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Copyright © 2003 Express Publishing Inc.
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Wednesday — February 11, 2004

Features

Fundraisers for breast cancer ride relay in Sawtooth Valley


By MATT FURBER
Express Staff Writer


Participating in a grandiose relay that began mid-January in four different locations in North America, six Idaho women rode through the Sawtooth Valley last week on their way to Yellowstone to raise money for breast cancer research.

The separate legs of the event began in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland; Squamish, British Columbia, Canada; Fort Fairfield, Maine; and Trapper Creek, Alaska. The event is intended to draw attention to women’s issues, with a focus on health. The money raised will go to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in the U.S. and the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

In 2003, the first year of the event, riders in Canada raised $175,000. In 2004, the event was organized in the U.S. for the first time. As riders from all four points gather at the final destination in Roseau, Minn., they will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Polaris snowmobile company, the main sponsor of the event based in Roseau.

Polaris helped to organize the event through state and provincial snowmobiling associations, said Dan Hammerbeck, president of the Salmon River Snowmobile Club. Anyone wishing to support the riders was welcome to tag along on any day of the ride. The ride through Idaho went from Priest Lake, in the Idaho Panhandle, to West Yellowstone, Mont.

Fundraisers were held along the way. Alison Hammerbeck helped to raise about $1,000 dollars with the help of the Stanley Mountain Mamas. A benefit in Coeur d’Alene, also in northern Idaho, raised over $5000 in one night, said Mickey Sutton, one of the official riders who was given a snowmobile to use for the event.

Sutton, who works at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, said fundraising for breast cancer research is important because one in nine women will develop breast cancer, and one in seven will die from it.

The women riding through the Sawtooth Valley Friday also embraced other women’s health issues as part of their cause. Friday was national "Wear Red for Women Day". The related campaign is intended to inform people that one in three women over the age of 45 die of heart disease.

At each rest stop the official fundraisers’ room and board was covered, but riders were required to supply their own transportation and lodging from the start and finish of their section of the relay.

"It is our humanitarian responsibility to help with charities," said Dan Hammerbeck, who helped guide the group of 22 riders through the Sawtooth Valley.

The Idaho riders planned to hand off their sleds to a group of Wyoming riders at the entrance to West Yellowstone.


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The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.





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