Looking for a way to get involved in the UAE’s Year of Giving? This international event could be it.
It’s the largest cancer fundraiser in the world, and it’s coming to the UAE for this first time this year.
Relay For Life is a 24-hour challenge that attracts more than 4 million participants in 20 countries each year, and will be held at the American University of Sharjah between November 17 and 18.
Teams will take turns walking laps of the university’s 400-metre sports track, going without sleep to symbolise the fact that cancer doesn’t take breaks.
Money raised by sponsorship and donations will go to benefit local charity Friends of Cancer Patients.
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And of course, the more time you have before the event, the more vital funds you can raise to help fight cancer.
Registrations are open now over at the organisation’s website, with the entrance fee costing Dhs100 per adult and Dhs60 per child.
Arnold M Baskies, chairman of the board of the American Cancer Society, encouraged UAE residents to sign up in a video posted to the charity’s site.
“It’s a message to the entire world that this is a fight that we’re in together,” he said. “It means more than almost anything else you’re going to do this week, or this month, or this year.”
Relay For Life started in the United States in 1985, when colorectal surgeon Dr Gordy Klatt raised over US$27,000 for his local cancer charity in Tacoma, Washington.
The event has since raised more than US$5 billion around the world, according to the Friends of Cancer Patients’ site.
Anyone can take part, no matter their fitness level, with more than 5,000 walkers expected to turn up on the day.
See you on the track?
Image: Getty
