PORTLAND, Ore, Sept. 18, 2005 Portland area Olympians Lisa Schlenker and Stacey Borgman won the womens double sculls at the 12th annual Row for the Cure regatta benefiting the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Sunday morning on the Willamette River.
With many of the 45,000 runners and walkers from Portland's Race for the Cure looking on and Portland's fire boat streaming pink water high into the air, 374 rowers and paddlers from Oregon, Washington and Colorado helped raise over $10,000 in the fight to eradicate breast cancer as a life threatening disease.
The four-city national regatta, conceived in 1994 by Portland rower Kathy Frederick, has now raised over $336,000 for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, including over $31,000 raised on Sunday at Seattle's Row for the Cure.
In rowing and paddling competition on the Willamette, Schlenker and Borgman of the Lake Oswego Rowing Club, defeated a second Lake Oswego crew by 4.25 seconds to win the 5k women's double sculls event in 19:31.
"This is such an uplifting and fun regatta," said Borgman, who along with Schlenker, represented the United States in the lightweight women's double sculls at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
"Being a part of this group of dedicated rowers and paddlers is my way of celebrating those that have survived breast cancer and observing others that are no longer with us," said Borgman whose mother Diane Borgman just completed her 27th year of remission following a diagnosis of breast cancer at age 34. "I'm blessed to still have my mom here."
At the conclusion of the Race for the Cure, many of the runners and walkers congregated along the sea-wall in Tom McCall Waterfront Park to cheer on the rowers and paddlers competing below on the Willamette. "To hear the cheers from all of the runners and walkers who came to the sea-wall to support us was really encouraging," said Frederick who has taken Portland's Row for the Cure from a small parade of boats on the Willamette in 1994 to one of four regattas across the U.S. benefiting the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
"The water sports community in Portland and other cities has the energy and resources to help make an impact in the fight against breast cancer," said Frederick. "We've had inquires from other cities around the U.S. who want to form their own Row for the Cure. I hope we can follow in the footsteps of the runners and cyclists who have grown similar events in their own sports."
Other Row for the Cure winners include Corvallis Rowing Club in the men's and women's masters and mixed masters eights, Sammamish Rowing Association of Bellevue, Wash. in the mixed master's eight, Lake Oswego Rowing Club in the women's open and women's novice eights, and Corvallis Rowing Club in the mixed open eight.