UTM Run for the Cure team raises $23,500

The skies were grey, but U of T Mississauga was a sea of pink on Sunday, Oct. 4, for the CIBC Run for the Cure. The host campus team raised more than $23,500, taking home the local Post Secondary Team Challenge Award.

Along with more than 2,300 registered runners and walkers on the 1K and 5K courses, police estimated that nearly 4,000 people attended the event.

Participants wore pink tutus, feather boas, tiaras and capes, a bagpipe honour guard led the breast cancer survivors and attendees toured the hot pink Mississauga fire truck. The truck, which is in active service, was decorated by Mississauga Fire Fighters Association Local 1212 to raise funds for cancer awareness and research.

Carla DeMarco and Ryan Cerrudo co-captained this year’s UTM efforts, with a team of more than 130 people. “It was such a phenomenal and memorable day,” says DeMarco, communications and grants manager in the Office of the Vice-Principal, Research. “This disease has had a terrible impact on so many people, and we were overwhelmed by the sense of community and support here, even on a chilly day!” 

The UTM team easily passed its fundraising goal of $15,000 and the previous year’s record of $18,000, through events like the Pink Luncheon, a baking competition and “Chop the Mop”, where participants had their hair shaved off or cut to raise funds.

Additionally, last year’s team captain, Debby Keown, created Debby's Donation Duel, pledging that the person on the team who beat Keown’s $2,500 goal in funds raised could have her as an office assistant for a day. Jim Bottrell, the husband of the Institute for Management & Innovation’s Donna Heslin, raised $3,430 by promising to run two circuits of the 5K course. (Editor’s note: he did!)

Mississauga mayor Bonnie Crombie was on hand to welcome the participants, noting that Mississauga is home to the Carlo Fidani Regional Cancer Centre at Trillium Health Partners. Professor Ulli Krull, acting vice-president, U of T and principal of U of T Mississauga, added that UTM is establishing a Centre for Cancer Stem Cell Therapeutics, which aims to develop new therapeutic compounds that will target some of the deadliest cancers, such as leukemia (blood cancer) and glioblastoma (brain cancer).

The event was the sixth run at the UTM campus, and part of the 24^th annual Canada-wide CIBC Run for the Cure, involving 115,000 participants and volunteers. An estimated $21.5 million was raised in more than 60 communities across Canada for breast cancer research and to help support the 25,200 Canadian women and men who will be diagnosed in 2015.