Current COVID-19 restrictions in B.C. prevent organized public gatherings both indoors and outdoors.
As a result, organizers of the Climb for Cancer fundraiser for Prince George’s Kordyban Lodge have postponed the 2021 cutbanks challenge to ‘later in the year’ with dates for the sixth annual event still being determined.
In a normal year, it would take place in April, but will now be pushed for a second consecutive time in light of the ongoing pandemic.
“We want people to be aware that the Planning Committee is working on ensuring the Climb for Cancer happens in 2021,” explains spokesperson Doug Bell in a statement today (April 29), “but we haven’t yet set a date as we are watching Provincial guidelines for events closely.”
In 2020, Climb for Cancer was moved to August to accommodate B.C. public health orders of the time.
This included four separate days of assigned staggered times for participants and their bubble group to go up and down the cutbanks as many times as they could in a 20-minute span.
Despite the revised format, the $35,000 fundraising goal was surpassed to nearly $40,000.
“This will likely be the same format the event takes in 2021. The Climb for Cancer is normally held over one day in April with all teams climbing at the same time,” adds Bell.
“The money raised through the Climb for Cancer is used to pay for annual costs associated with operating the Kordyban Lodge, which is a not-for-profit organization that serves as a homeaway-from-home for cancer patients from the region receiving treatment at the BC Cancer Centre for the North and their families.”
Since its inception in 2016, the campaign has raised more than $207,000 for the Kordyban Lodge, located adjacent to University Hospital of Northern BC on Alward Street.
The record year was set in 2019, which brought in $65,000 from more than 500 climbers.
Bell says if you’re choosing not to ascend the cutbanks this year, regardless of when Climb for Cancer takes place, donations are being accepted prior, during and after the event.
For more information, you can visit the Canadian Cancer Society’s website.
