February 2, 2009

Coach Hope joins Purdue Cancer Center Challenge, asks community to 'Get Up, Get Fit, Give Back!'

They're off and running!
Download photo
caption below

Hope, in his first season as the Purdue Boilermakers' head football coach, will serve as spokesperson for this year's event.

"With cancer becoming the No. 1 cause of death worldwide by 2010, the basic research that is happening at Purdue couldn't be more important," Hope said. "I am proud to support the dedicated researchers at Purdue who have accepted the challenge to find a cure, and I hope that everyone who has been touched by cancer will join me on April 18 at Ross-Ade Stadium. Together we can 'Boiler Up' and help find a cure."

The Purdue Cancer Center Challenge 5k run/walk, a 3.1-mile race, is open to the public and will begin at 8:30 a.m. It will start and finish at Ross-Ade Stadium. The registration fee is $18 for students and $20 for non-students. More information is available online at https://www.purduecancercenter.com.

Purdue Cancer Center director Timothy Ratliff is again offering a personal challenge to the community and will donate $1 for each person he beats in the race, up to $1,000. He encourages others to match this challenge.

"I have seen firsthand what this disease can do to individuals and experienced its impact on my family," said Ratliff, who lost his father, father-in-law, mother-in-law and aunt to cancer. "I have also seen amazing strides in research and, as director of the Purdue Cancer Center, I witness every day innovative approaches to earlier detection and more effective treatments for this devastating disease. Funds from this event will help further this research and enhance cancer education in Indiana."

The Cuonzo Martin Challenge Award also enters its second year. The award, established to honor Martin, a cancer survivor, former Purdue basketball player and Purdue associate men's basketball coach and current men's basketball coach at Missouri State University, goes to the student organization with the largest percentage of members taking part in the race. The winning organization's name will be engraved on a plaque kept at the Purdue Cancer Center. The Purdue men's basketball team and the women's swimming and diving team won the award in 2008.

Greater Lafayette community members Paulette Moody and Beth Saiki-Olsen are co-chairing the event. Proceeds will benefit the Purdue Cancer Center, one of just seven National Cancer Institute-designated basic research facilities in the United States. The center, which was established in 1976, attempts to help cancer patients by identifying new molecular targets and designing future agents and drugs for effectively detecting and treating cancer.

There were more than 1,000 participants in the 2008 Challenge, which raised more than $30,000 for cancer research at the Purdue Cancer Center.

Writer: Elizabeth Gardner, (765) 494-2081, ekgardner@purdue.edu

Sources: Coach Danny Hope

Timothy Ratliff, (765) 494-9129, tlratliff@purdue.edu

Elizabeth Steurer, (765) 494-1109, steurered@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

Caption:

Runners start the 2008 Purdue Cancer Center Challenge 5k run/walk. (Purdue University photo/John Underwood)

To the News Service home page