UD Rowing Team Joins Fight To Cure Breast Cancer With 'row For A Cure'

Tracy Yang- Staff Writer

October 5, 2009

UD Men's Rowing Team is an organization dedicated not only to their sport, but also making a difference in the lives of others.

This coming October, rowers are going to participate in the Head of the Hooch Regatta to race and raise money for breast cancer research.

The "Row for the Cure" event held by the racing row regatta encourages each involved team to do fundraising and the donating money will go directly to support their local community in the fight against breast cancer. UD Men's crew will do a 150,000 meter row at the Greene on Oct. 23 from 3 to 8 p.m.

"The row will be done in two rowing machines on that day, and as we row we will be asking for donations to help get to our goal," Matt Szozda from UD Men's Crew said. "The regatta's goal is $60,000, and they are already about half way there."

This is not the UD Men's Crew's first time to do fundraising. They did a 24-hour row on campus in front of KU last year. Due to the little success, they have decided to move to a more public area in hopes for a better turnout this year.

"Our club works hard all the time to try and be fast, but we also find it important to stay involved in the community. We do at least two service events every semester," Szozda said.

And this year Row for the Cure will be their largest event. They are hoping for success.

"Row for the Cure is one of our biggest ones we do this semester," Szozda said. "Another service thing we do in the fall is to help set up for the Dance Marathon. Last year we did both the habitat for the community and helped move furniture for a welfare agency. That kind of experience is very meaningful to me."

Every participating team in the regatta will choose a local affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a global leader of breast cancer movement and nonprofit fund. According to statistics from Susan G. Komen for the Cure, about 10 million women around the world could die from breast cancer in the next 25 years. Breast health care and treatment, as well as research for the cause of breast cancer and its cures, have been a current global issue. To fulfill their mission, Susan G. Komen for the Cure aims and intends to invest more than $2 billion over the next decade.

UD Men's Crew will be fundraising money for the Cincinnati Branch, the closest one to UD, to help and support breast cancer research.

"We hold a high standard for ourselves as athletes and as a team we think is important to get out and do what we can to help out with the community and do things like Row for the Cure," Szozda said.

"We are also collecting donations from family, friends and whoever else wants to help. If anyone would like to donate, a link to our Row for the Cure site can be found at udcrew.com," Szozda said.

Original Article