Twin Cities Get Your Rear in Gear 5K Run/Walk

Twin Cities Sets New Record in 2009

Congratulations to all the participants, volunteers, sponsors and friends who helped make the 2009 Twin Cities Get Your Rear in Gear 5K event the biggest and best effort to date.

Close to 5,000 participants signed up to fight colorectal cancer.  Despite not fantastic weather conditions – again – this year, it didn’t keep people away nor did it dampen spirits.

The Teams that form around those personally touched by this cancer continue to amaze us.  We know everyone worked really hard to reach 10 or more participants to become official Teams.  That made it over 120 official teams!  Congratulations to our largest registered team (as of April 9th) the Notch Your Average Cancer Fighters.

This was of course a special year for the Notch Team as Anne Notch as this year’s Kids Fun Run was dedicated to Anne.  She was so looking forward to the 2009 event; unfortunately, Anne lost her battle in January to the cancer.  Many of her family and friends from Omaha and beyond joined us for the race.  And a second Notch Your Average Cancer Fighters team was formed in her honor for the Chicago Get Your Rear in Gear event by family in friends in Illinois.

Wilson’s Warriors took home the trophy for Top Fundraising Team.  The team was formed to honor Jennifer Wilson, who we lost just weeks before this year’s event.  Her colleagues and friends from Cole’s Salon helped to organize a fabulous auction/raffle to raise funds for the Coalition and it was a great success raising over $14,000.  Additional donations brought their total to over $17,751 raised – what a way to honor Jennifer!

Fundraising without the help of teammates makes things more challenging, but not for Robin Schoenthaler, our top individual fundraiser.  Robin again created a beautiful quilt to auction off to help raise funds; that effort, along with other donations, put her over $1,395 in funds raised.

We will be sharing the results of the many other contests in the next few weeks.  Look for them to be posted on our website.  Also, look for news on our 2010 date for the Twin Cities event.

Thanks to all the participants, sponsors, volunteers and contributors for helping create such a successful event for the Colon Cancer Coalition.  Together, we are making a difference in the fight against colon and rectal cancer in Minnesota – and across the country.  See you in 2010!