Blackburn Hamlet hosts fundraising walk

The seventh-annual Blackburn Hamlet Walk/Run for the Cure on Oct. 4 will start participants at the Blackburn Hamlet Community Centre and bring them through the area on a five-kilometre jaunt, raising money for breast cancer research along the way.

Signs promoting the event started going up last week, explains Bill Horne, member of the run’s dozen-member organizing committee, in a bid to further promote next week’s initiative.

The Blackburn Hamlet take on the Run for the Cure “started off fairly modestly,” he says, explaining the fundraising portion of the event was kick-started several years ago when Freedom 55 Financial offered to match its team’s donations up to $6,000. That “very, very generous” donation scheme has continued since then, Horne adds, with representatives able to max out the $6,000 limit each time. It’s also helped the east-end run push past $92,000 raised, he says.

“We certainly will break the $100,000 mark this year,” Horne suggests. “(Participation) increases a little bit every year. It keeps growing.”

The event can accommodate approximately 150 runners, though the organizing committee is always looking to increase numbers, he says.

As for why the initiative has been able to maintain momentum throughout the past six years, Horne indicates it’s because they keep adding new features, like raffling off donated prizes from area businesses.

He also credits the organizing committee for ensuring the initiative stays alive.

“It’s convenient,” Horne says of providing an east-end Run for the Cure. “It gives people something different; it’s very community-oriented. Some people really like big runs … this is for the people who don’t want to do that.”

Pre-race preparations begin at 8:15 a.m.; the run starts at 9 a.m. For more information, please call Lynn Sewell at 613-837-4792 or e-mail lynnstravel@rogers.com.