Eleven U.S. cities now host breast cancer benefit regattas founded in Portland, Oregon
PRINCETON - USRowing, the national governing body for the sport of rowing in the United States, is pleased to announce a partnership with the Row for the Cure national regatta series benefiting local affiliates of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
Through the two-year relationship with USRowing, Row for the Cure regattas will play an important role in driving awareness of the importance of early breast cancer detection among the USRowing community by becoming the official philanthropy of the U.S. women's national rowing team.
As a part of its commitment to the masters rowing community, the U.S. team will compete in a women's eight-oared event at one Row for the Cure regatta each year and conduct a masters rowing clinic for the host club. The top fundraising Row for the Cure in the U.S. will earn the right to host the U.S. women's eight at its regatta the following year. USRowing's commitment also will help encourage the growth of the regatta series, which attracts primarily masters rowers age 27 and up, by underwriting participant insurance costs at U.S. events.
"One out of every eight women that we know will be diagnosed with breast cancer," said Glenn Merry, executive director of USRowing, at the 2006 USRowing Masters National Championships in Seattle. "With more than 200,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer every year, USRowing is committed to helping masters rowers fight this disease. If we can help save one life by encouraging women rowers to get their annual mammogram, then we will have succeeded."
Row for the Cure regattas, hosted by local rowing clubs, are third-party fundraising events benefiting local affiliates of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Since the regatta's inception in 1994 on Portland's Willamette River, Row for the Cure has expanded to 11 U.S. cities, raising more than $500,000 in the fight to eradicate breast cancer as a life threatening disease.
In the U.S., Portland, Seattle, Pullman (Wash.), Philadelphia, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Austin, Jacksonville, Grand Rapids, Dayton and Westerville (Ohio) host Row for the Cure regattas, while Frankfurt, Germany, will host Europe's first Row for the Cure this fall.
"People tell me that they enjoy doing a sport they love and supporting a great cause at the same time," said Row for the Cure founder Kathy Frederick, a masters rower at Portland's Station L Rowing Club. "We are thrilled that USRowing has joined us in helping the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in its fight to eradicate breast cancer as a life threatening disease. USRowing's commitment will make a difference in our lives."
To learn more about a Row for the Cure regatta in your city or to start your own regatta, please visit www.RowForTheCure.com or www.USRowing.org.