After three consecutive years of cancellations and scaled-back plans in the wake of the pandemic, the Relay For Life in Prince George has been cancelled for 2023.
Canadian Cancer Society staff shortages and a lack of local volunteers needed to organize the event have brought about what could be a permanent end to the relay.
“It was definitely not a decision that was made lightly,” said Alison Payne, manager of signature programs for the Canadian Cancer Society, from her office in Peterborough, Ont.
Prince George is one of 14 cities among the 52 Relay For Life cities across Canada forced to the plug on the event this year due to a lack of volunteers and dwindling participation.
“Every year we look at our resources and we look at each event to make sure we’re using our funds the best way possible for people living with cancer,” said Payne. “Unfortunately with the impact of COVD we’ve lost a lot of our volunteer base. These events are volunteer-led and we just don’t have the volunteers to run the committee to return the event. It’s such a community event which is why it’s so hard when we have to close it.”
Jim VanderPloeg, a Prince George paramedic who helped organize the first Prince George cancer relay in 1993, says it’s a harsh reality that charitable organizations are having a difficult time recruiting volunteers with the energy it takes to create event and he hopes that community spirit will return. He got involved after his father died of cancer in 1991. He went to the Canadian Cancer Society’s Prince George office and asked manager Steve Horton what he could do to help the cause.
VanderPloeg was an avid cyclist and wanted to create a bicycling fundraiser that could involve the whole family but was told by police the logistics of closing roads to establish a safe route were not feasible. That’s when he and Horton hit upon the idea to create the walking relay at the Masich Place Stadium.
“We heard Coquitlam had done a 12-hour event with some success, so we had to one-up them and go 24 hours,” said VanderPloeg. “In 1993 we only had 90 people and six teams sign up and I remember being there at 2:30 in the morning and it was a drizzly night and there were six people walking around the track, and it was beautiful.
“Four years later, people were spending more on (relay) t-shirts than we actually raised the first two years. It was incredible how it exploded so quickly. It just became part of the Prince George fabric, something that happened every spring that people looked forward to. There were teams that fund-raised all year long to prepare for that weekend. It was a true community event, it became its own little city and it’s sad to see that go.”
Originally called the Romp’n’ Stomp’n’ Good Time, after five years the relay became known as Relay For A Friend. It was held on the Victoria Day long weekend in May and thousands packed into the stadium to place luminary candles around the track to remember loved ones who died of cancer, those still fighting it and those who had beaten the disease.
“It just moved you, you just knew something special was going to happen from this event,” said VanderPloeg. “In the second year I had a friend from out of town join me for the vigil and I looked over and he was in tears. He’d lost his father two years ago and had really not properly grieved, and that vigil really helped him process what he was feeling.”
Since 1993 the 24-hour relay in Prince George has raised millions of dollars for cancer research. It surpassed $500,000 in 2017, which marked the fourth consecutive year Prince George collected more money than any other Relay For Life in Canada. Dozens of people walked laps for the entire 24-hour period as individuals to show their commitment to the cause.
After a field turf surface was installed at Masich Place Stadium and it no longer became possible to anchor tent pegs to the field, the Relay For Life was moved to the parking lot at Exhibition Park in 2018. The pandemic cancelled it in 2020 and 2021. Last year the relay returned as a six-hour in-person event to be held at the field behind Ecole Lac Des Bois, but it was cancelled at the last minute to due high winds. It still raised $51,335.
Individuals who want to take part in a virtual relay are asked to go to the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay Your Way website to register.
The Climb For Cancer, the Tour de North Cops for Cancer ride and Run For Cancer events are still on the Canadian Cancer Foundation calendar for 2023. Payne doesn’t rule out the possibility the Relay For Life will return to Prince George in 2024 but said it will have to be primarily volunteer-driven. Vanderploeg says maybe the event should drop its corporate affiliation if that’s what it takes to guarantee its survival.
