Canadian Cancer’s ‘Relay For Life’
14 of us arrived at the Oval and pitched our tent and set up a cot (supplied by Sensei Terry). The Oval started to fill up with 47 other teams entered from every walk of life. A surprise participant was the arrival of Sempai Kathy Desrocher from Armstrong Dojo, whohad departed Enderby after completing some of the BBQ prep for the Black Belt participants, also scheduled for the same weekend. We met Norma Kehoe a close friend of Sensei Kathy. Sensei Kathy and her whole family then showed up and we introduced ourselves. She really appreciated the support shown and left after a couple of hours with her family. The Relay Organizers presented a great night of events, entertainment, fitness classes, ongoing activities and various theme laps, and some needed nourishment along the way. As there needed to be always someone on the track at all times we all took our turns walking or running as many laps as we could do throughout the night, and encouraged engaging discussions along the way. Many times our thoughts were just way out there as the night went on. Half of us had some fun participating in a “Zumba” workout, which raised our spirits and worked away at any stiffness building up in our bodies.
Towards midnight the Awards Ceremony presented our second surprise of the evening, we were awarded a 3rd place plaque for raising donations totalling $6,585, which was well received and made us feel proud of our commitment and support towards Sensei Kathy , as well as our engagement to help defeat this terrible disease which has touched many of our lives.
At last the 11 of us finalized our Demo presentation set for 2 am. Sensei Terry led us through our 20 minute demo, which was well received by the audience who were awakened by our spirited presentation. Again the sleep deprivation and the stiffness built up in our bodies had temporarily vanished.
None of us seemed to want to get any sleep and the camaraderie was appreciated. We were successful in staying until the final lap, as I noticed many teams had left throughout the night. We had made it! We helped one another pack up and said our goodbyes. We had Kicked Cancer’s Butt!! for this night.
Sensei Kathy, you have unselfishly done much for our Kyokushin Karate Organization over the years, and we were pleased to have participated in this event on your behalf and offer continued support and encouragement to you in your challenge to overcome.
Osu, Sempai Bruce Laffling
Richmond SA Dojo
June 19, 2013
Relay For Life
On the evening of June 15, 2013, a group of Kyokushin instructors and students (Sensei Terry & Alana, Sensei Kevin, Sensei Dean, Sempai Anthony, Sempai Kathy, Sempai Sherry, Sempai Georgina, Sempai Bruce, Sempai Chav, Adel, and myself) along with Norma Kehoe, a close personal friend of Sensei Kathy, participated in a 12 hour relay for life in the track zone at the Richmond Oval in support of Sensei Kathy and her personal fight against cancer. We started the relay with Sensei Kathy and her family immediately after the survivor’s victory lap at 6:00 pm, and walked through to the morning to raise awareness and help raise funds to provide research and compassionate services for cancer patients and their families.
The relay for life gave us the opportunity to do something meaningful for Sensei Kathy as she always does for everyone else in her life. This event benefited all of us to some extent by bringing us together with a common purpose to celebrate and honour Sensei Kathy, and remember those who have lost their battle with this disease. It also served as an opportunity to celebrate life with friends that have been training together for many years, and to learn something new about each other.
There is also the opportunity, while walking around the track, to reflect on your own life. There is definitely enough time to do this.
I have been touched by this experience and I hope this is something we can do on an annual basis, with increasing the number of participants.
Osu
Dan Ogloff
Richmond Kyokushin Karate Club – South Arm Dojo
