Three hundred ninety one rowers, the world champion United States women's rowing team and native canoe paddlers from western Washington tribes raised a record $70,000 in the fight against breast cancer Sunday morning at Seattle's annual Row for the Cure regatta on Lake Union.
The 3,500-meter benefit regatta, which brought rowing crews to Lake Union from 18 area clubs, the USRowing training center in Princeton, N.J., and Native American paddlers from the Tulalip and Snohomish tribes and Seattle's Center for Wooden Boats, is among the top three third-party fundraisers for the Puget Sound affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Over the past three years, regatta fundraising has increased steadily growing from $12,000 in 2004 to $70,000 at Sunday's regatta.
Seventy five percent of the money raised for Susan G. Komen for the Cure stays in the local community for education and treatment of breast cancer. The remaining 25 percent of monies raised support national breast cancer research projects. Rowers and paddlers were each encouraged to raise a minimum of $150 each - the equivalent cost of a mammogram.
Sunday's regatta featured competition in 26 rowing and sculling events including a corporate category where the U.S. women's team matched oars with rowers from Starbucks, Microsoft, Lane Powell and Seattle Breast Center at Northwest Hospital.
The U.S. crew, which included rowers from the world champion U.S. women's eight, was coxed by Leah Downey of the University of Washington. In its exhibition, the eight of Caryn Davies (Ithaca, N.Y.), Caroline Lind (Greensborough, N.C.), Lindsay Shoop (Charlottesville, Va.), Erin Cafaro (Modesto, Calif.), Rachel Jeffers (Los Gatos, Calif.), Lindsay Meyer, (Seattle, Wash.), Lia Pernell (Seattle, Wash.) and Brett Sickler (Los Gatos, Calif.) finished with a time of 11:19.4. Starbucks and Lane Powell were the top-finishing corporate crews in the event.
"Breast Cancer is such a personal cause," said Lia Pernell, a U.S. national team rower from Seattle who lost her grandmother in 2006 to breast cancer. "We've all had family and friends that have been touched by cancer. In rowing, we race as a team and we can fight breast cancer as a team."
Caryn Davies was among the women that traveled from the USRowing training center in Princeton to participate in the regatta, which is comprised mostly of masters rowers in their 40s and 50s. "It's important for us as the younger generation of rowers to get mammograms early on and have a partnership with masters rowers so that we can learn from them," said Davies, who along with other U.S. athletes, joined the top local fundraisers in a pre-regatta row on Lake Union. "I was with a Starbucks rower that learned she had breast cancer on her first day working for the company. I was impressed that she and her coworkers took up the cause and became so active in fighting breast cancer."
Seattle's Row for the Cure® is one of 50 third-party events that take place each year in the Seattle-area benefiting the Puget Sound Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Third-party events, which are organized by groups other than Susan G. Komen for the Cure, include activities such as Seahawks Football 101, fashion shows, concerts, rodeos and an ultra-marathon run. In the last year, third party events of the Puget Sound Affiliate have raised $363,000 in the fight against breast cancer.
Among the groups that benefit from third-party fundraising are the Tulalip Tribes near Everett, Wash. The Tulalips, which paddled along with other tribes in the Native American canoe event, benefit from Komen grant funding that brings a mobile mammography unit to the reservation twice each year, improving the likelihood that local women will get screened. "If a person has a cancer challenge - the earlier the diagnosis the better," said Mel Sheldon, Chairman of the Tulalip Tribes and Row for the Cure paddler. "If caught soon enough, we can increase our chances of putting cancer in remission."
About Row for the Cure®
Row for the Cure® (www.RowForTheCure.com)regattas are third-party events benefiting local affiliates of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Since the regatta's inception in 1994 on Portland's Willamette River, Row for the Cure® has expanded to 11 U.S. cities, raising over $500,000 in the fight to eradicate breast cancer as a life threatening disease.
About Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Susan G. Komen for the Cure was founded on a promise made between two sisters - Susan Goodman Komen and Nancy Goodman Brinker. Suzy was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1978, a time when little was known about the disease and it was rarely discussed in public. Before she died at the age of 36, Suzy asked her sister to do everything possible to bring an end to breast cancer. Nancy kept her promise by establishing the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in 1982 in Suzy's memory. The organization recently changed its name to Susan G. Komen for the Cure in honor of its 25th anniversary and with this, a renewed promise to find the cures for breast cancer.
Row for the Cure Top Fundraisers
Most Donations by an Individual: Angelique Sabin, Starbucks ($8,895)
Most Individual Donors: Linda Mitchell, Lane Powell (83 donors)
Most Donations by a Corporate Group: Starbucks, ($25,082 / 140 donors)
Most Donations by Rowing Club: Pocock Rowing Center ($7,305)
Row for the Cure Winners
Corporate Eight (A): Lane Powell (Seattle)
Corporate Eight (B): Starbucks (Seattle) U.S. Women's National Team - Exhibition
Men's Masters Eight: Pocock Rowing Center (Seattle)
Women's Masters Eight: Lake Washington Rowing Club (Seattle)
Mixed Masters Eight: Pocock Rowing Center (Seattle)
Women's High School Eight: Holy Names Academy (Seattle)
Men's Quadruple Sculls: Sammamish Rowing Association (Redmond)
Women's Masters Quadruple Sculls Pocock Rowing Center (Seattle)
Mixed Masters Quadruple Sculls: Lake Union Crew (Seattle)
Men's Masters Four with Coxswain: Green Lake Crew (Seattle)
Women's Masters Four with Coxswain: Martha's Moms (Seattle)
Mixed Masters Four with Coxswain: Pocock Rowing Center (Seattle)
Men's High School Four with Coxswain: Pocock Rowing Center (Seattle)
Women's High School Four with Coxswain: Bainbridge Island Rowing Club (Bainbridge Island)
Men's Double Sculls: Lake Union Crew (Seattle)
Women's Double Sculls: Pocock Rowing Center (Seattle)
Mixed Double Sculls: Lake Washington Rowing Club (Seattle)
Mixed Masters Double Sculls (race 24): Lake Washington Rowing Club (Seattle)
Mixed Masters Double Sculls (race 25): Bainbridge Island Rowing Club (Seattle)
Women's Masters Double Sculls: Lake Washington Rowing Club (Seattle)
Men's Single Sculls: Pocock Rowing Center (Seattle)
Men's Masters Single Sculls: Unaffiliated - Noble
Women's Masters Single Sculls: Pocock Rowing Center - Goodwin (Seattle)
Women's Pair: Sammamish Rowing Association (Redmond)
Women's Masters Pair: Lake Washington Rowing Club (Seattle)
Women's Kayak: Unaffiliated - Roberts