Put Your Foot Down.... Sydney

2018 has been a huge year for the Foundation. We celebrated our 10th Sydney dinner on August 1 where the Ivy Ballroom was packed to capacity with corporate supporters and on Sunday, September 9 we celebrated our 10th Sydney “Put Your Foot Down” walk for Pancreatic Cancer.

Supporters from all over Sydney joined us at Manly beach decked out in purple and with your help the walk has already raised over $59,000.

Take a look at the photos from the day – make sure you tag your friends!

2018 has been a huge year for the Foundation. We celebrated our 10th Sydney dinner on August 1 where the Ivy Ballroom was packed to capacity with corporate supporters and on Sunday, September 9 we celebrated our 10th Sydney “Put Your Foot Down” walk for Pancreatic Cancer with supporters from all over Sydney joining in and to date they’ve raised over $59,000.

The first walk in 2009 was held in Palm Beach - it was “a tribute to Avner’s love of the Northern Beaches and particularly the time he spent walking along Palm Beach and surrounding areas after his diagnosis, when the sights and sounds of the outdoors took on a new significance in Avner’s life”.

We’re sure there wouldn’t have been one person who attended Sunday’s walk that wouldn’t have felt the same as Avner did. It was the most spectacular clear, sunny day with a gentle surf rolling in and all our participants put so much time and effort into their purple outfits that blended perfectly with their surroundings.

We had more than 350 walkers turn up to take part (and many four-legged friends). It was wonderful to see so many first-time walkers as well as some familiar faces all joining together to remember their loved ones and help those who are currently battling the disease.

Our walk wouldn’t be the same without the Beak & Sons ute cooking up their delicious breakfast bacon and egg sandwiches and sausages. Thank you again to Ben and Yana for your support this year, and a very special mention to Yana for putting on her “personal trainer” hat and taking the crowd through a fun warm up routine. There’s nothing like a Russian accent to motivate you into action!

We need to apologise to all those who are currently signed up to “Remember September” challenge, (including our own CEO, Julian Martin) but we loved having the Vittoria coffee van on site again making their wonderful coffee and donating all proceeds to the Foundation. A very special thank you to Ella and Zac for giving up their Sunday morning sleep-in to help us out.

We were lucky to have our CEO, Julian on hand as MC and a very special thanks must go to Caroline for her passionate words and her continued tireless work to make the dire statistics of Pancreatic Cancer improve.

It was wonderful to hear from Dr. Zaklina Kovacevic (one of our 2017 Innovation grant recipients) and hear firsthand exactly what progress is being made in Pancreatic Cancer research. Hearing her speak on the progress being made in the area is an important reminder of how important it is to keep funding this research.

All the wonderful images captured on the day were taken by Michael Mannington who attends all our Sydney events and we are so grateful for all the time he devotes to the Foundation.

Congratulations to all our highest fundraisers who were awarded their muk Haircare prizes;

Highest Individual Fundraiser - Marissa Rossi - $4,617
Highest Individual runner up - Marisa Pjanic - $4,060
Highest Team - Walking for Parminder (Peter) - $12,300
Best Dressed Adults - Lisa and Lia
Best Dressed Children - Aria, Elise and Emily
Best Dressed Dog - Boston (the wonder dog!)

In the week leading up to the walk we had two articles profiling families that have been affected personally by Pancreatic Cancer. The Donohue Family were featured in the Macarthur Chronicle and the Tilden Family featured in the Manly Daily and we would like to thank them both for sharing their stories in the hope of improving prospects for others.

Of course, it takes an army to run a walk and we would like to thank everyone who participated on the day for their help;

Team Marshals: led year after year by the wonderful Rick Lovett and his crew; Jacinta, Anthony, Joshua, Caroline, Zane, Ash, Jim, Kate, Connor, Charles and Marc.
Team registrations: Maysoon, Kristin, Anne and Bernadette.
Team merchandise: Jude, Susan and Liz
Team BBQ/Drinks: Sietse, Paul and Garry

We are excited about moving into the next decade of the Foundation’s existence. We are determined to lift awareness of Pancreatic Cancer “the Cancer of our Generation” and continue to raise more and more funds for research to make sure survival rates are improved for future generations.

Check out the photo gallery from the 2018 Sydney walk or click here to see our 2019 walks!