Komen Southern Nevada Race for the Cure

The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure® series is the world’s largest and most successful education and fundraising event for breast cancer ever created. The very first Race for the Cure took place in 1983 with 800 participants in Dallas, Texas. Now it has grown into a global series of more than 140 Races with 1.6 million people participating on four continents.

The Komen Race for the Cure is a unique event, designed and implemented to promote positive awareness, education and early detection of breast cancer.  It has proved to be an enormously effective way to reach many women and men with the message that breast cancer is not necessarily fatal if mammography and breast self-exam become routine. As well as being a road race for runners, the Komen Race for the Cure is an emotionally charged event that attracts many first timers and recreational runners. It is an opportunity for thousands of women, men and their families, running or walking, to spread the breast cancer message within their communities.

Locally, the Southern Nevada Affiliate has also come a long way since our first Race for the Cure in 1996, held in the Galleria Mall parking lot with a total of 1,359 participants. Last year at our 15th Anniversary Race, nearly 17,000 pink shirts lined the streets of downtown Las Vegas, raising just under $1 Million.

The Komen Southern Nevada Race for the Cure raises significant funds and awareness for the fight against breast cancer, celebrates breast cancer survivorship, and honors those who have lost their battle with the disease.

75 percent of the net income from our Race stays right here in Southern Nevada to fund life saving breast health education, screening, and treatment services for the medically underserved in Clark, Nye, Lincoln, Esmeralda, White Pine and Mineral counties. The remaining 25 percent goes to fund national research to discover the causes of breast cancer and, ultimately, its cures.

The 15th Annual Komen Southern Nevada Race for the Cure was held in historic downtown Las Vegas on Saturday, May 1, 2010. It was a day full of inspiration and hope as tens of thousands of Survivors and their families, friends, co-workers, and supporters came together to share in our vision of a world without breast cancer. Thank you Southern Nevada for being the power behind our promise to end breast cancer forever!

• View photos and an inspiring video montage of our 2010 Komen Southern Nevada Race for the Cure.

Be sure to join us on Saturday, May 7, 2011 as we drape the streets of historic downtown Las Vegas in pink for the 16th Annual Komen Southern Nevada Race for the Cure.