Relay for Life’s new chairwoman urges community to support 2014 event

The new chairwoman of the Relay for Life fund-raising event has confirmed next year’s event will take place on the Clickimin running track in Lerwick on 31st May.

The biennial event has increased in popularity over the years and 2012 saw £275,370 being raised for Cancer Research UK (CRUK) by the Shetland community.

The CRUK website will be open for team registration from Friday. The organising committee plans to be at Tesco on Friday from 5-8pm and Saturday from 10am to 4pm to hand out flyers and information.

CRUK has given the event the Flame of Hope award for fund-raising in the community in recognition of the sum raised per head of population.

New chairwoman Kerry Eunson said: “I am so excited that relay year is nearly here again. I feel very lucky to have the role of chair for this amazing relay and I am lucky to still have Olive Macleod on the committee who stood down as chair last year.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to say another thank you to Fiona Irvani, Rhoda Watt, Ann Moore and Elizabeth Johnson who all stood down from the committee after the last relay. Their hard work has left an excellent foundation for us to build on for the 2014 relay.

“Cancer is one of those diseases that effects everyone in some way and everyone, including me, seems to have a story of how it has affected them, either as they battled it or someone they know has. I hope the Shetland community will get behind us again as we try to raise more money to help find a cure for this terrible disease.”

The relay takes place over 12 hours from 8pm on the Saturday through to 8am on the Sunday and involves teams walking or running the track in relays for the full period. At least one member of each team must be walking at all times.

The night also includes the poignant Candle of Hope ceremony – an opportunity to remember loved ones who have lost their lives to cancer, but also to celebrate those who have survived the disease.

Team members are asked to raise money through sponsorship and donations, but part of the reason that both the 2010 and 2012 relays raised so much money was that teams were encouraged to do other fund-raising events in the run-up to the event and stay together in the intervening years and continue to raise money.

Ms Eunson added: “With registration opening this weekend, the committee is hoping that previous years’ teams will re-register and new teams will form and start fund-raising towards this very worthy cause.

“The relay itself is logistically a huge event to organise and the committee has a number of vacant roles. If there are people out there interested in becoming a committee member or finding out more information on this, the committee would be pleased to hear from you.”

Anyone interested can contact Ms Eunson on 07825 182494, e-mail Kerry.a.eunson@btinternet.com, or visit the Facebook page “CRUK Relay For Life Shetland”.