“Run for Their Lives” For the Fourth Time This Year...

After the resounding success the project saw back in 2010, Run for Their Lives, the charity run organized by the Rotaract Club of Colombo Uptown is being organized this year too for the fourth time in succession, remaining steady in the cause they took up 3 years back.

The proceeds from the run have been directed towards purchasing medicine for the Cancer Institute in Maharagama which, on a tight budget and free treatment, welcomes any kind of support in the regard. With the immense support of the general public that the run has amassed the shortages at Maharagama are restricted to a minimum.

Run for Their Lives has exponentially grown over the years from the basic event it was when initiated in 2010 with 375 participants raising around 350,000 rupees to an extremely popular charitable gathering in 2012 with 1700 participants raising over 1.3 million rupees. The less than 5 kilometre run is for all to join in and to enjoy themselves. With the post run fair becoming popular too, you can find any number of light-hearted people joining in the race for good fun and to prop up a very worthy cause.

Everyone in between 13 years (the youngest so far) and 74 years (the most young at heart so far) has run, knowing every cent of their contribution is directed to sponsor the medicine of a cancer patient. Moreover the event pays a lot of attention to raising awareness about the cause of cancer patients in addition to raising funds.   

It is important to note that since sponsors cover all event expenses at RFTL , 100% of registration fee given by the runners is utilized towards the cause. The proceedings from RFTL are not directly handed over to the Institute, but the organizers purchase the much needed medicine on the advice of Dr. Balawardana and hand over in form of medication.

Soon after being chartered in 1995, the Colombo Uptown Rotaract went into a brief period of inaction, before it was revived recently in 2010, by 14 friends, 8 of whom are still part of it. After a few initial hiccups the club is now standing strong and fast with good leaders and great public support with several awards as testimonial. “Award of Citation for the Most Outstanding Rotaract Club of the year” won this June remaining the best one yet. They have also bagged “Best Rotaract Project in Rotary International District” thrice, and “Most outstanding project of the year” twice in the recent past. This year’s event will be jointly spearheaded by Project Chairpersons Rtr. IPP (Immediate Past President) Thilina De Silva and Rtr. Narendra Seneratne.

Stay with Life as we will soon bring you more details about what goes into the event and how you can be part of the event, whichever way you are best able to.

This year’s Run for Their Lives will be held on the 8^th of December at the Independence Square from 7 a.m. onwards. You can avail yourself of entry to participate, entrance to the fair, the benchmark t-shirt, refreshments and a printed photograph for a registration fee of Rs.600 only. For more about Run for Their Lives 2013, visit www.rftl.lk or www.facebook.cm/runfortheirlives

By Nivedha Jeyaseelan