Komen Memorial Affiliate plans new event
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 06 March 2013 17:02
- Written by Paul Gordon
A promise between two Peoria-born sisters made decades ago led to what is now the world's leading breast cancer research organization, Susan G. Komen For the Cure.
That organization's Memorial Affiliate in Peoria will highlight that promise when it launches its inaugural Susan G. Komen Memorial Promise Run & Relay next Oct. 20, a half-marathon and two-person relay it expects will draw from all over the Midwest, if not the country.
The goal is to not only raise funds for research, but to remind people the breast cancer research movement started here because of the promise Nancy Brinker made to her sister Susan Komen. It's a way to make sure Peoria has its own unique way to memorialize Komen and highlight that promise made more than 30 years ago when Komen was dying of breast cancer.
It further hopes the event will further the research efforts of the Komen organization in a time when not-for-profit organizations across the country are facing funding cutbacks in the wake of the sequestration forced upon all by the federal budget stalemate on Capital Hill.
"Sequestration is bad news for all non-profit organizations and we just wanted to make sure we don't keep all our eggs in one basket. This is a new event and is not to be confused with the Race for the Cure in May, which will celebrate its 28th annual event this year," said Gina Morss-Fischer, development director for the Memorial Affiliate.
"We want this event to eventually reach beyond the Midwest and become a national event. It's going to be promoted through all of the Komen affiliates in the country, nearly 120 of them now, and we hope people will want to come to the hometown of Susan Komen and run in her footsteps," Morss-Fischer said.
The run will be 13.1 miles, what is considered a half-marathon than Morss-Fischer said is becoming a very popular distance for running events today. It can be done as an individual run or as a two-person relay (6.5 miles each).
The run course will roughly resemble the well-known Komen for the Cure pink ribbon that has what appears to be a person's head at the top. That point on the run course will be considered the halfway point, which is where relay runners will switch off.
It will be at the Susan G. Komen Memorial site at Parkview Cemetery in Peoria. "We felt that was a pretty poignant way to mark the spot," Morss-Fischer said.
The run will begin in Downtown Peoria near the Civic Center, cross the Illinois River on the Bob Michel Bridge, around the Levee District in East Peoria, back across the river past the Peoria Riverfront Museum, then up Main Street to High Street. It will cross through the Bradley University campus to University Street, to Parkview Cemetery, back to Main Street and downhill to Monroe Street.
The run then will head east to Glen Oak Park, then return to the Civic Center to the finish line.
The run director will be Philip Lockwood, who also directors the Race for the Cure and heads up Illinois Valley Striders and its Building Steam Training Programs that lead to the Steamboat Classic each year on Father's Day.
Lockwood said he believes the Promise Run & Relay will attract more than 3,000 participants its first year.
"If Dallas (Texas) is the corporate headquarters of Komen and Washington, D.C. is the home of our organization's advocacy work, then Peoria is the spiritual home of the global breast cancer movement," Lockwood said. "It is important that people remember that Susan G. Komen is more than the name of the organization. She was a Peoria wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend who fought courageously against a terrible disease."
Morss-Fischer said while the Memorial Affiliate in Peoria wants a unique event, it will not take away from the various Race for the Cure events held in Peoria and across the country, including in recent years in Bloomington-Normal and starting in May 2014 in Springfield.
"The Race for the Cure is growing, which is wonderful. Like those, this event will involve fundraising by the participants and any money they raise to participate in the Promise Run & Relay will go back to their local affiliate for research and other needs," she said.
Sponsors are being sought for the event and Morss-Fischer said the organization is reaching out to sponsors who got their start in Peoria and grew into larger organizations from that beginning, not unlike the Komen for the Cure organization itself.
Sponsorship levels start at $500 and go to $25,000 and above.
Promise Run & Relay participation fees are $60 for individuals or two-person teams now until July 1, when the fee increases to $70. It becomes $80 for late entries on Oct. 1.
Morss-Fischer said there will be events planned the entire weekend of Oct. 19-20, which also will be Homecoming for Bradley University.
