A team of eight Coasters will tackle the inaugural Concrete Hero in Vancouver next weekend - an extreme obstacle course meant to challenge participants and raise money for cancer research.
"Participants will leap over cars and climb buses in the Lions Gate Lockdown, swing over waters of the Lost Lagoon, climb over the Chief, in addition to several other urban-themed obstacles along a nine km, chip-timed route through the streets and alleyways of Vancouver, before finishing at Strathcona Park Oval Track with an urban-themed block party," said Concrete Hero communications coordinator Dara Fontein in a press release.
The Coast team of Darlene and Bob Hood, Jared Newman, Christina and Cory Crosby, Eli Swinney, Sarah Stenzel and Rachel Griffiths are members (or married to members) of the Booty Camp Girls. The local workout group has taken on fundraising challenges before, most recently hosting the Sunshine Coast Amazing Race to benefit the BC Cancer Foundation.
"We were looking for a new challenge and one of the girls saw the Concrete Hero event online," Griffiths, the team captain, said.
The group has been training for the Sept. 29 Concrete Hero event for about four months now.
"We've been using local playgrounds for our workouts, scaling the monkey bars and playground equipment," Griffiths said.
In addition to preparing physically for the challenge, the Booty Camp Girls are fundraising for the effort and each must raise at least $400 for the BC Cancer Foundation to take part.
"We all have close family or friends affected or we've lost loved ones, so this cause means a lot to each of us," Griffiths said, confident everyone would make their $400 goal.
Darlene Hood said she and her husband wanted to take part in Concrete Hero to fight back against a disease that is taking too many lives.
"I worked for hospice for a year and I did see a lot of people dying of cancer and it was a wake-up call," she said. "It seems like it's not if you'll get cancer anymore, but when you'll get it."
The Hoods feel so strongly about fundraising for cancer research they donated 10 per cent of their recent wedding gifts to the Concrete Hero fundraiser.
"It's just a way to pay it forward," Hood said noting, "its good karma."
If you would like to give to the Booty Camp Girls Concrete Hero team you can donate online at www.concretehero.ca.
