October 14, 2013
A record number of teams and a record amount of money raised … the organisers of the 2013 South Burnett Relay For Life held in Kingaroy at the weekend couldn’t be much happier.
And although the final figure is still being calculated, more that $116,000 has been raised by the 43 teams competing.
The top fundraisers were the 20+ members of the Birds Of A Feather team who raised more than $9500.
Other outstanding efforts came from Swickers’ team “Walk For Max” and Proston’s Angels, but in reality all the teams and individuals trudging around the track at the weekend deserve a huge pat on the back.
The 2013 event, held on the speedway track at the Kingaroy Showgrounds, officially got underway at 3:00pm on Saturday and finished 18 hours later on Sunday morning.
The event is the major fundraiser locally for the Cancer Council of Queensland.
South Burnett Relay For Life co-ordinator Rowena Dionysius congratulated the walkers on their fantastic costumes and urged them to have fun overnight.
“Pretty much anything goes, within reason,” she said.
She said the Relay For Life was a hopeful event.
“We’re coming together and showing our support for everyone who has been touched by cancer,” she said.
“We’re looking forward to a cancer-free world.”
The “Face” of the 2013 South Burnett Relay was Nev Kratzmann, from Murgon, who is still a champion cricketer at age 70 (representing Queensland and Australia in Over 60s) despite being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“I had a couple of mates who had prostate cancer and were dead within months. When I was diagnosed I thought it was a death sentence but I did what my doctors said and I had my prostate removed, had the treatment and then tried to get on with my life,” he said during the opening ceremony.
He urged people to get regular check-ups with their GPs.
“If they can catch these things quite early, quite often they can fix things up,” he said.
UPDATE November 8: After more counting and processing of donations, the total raised is now $141,000.
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