NZ – RRT Hamilton and Relay for Life March 2016

Opened by Toby Cunliffe (professional rowing champ), the day ran very well.

At 10am, cancer survivors – distinctive in their purple sashes – got the relay under way with a dedicated opening lap. Led by Pink Bikies & old fashioned fire engines, the relay began!

The fund-raiser for the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Cancer Society featured 75 teams of almost 1000 relayers. This year there was a change in format for the event, from the traditional 22-hour format to a 12-hour “turbo relay”.

Teams were charged with the task of keeping their baton moving around the track for 12 hours, while also taking the opportunity to celebrate cancer survivors and remember loved ones lost.

The RRT handed out just over 4000 bottles of water to the relayers, supporters & volunteers. As bottles of water were handed out, the team tried to encourage “liking us on facebook” wherever possible, of which many said they would and also some said they had already, from other events were they’ve come across RRT (such as Special Children’s Christmas Party & Starjam).

We met and talked to a few key staff from the Cancer Society, who were very thankful for RRT’s presence and made it very clear they’d like to see us back next year.

As we were taking bottles of water around, we came to a table where 4 Cancer Society staff were sitting. As we approached they commented “Your ears must have been burning, we were talking about you guys”. They went on to say that they were just commenting that this year the ambulance had not had to attend to anyone that had fainted and they’d put it down to the consistent flow of water being handed out.

There were a lot that specifically came and enquired about RRT, commenting on the great work and organised team effort, thanking RRT for attending and making the day!”