BOSTON, Mass. -- Simmons Swimming &Diving will join thousands of athletes across the country in jumping into the pool in support of Carleton College's Ted Mullin "Leave it in the Pool Hour of Power" Relay on Tuesday afternoon for the fifth year in a row.
The event, which raises funds and awareness for Sarcoma Cancer research, first started to honor former Carleton swimmer Ted Mullin, who passed away in the fall of 2006 from sarcoma. The Ted Mullin "Hour of Power" Relay has grown from 15 teams in its first year to 160 teams in 2011 with 8,000 participating athletes who joined forces to honor all those who are fighting against or have lost the battle to cancer.
The event takes place in each team's home pool and is a one-hour, all-out, leave-it-in-the-pool practice consisting of continuous, any-stroke relays for one hour, with the objective of keeping all relays in each lane on the same length. The all-out 60-minute relay is a challenging workout the fuels both team spirit and team energy.
Last year's event included 107 college and university programs representing 39 conferences across NCAA Division I, II and III, and Independents, along with 46 high-school and club teams. This year's numbers are on pace to match and possibly exceed last year's totals. All those athletes will hit the pool with a shared goal—to increase awareness about sarcoma and raise money for the Ted Mullin Fund for Pediatric Sarcoma Research at the Comer Children's Hospital at the University of Chicago.
Over the first six years of this nationwide—and worldwide—event, participants have raised over $330,000 to support research at the University of Chicago into the causes and treatment of sarcoma, a rare soft-tissue cancer, in young people.
"The Hour of Power relay is such a great opportunity to work hard as a team and to raise awareness for Sarcoma at the same time. Every year that we have done this event it has been very emotional. To know that thousands of other collegiate swimmers are working toward the same cause is very inspiring," said Head Coach Mindy Williams.
Courtesy of The Hour of Power