming back around on Pacific Boulevard, heading towards the same finish line.
one of the faster runners was VO's very own mark ferris, who finished the 5K run in 20 minutes! like most of the runners, the rest of the VO team came in around the 30-45 minutes mark. supporters on the sidelines cheered, hooted and clapped as runners came around the bend. there were lots of people who already finished, ran back to encourage their friends or family who were on the last leg by running alongside with them to the finish line.
quite the amazing and inspiring thing to see.
so inspiring that this non-runner (that would be yours truly) will be running next year.
many thanks to everyone who donated to the vancouver opera team! although we pulled together the team 2 weeks before the run and fundraised at the very last minute, we were able to donate $2600 to run for the cure!
this just in: this year's CIBC run for the cure raised $26.5 million dollars across canada!
and last but certainly not least, a special shout-out and thank you to our runners: avery bell, kyra blair, jozel campbell-lemire, ingrid chiang, mark ferris, katy garden, anne-elise keefer, elizabeth keller, christopher libby, faith libby, roan libby, mike neal, aileen spielmann, darren staten, kari staten and chris walters!
press play for slideshow or go here for flickr pics
1 comment:
Glad to hear the run was such a success! Besides the obviously important goal of raising money, it's touching to see the community of support that it creates.
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