SEATTLE, Sept. 18, 2005 ' Three hundred rowers, kayakers and dragon boat paddlers, including Seattle Olympic silver medalist Anna Mickelson, teamed up on Sunday morning to raise over $31,000 in the fight against breast cancer at the Row for the Cure regatta on Lake Union.
Fundraising efforts from Seattle's Row for the Cure participants more than doubled 2004 contributions and included $500 raised by a Silver Lake second grader in support of his teacher who was diagnosed in June with breast cancer. The four-city national regatta has now raised over $336,000 for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, including over $10,000 raised on Sunday at Portland's Row for the Cure.
"It's so overwhelming to have the Seattle boating community come together in such a positive way in the fight against breast cancer," said Steff Fowler, director of Seattle's Row for the Cure. Fowler's organizing committee invited dragon boats and kayaks to join rowers in this year's regatta and forged a partnership with the Northwest Yacht Brokers Association, which puts on the Lake Union Boats Afloat Show, to more than double the results of the 2004 regatta.
In the featured eight-oared event, Seattle law firm Lane Powell defeated ZymoGenetics by just under two and a half minutes to capture the Corporate Challenge Trophy. The Lane Powell crew, organized by Will Krause, a Seattle attorney and national champion oarsman, in honor of his mother, who lost her battle with breast cancer this spring, clocked a 12:12.2 on the 3.7k Lake Union course for the win. ZymoGenetics finished second with a time of 14:57.3.
Other winners include Holy Names Academy in the womens junior eight, Mt. Baker Rowing and Sailing Center in the mixed masters eight, Pocock Rowing Center in the men's and women's masters eights, men's masters quadruple sculls and mixed masters double sculls, Lake Washington Rowing Club in the men's and women's single sculls, Seattle Yacht Club / Pocock Rowing Center in the women's masters double sculls, and the Lake Union Crew in the women's masters quadruple sculls. Mickelson, a former UW rower and silver medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, rowed exhibition as a part of a University of Washington alumni eight-oared crew.
In the outrigger canoe exhibition, seven-year-old Miles Kendall of Silver Lake raised over $500 in support of his James Monroe Elementary School (Everett) teacher, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in June. Miles is a second grader at the school and was paddling for the Hui Wa Ao O (Hooey - Vaa - Ah - Oh) Outrigger Canoe Club of Puget Sound.
The top individual fundraiser for Seattle's Row for the Cure was Phylis Warman of Seattle who raised $1,620 in the fight to eradicate breast cancer as a life threatening disease.