Crowd pretty in pink for fundraiser

A sea of enthusiastic runners and walkers dressed in pink streamed down Karratha’s main streets last Sunday as residents of all ages happily participated in the Mother’s Day Classic.

More than 600 people took part in this year’s local charity fun run, which raises funds and awareness for breast cancer research, with all money going towards the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Committee chairwoman Angie Ayers said she was extremely pleased at how smoothly the event had run.

“It was wonderful. It was such a great atmosphere,” she said. “It looked like everyone had a ball. Karratha was officially painted pink today.”

The pre-race action was by turns touching, educational and fun.

Committee member Elaine Bailey started by sharing her survival story with the crowd, powerfully communicating how breast cancer personally affected sufferers.

In a new addition to the event, Nickol Bay Hospital resident medical officer Dr Emma Jones demonstrated how to perform a breast check on game last-minute male volunteer Dave Rigby.

Karratha Life and Soul ran the crowd through an aerobics warm-up to get them race-ready while musicians Mikey Smith and Sammy Maphaka provided acoustic tunes and the Pilbara Party Ponies team offered children rides for only a gold coin donation.

Then the racers were off for either the 8km run, 4km run or 4km course, with plenty of exhilaration on show when they crossed the finishing line.

Ms Ayers said the small committee had pulled together fast to organise the event in about nine weeks, but seeing the results on the day made the effort worth it.

“Breast cancer touches all of us at some time,” she said.

“(The event) is just great for people who have been going through it and people who’ve got family elsewhere around Australia that have also got it. It’s nice to bring everyone together in such a positive event and just put some positivity out in the world.”

Ray White Karratha managing director and Mother’s Day Classic regular Richard Naulls’ commitment to wear a skin-tight pink morph suit in the race in exchange for donations had drawn plenty of local attention in recent weeks and he delivered on the day.

He said the suit had “done something right” by helping the Ray White team raise more than $15,000 so far, but had the drawback of forcing him to walk instead of run at the last minute.

“I did (training) in the suit yesterday and found the heat doesn’t like getting out of the suit,” he said. “I thought my head was going to explode, so I thought I’d better not run today.

“I didn’t want to collapse and be the morph man in an ambulance. I spent eight weeks training so I could look reasonable in a morph suit.”

Mr Naulls said the morph suit would make a reappearance at the Tambrey Tavern this Friday when several of the Ray White team shaved their heads in an additional fundraising drive.

Tom Price also held a Mother’s Day Classic event this year.