Susan G. Komen Austin Race returns downtown

By Ryan Metz

AMERICAN-STATESMAN CORRESPONDENT

For the past two years the Susan G. Komen Austin Race for the Cure has been held at The Domain shopping complex. On Sunday morning, it returns downtown, where it had been held the previous 11 years.

Organizers of the Austin’s largest five-kilometer race of the year hope the change of location will attract more participants and improve the finances of an event that raised $1.1 million last year.

“The race has always wanted to be downtown,” said Kheira Ardjani, chairwoman of the Austin event. “The downtown course is really beautiful, and we’d like to give our participants the best place that we could. We really saw an impact in our numbers in a negative way when we were out at The Domain.”

About 19,000 people participated in 2010. In previous years downtown, as many as 24,000 people participated.

The participant base for the Race for the Cure has become the largest locally, nationally and internationally since the event began in 1983 with 800 people in Dallas. Last year, Race for the Cure events were staged in 10 Texas cities and drew a total of more than 150,000 participants.

Participants may run individually or as part of a team. As many as 1,200 breast cancer survivors will be distinguishable because they will wear pink shirts. Statistics show that 1 out of 8 women will have to fight breast cancer in her lifetime.

“Everyone that I talk to has a mother, a sister, a best friend that has been impacted,” said Ardjani. “It’s really moving and touching the people that you run into.”

At a recent Anderson High School football game, the off-the-field theme was Trojeans for a Cure. The cheerleaders wore pink, and the school raised $750.

At the game, Ardjani said she ran into a mother who had been diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago. The woman’s heart had stopped at one point during her treatment, yet she survived. The woman’s spirit is something that Ardjani took away from the visit.

The nonprofit’s goal is to raise $1.5 million, and organizers say 75 percent of the money is used in Travis, Hays, Williamson, Bastrop and Caldwell counties to improve the lives of those affected by the disease.

“We’re making a push to let people know that their money isn’t going away,” Ardjani said. “The fundraising allows Komen Austin to grant out money and to make early prevention available to low-income areas and support women who already have breast cancer.”

Jo Ann McWhorter of the Austin Radiological Association began participating in the Komen race in 1994, 10 years after her mother, Iris Van Etten, died of breast cancer at the age of 59.

“I continue walking and fundraising each year not only in her memory and in memory of others who have lost their battles with this disease, but I also participate in honor of all the survivors,” McWhorter said. “It is extremely inspiring and emotional every year to walk with the survivors in pink. I am excited about the race moving back downtown because the scenery is so beautiful, and it’s easier to view the ‘sea of pink’ survivors as they walk ahead of me.”

Last year, Rob Wetzell finished in 15 minutes, 17 seconds to win. Jennifer Harney led the timed women at 18:28. Ellen Gold paced the survivors at 20:17.

This year, the race begins just north of the Capitol at Congress and 16th Street. Runners will go north toMLK Boulevard, then east to Red River, south to 15th Street, then west to Brazos. The route turns south skirting the east side of the Capitol, then west on 11th Street before turning south on Congress.

At 6th Street, runners turn west to Colorado, then north to 9th Street. After a one block diversion to the west, runners continue north to 11th Street before skirting the west side of the capitol north to 15th. The final stretches are east on 15th to San Jacinto, then north to 18th Street and a left turn to the finish.

Timed runners start at 7:30 a.m., and a staggered start allows non-timed runners and walkers to start as late as 10 a.m.

In addition to the 5K, there also is a Family Mile.

Published in the Austin American-Statesman on Nov. 7, 2011.