Over 345 rowers and paddlers expected for Portland’s Row for the Cure

 Third-party event runs concurrently with Portland’s Race for the Cure

 PORTLAND, Ore., Sept. 18, 2008 – Over 345 athletes competing in over 57 boats from 15 rowing clubs, 5 dragon paddling clubs, and 4 canoe/kayak teams from Portland, Ashland, Corvallis, Lake Oswego along with Klamath Falls, Vancouver Lake, and as far as Petaluma California are entered in the annual fundraiser for the Oregon and SW Washington Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

The row helps kick-off October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the Rose City and is one of 19 Row for the Cure® regattas in the U.S. and one in Frankfurt, Germany.   In 2007, Portland’s Row for the Cure, a third-party event of Susan G. Komen for the Cure raised $48,000.

The Portland regatta includes breast cancer survivors that have come together on the water to support the cause. Funded by a 2000 dollar grant from the Oregon Community Foundation, an organization that promotes awareness of the river and ecology, cancer survivors received a scholarship for a learn to row class at the Station L Rowing Club in Portland and will be competing in the regatta. 

Row for the Cure® runs concurrently with the Rose City’s Race for the Cure. Runners and walkers taking part in the Race for the Cure can view rowers and paddlers in 57 separate events from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. from the seawall in Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

“Our regatta started very small as did the Race for the Cure® and both have grown up together as sisters.  Our relationship with the Oregon and SW Washington affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure is fabulous and everything raised in both the Row for the Cure® and the Race for the Cure® goes to them” said regatta founder Kathy Frederick.

Other Row for the Cure® activities include a pink water display by the City of Portland’s fireboat at approximately 10 a.m. In another on-water tribute, in the week leading up to the Race and the Row, the Portland Spirit will fly pink nautical burgees to honor those who have been touched by breast cancer.  The race will also feature live music, food and drinks.

Racing begins at the old fireboat dock on the Eastbank Esplanade. Participants will row and paddle down river for just over a mile then return upriver to the finish line at the Portland Spirit dock near the Race for the Cure® finish line.

In 2007, 370 rowers from throughout Oregon, Washington and Alaska raised over $48,000 in the fight against breast cancer.  Portland’s Row for the Cure® and has raised over 250,000 since its inception in 1994. The Row has since grown to 19 U.S. cities and Frankfurt, Germany raising over $700,000 in the fight to eradicate breast cancer as a life threatening disease.  

To support a local rower or paddler competing in Row for the Cure visit www.RowForTheCure.com.

About Row for the Cure®

Row for the Cure® (www.RowForTheCure.com)regattas are third-party events benefiting local affiliates of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. Since the regatta’s inception in 1994 on Portland’s Willamette River, Row for the Cure® has expanded to over 19 cities, raising over $700,000 in the fight to eradicate breast cancer as a life threatening disease.

About Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Susan G. Komen for the Cure was founded on a promise made between two sisters – Susan Goodman Komen and Nancy Goodman Brinker. Suzy was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1978, a time when little was known about the disease and it was rarely discussed in public. Before she died at the age of 36, Suzy asked her sister to do everything possible to bring an end to breast cancer. Nancy kept her promise by establishing the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in 1982 in Suzy’s memory.  The organization recently changed its name to Susan G. Komen for the Cure in honor of its 25th anniversary and with this, a renewed promise to find the cures for breast cancer.

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