By Tim Leeds
Clinics to help athletes train for the Race for the Cure 5K run/fitness walk will be held each Saturday from April 15 through May 13.
Raela Hulett, the local Team Captain for the Race for the Cure, is organizing the clinics to prepare Havre racers to complete the 5k course. The sixth Montana Race for the Cure will be held on Saturday, May 20 in Helena.
The clinics will be divided into a section for runners and a section for walkers.
A track for the clinic has been approved by the Havre City Council, starting at the parking lot at Montana State University-Northern northeast of the SUB, by 11th Street, and going west into Highland Park, then back to the starting line.
The clinics will be conducted by Hulett and Pati Zorko, Teresa Olson and Kayleen Hockett. Hockett will coach the running part of the clinic.
The participants will be provided with handouts listing the goal for the clinic, exercises for the week, and tips to practice effectively and stay motivated.
The clinics will increase in length, with the goal of the first clinic to be able to jog or walk one mile without stopping, the second to jog or walk two miles without stopping and the third to jog or walk three miles without stopping. The fourth and fifth clinics will increase in difficulty with a three mile track. The first three clinics will approach the first hill gradually, going around the south side of the university campus. The fourth and fifth clinics will go directly up the hill on 11th Street, by Donaldson and Cowan halls.
The Race for the Cure is sponsored by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Since its first race of 800 people in Dallas in 1983, it has grown to national series of races with more than 900,000 athletes participating in 1999.
Teams for the race are made up of 10 or more individuals who run or walk together. Team registration is available by mail only and must be received by May 1. There is a $10 registration fee for children under 10 and $12 for adults.
There is no team competition, but each team will be recognized immediately at the awards ceremony immediately following the race.
Participants who wish to be timed at the run must notify the race on their application, and will receive a computer chip which will record their time. The chip must be returned at the end of the run.
The race provides funding for education, screening and treatment of breast cancer. Funds come from the registration fees of the athletes in the race and pledges gathered by the athletes. There will also be a raffle for two quilts, donated by the Flat Iron Quilter's Guilds in Thompson Falls and the Helena Soroptimist Club.
Of the fund's proceeds, 75 percent stay in the state to provide mammograms, education and treatment.
The Susan G. Komen Foundation was founded in 1982 by Nancy Brinker to honor the memory of her sister who died of breast at age 36. Today the foundation is credited as the nation's leading catalyst in the fight against breast cancer.
