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Friday, Sept. 27, 2019
Pink Ribbon Run set for Saturday The Beyond Pink Team will be hosting its annual Pink Ribbon Run for breast cancer awareness on this upcoming Saturday, Oct. 5. The race will be run through downtown Cedar Falls starting on 7th and State Street with the runners crossing the finish line at Cedar Falls Public Library. In 2018, the event had a record-breaking year with 1,003 runners registered for the race. Current registration is at 884 for Saturday’s run, and they are on track to break that record once again. Gabbi DeWitt, one of the events promoters, has been hard at work promoting the run on social media, planning programming for pre and postrace, writing press releases and setting up the volunteers for the event. With $27,000 in sponsorships, DeWitt said the event wouldn’t be possible without their many sponsors with some of the big names being Oakridge Realtors and GreenState Credit Union. “Our sponsors cover our expenses 100 percent so that all race registration fees from participants go right into our Pink Ribbon Fund, which in turn goes directly into the community,” DeWitt said. The sponsors not only put on the event, but they strive to make the event as accessible to the survivors themselves. “Community Auto Group is our Survivor Sponsor. They provide funding so that all the breast cancer survivors have free registration into the event,” DeWitt said. As the run goes on for it’s 13th year, DeWitt reflected on the leaps this run has made
Submitted Photo
Last year, the cheerleaders showed support for the Pink Run, and this year’s event is set for Saturday, Oct. 5 in downtown Cedar Falls.
with time. “In 2006 the Beyond Pink TEAM had a dream of having a fund that could help newly diagnosed women with both the medical and non-medical expenses that come with a breast cancer diagnosis. We only had a tiny bit of money, $2,000. That wasn’t going to go far. Then we found out a committee in Cedar Falls was putting on a Pink Ribbon Run and planned to donate the funds to the Beyond Pink TEAM. In that time, that committee has
donated over $370,000 to the Beyond Pink TEAM, and each year Beyond Pink TEAM gives out over $66,000 in grants,” DeWitt said. Seeing how cancer affects families in their day to day life, DeWitt is more concerned about fixing the here and now. “What we are doing is not going to end breast cancer, but it is important to the person we help with rent, gas, groceries or medical bills,” DeWitt said. As this race grows each
year, so does the support for the ladies in the community fighting this battle. “To breast cancer survivors, we want them to know that their community supports them. The journey they are facing is long, and we want them to know that the Cedar Valley supports them,” DeWitt said. The Cedar Valley has a huge impact on the message that the Beyond Pink TEAM is trying to spread and community participation is imperative. “To the community we want them to know that their donation is important. Not only are they physically showing up, but they are also financially showing up. A $35 race registration can help pay a medical copay, or buy a tank of gas to get to
(Wartburg’s Steve Johnson Invite) ended up being a week early. That meant two races within 40 hours of one another. Once we saw that coming we started to discuss different ways to address that 40-hour block for the team,” Gall said. “We decided that it would be a great way to run our top 10 guys through a State Meet Simulation Week and also allow our next 10 guys to show off the work they had put in and the ability they had to perform at the varsity level.” Junior Jack Jorgensen, who finished second among the Ti-
ger boys at Dubuque, said he was excited for the opportunity. “When I heard that the next 10 guys were going to run varsity, I was super pumped because it gave the next 10 guys, which were mostly underclassmen, a chance to compete at the next level,” he said. The grueling but fast varsity race tested the limits of many runners who had never run varsity before. According to Jorgensen, one of the biggest differences between a varsity race and a JV or 9/10 race is that “they tend to go out a bit quicker, so you really have to
be careful and not go out with the front pack.” The front pack at the Invite consisted of largely Dubuque Hempstead runners, who captured seven of the top nine spots while coasting to victory by more than 50 points over Western Dubuque. Hempstead’s Ryan Winger dominated the race, winning by more than 30 seconds. Cedar Falls’ next 10 boys finished in 5th in the varsity race, narrowly edging out Iowa City Liberty by two points. Sophomore Kyle Westhoff finished first among the CF
“So many people dress up in fun outfits and come to support someone they love.” —Marina Steffner Color Run participant
Iowa City. It is important for us to help each other,” DeWitt said. Lisa Wilson, a member of the race’s committee, was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2016. Since then the cancer has spread and progressed to Stage 4. She is continuing her battle with cancer as she runs her fourth Pink Ribbon Run this year. “The first year a friend and I did it. The second year and each year since I’ve had a team, the Wilson Warriors. The race means so much to me as all the proceeds stay local. The first year I went to pick up my packet and while waiting in line, I started crying. It had only been a couple of months from my diagnosis, and it was very emotional. Strangers started giving me hugs and encouragement. That’s why this race is so special,” Wilson said. Wilson was in grad school and was without insurance in 2015, so she never had a mammogram. She relocated back to Waterloo in late 2015 to be close to family and meanwhile joined the committee. “Moving back to Waterloo, I had family around but didn’t really know a lot of people. The committee was a way to meet some great people, and I’m grateful for that. I work some with sponsorships and really try to build up my team and bring in new people to participate. One of my favorite activities is handing out packets before the race. Especially for the survivors. It gives me hope,” Wilson said. PINK RUN Story Continues on Page 2
JV men get opportunity to run varsity race When the starting gun cracked to signal the start of the varsity boys race of the Jim Boughton Invitational in Dubuque on Sept. 26, 10 new faces shot out of the box and entered the fray. In an attempt to rest the top 10 varsity runners in advance of their big race on Saturday at Wartburg, men’s cross country coach Scott Gall decided to enter the next 10 runners into the varsity race. “We had an interesting situation present itself when a meet that everyone believed would be on Saturday, Oct. 5
boys with a time of 17:40. All 10 of Cedar Falls’ runners finished in 19 minutes or less, with three (Westhoff, Jorgensen and senior Noah Arends) finishing with times under 18 minutes. Gall was more than happy with the result, and said that the meet was “super fun and the guys ran incredibly well. They didn’t let the moment get too big or stress them out, but instead seized the opportunity to race tough and run fast.” By Staff Writer Ryan
WESTHOFF