Sports greats lead Cancer Council Tasmania’s Relay For Life event

SOME of Tasmania’s greatest modern athletes are gearing up to lend their talents and pound the pavement for a cause.

Relay for Life ambassadors Deon Kenzie, left, and Kerry Hore launch next year’s event at the Domain Athletics Centre. Picture: KIM EISZELE

SOME of Tasmania’s greatest modern athletes are gearing up to lend their talents and pound the pavement for a cause.

The Cancer Council Tasmania launched the 2017 Relay For Life with five Tasmanian Olympic/Paralympic ambassadors for the four legs of the event.

Relay for Life ambassador Kerry Hore, left, with Derwent Valley relay committee member Ellie Hayton, 17. Picture: KIM EISZELE

The Derwent Valley ambassador will be four-time Olympian rower Kerry Hore and the Launceston ambassadors will be Olympic cycling medallist and coach Matt Gilmore and his son Zack, who is living with non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

The North-West ambassador will be Paralympian and athletics world champion Deon Kenzie.

Hobart will be represented by two-time Olympian and three-time rowing world champion Kate Hornsey.

New Relay For Life state project manager Anthony Edwards — a five-time Olympian and triple Olympic medallist in rowing — said the event was Cancer Council Tasmania’s biggest annual fundraising campaign.

“Relay For Life touches everyone who participates — cancer survivors, carers, those who are supporting or remembering a loved one and people who just want to make a difference,” he said.

The Relay For Life kicks off on February 25 in the Derwent Valley.

Originally published as Sports greats lead Cancer Council Tasmania’s Relay For Life event