Thousands of kilometres were walked and nearly a quarter of a million dollars raised at the weekend for the 2018 Wyndham Relay for Life.
A total of 93 teams took to Werribee’s Victoria University Athletics Track for the planned 24-hour relay, with more than 1650 relayers – including cancer survivors and carers – taking to the track.
Judy Gay, who was part of the team Trugin On For A Cure, has been in remission from renal cancer for the past 11 years, and said she loved being part of the event.
“It makes you feel better, it lifts you up to see people [taking part],” she said.
The event started at noon on Saturday and was meant to run through to noon on Sunday, but the weather had other plans, and relayers copped the full four seasons that Melbourne is famous for in one day. The event was cut short at 3am when wind speeds reached 80km/h and marquees and tents started coming down.
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Wyndham Relay for Life chairman Carradin Blyth said despite the bad weather, he was thrilled that the event had brought in more than $260,000 for the Cancer Council.
The final tally won’t be known for at least another fortnight, with donations still flowing through.
“It was absolutely fantastic, I think the whole vibe of ‘it takes a village to grow hope’ really came through,” he said.
Star Weekly also got in on the act, fielding a team of staff from the Werribee, Keilor Park and Melton editorial and advertising departments, plus family and friends. The team raised more than $3600 at the time Star Weekly went to print, bringing Star Weekly’s fundraising tally to more than $11,800 over the past three years. Star Weekly wishes to thank Western Athletics for donating a marquee to keep the team under cover at the weekend, and Phat Franks for keeping us fed while we relayed.
