Weekend event is for riders

For years cancer activists have raised millions of dollars and national awareness through Relay for Life events.

The 24-hour walking and running activity, usually conducted on local tracks, has drawn a massive outpouring of public interest – from grassroot organizations, youth groups and store employees, to cancer survivors themselves.

Come Saturday in Kent, Relay for Life will take a whole new twist.

There will be a track involved, sure enough.

But expect to see hoof prints in its wake, not sneaker treads.

Reber Ranch, the site of a former Longacres training track, will be turning over its facility to what organizers say is the first-ever Relay for Life involving horses.

Equestrians from across the state will be making tracks for the ranch, to raise money for cancer research and treatment, as well as to enjoy the simple pleasure of riding a horse.

“It’s never been done anywhere before,” said Spanaway resident Eva Johannsen, organizer of the equestrian-themed event, and a rider herself.

As of Friday, she’d sent out about 70 application forms to riders who contacted her.

“I do know for sure we’re going to have at least 20, and probably a lot more than that,” she said.

The guidelines for raising money, she noted, are pretty laid back.

“They can do it by the lap, the mile, the hour,” Johannsen said. “I’m not horribly picky.”

Mike Parson, store manager for Reber Ranch, said Friday it was an easy decision to open the ranch’s training track up for such an event.

“My view is, cancer’s touched every one of us,” he said, noting his own mom is a breast-cancer survivor and his stepfather died from leukemia.

“And everyone here loves horses,” he added of ranch staff. “This is roots for us. I’m hoping we do it every year.”

Parson said in addition to the track, his company also is providing free stable space and fodder to the riders’ mounts.

Similar to firefighters’ fundraising efforts for burn victims, Parson said Reber also will have a cowboy boot at the event, where people can place cash donations to the American Cancer Society. Tacoma Relay for Life and ACS are the overall recipients of the proceeds from the relay.

The event gets under way 2 p.m. Saturday with the official opening lap. At 4 p.m., there will be a survivors’ lap. And just like the other Relays for Life, there will be a luminaria segment of the event, where participants will light candles in honor of their loved ones who beat cancer, or to memorialize those who did not. That event, which will involve candles placed on the infield of the track, starts at dusk, Johannsen said, which is roughly 7 p.m.

The concept for a horseback Relay for Life came to Johannsen in an almost offhanded way.

She was actually joking around about trying to get out of being on an on-foot Relay for Life team, through her employer, Fred Meyer.

“It started as a halfway serious, jokey kind of comment,” said Johannsen, who works as a barista at the coffee counter of the University Place Fred Meyer.

She was at a company luncheon, where someone was attempting to draft her for a relay team. She begged off, telling them, “I don’t like to walk, my knees hurt and I’m lazy.”

But her coworkers knew she rode a horse, and that’s when someone threw down the glove, suggesting she cover ground that way.

And an idea was born.

“I just kind of started doing it,” Johannsen said of organizing the event, noting she started putting out fliers at other Relays for Life this year, in addition to getting onto a local news show to talk about it.

She didn’t have to look far for inspiration, either.

“A friend of mine (co-worker Kathy Symmons) died of ovarian cancer and it was like a wakeup call,” she said.

And while Johannsen is in the saddle as event organizer, she’ll be saddling up in the real sense as well.

She’s planning to take her half Arab gelding Gabe to the event, where she’ll be riding along with everyone else.

“We’re getting back into it,” she said of her quirky mount with the big personality, who has a fondness for letting himself out of the stable for self-guided strolls. “It’s time he goes back to work – his retirement is over.”

Learn more

Riders can still register for Saturday’s Relay for Life at Reber Ranch.

Contact organizer Eva Johannsen online at evaj.rideforthecure@hotmail.com.

The event starts 2 p.m. Saturday and runs through 2 p.m. Sunday.

There is a 4 p.m. survivors’ lap, and luminaries will be lit on the infield at dusk Saturday.

Reber Ranch is located at 28606 132nd Ave. S.E., Kent. Call 253-630-3330 for more information.