LYDENBURG – The long-waited CANSA Relay for Life (RFL) 2015 recently took place at Laerskool Lydenburg. The event started on Friday October 23 18:00 and ended the next day at 06:00.
The day was filled with mixed emotions as some remembered loved ones who had lost the battle, some celebrated that they managed to conquer it, some were happy because they were still strong as they the fought cancer and others were honoured to be part of a life-changing event.
The number of teams that entered decreased from 26 to 11 compared with the last RFL although the team spirit was greater.
Chrissie de Beer, a patient mentor and caregiver, said it was amazing to see people walk for 12 hours. “In the previous RFL the number of people walking decreased badly during the early hours of the morning, but this year it was different, people just kept walking.
All the teams put their effort into dressing up according to the various countries they represented and everything looked beautiful,” she said.
Somalia won best team spirit, Iceland won best relayers, Switzerland took the best-decorated stall prize and Hawaii won the prize for having the most knowledge about cancer.
The best relayers in the different age groups were Christo Stander (adult male category), Trever Murray (high school male category), Vivian Smith (high school female category), John- Paul Jacobs (junior male category) and Liané Hanekom (junior female category).
“The event went well and we did not have any major challenges. We would like to thank the residents of Lydenburg for the support and a successful event.”
RFL brings together friends, families, businesses, hospitals, schools and churches with the goal of raising awareness and funds for the fight against cancer.
