Tri for a Cure: BAFF Students Volunteer for a Cure

This week we have the pleasure of hearing about the Tri for a Cure event where the students volunteered over the weekend through the perspective of one of the students, Rainer Kravets! Below, Rainer sums up his experience volunteering at Tri for a Cure:

On Sunday morning, we had to get up unusually early for an event called Tri for a Cure. This is a women-only triathlon which consists of 1/3-mile swim, a 15-mile bike ride and a 3-mile run. The purpose of this event is to raise money for fighting cancer. In Estonia, we also have some sports events, which raise money for charity. I have volunteered before in one running competition where I was handing out water and cheering the runners. The memory of that event was great, so I was looking forward this opportunity to volunteer again.

We, CIEE volunteers, were ready at 6 AM. At first, we got our cool volunteer t-shirts and some donuts and coffee for breakfast. Then we got instructions on what was expected of us and had free time to look around the course before the start of the triathlon. Before the opening ceremony, each and every one of us were given a task for the day.

There were a lot of participants, approximately 1,200. I was amazed that so many women were willing to go into the cold Portland water and swim in order to help towards the fight against cancer. Only some of them were athletes, but all of them completed the course. It shows how much these people want to give back to the community. And of course, all the families that came to support were also fantastic.

I was shocked by one particular sign that stated that 1 in 3 individuals will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. Cancer rates are extremely high here in Maine. After reading Maine Cancer Foundation website, I was pleased that the money does not only go to detection and care, but also to prevention by focusing on smoking and healthy lifestyles, because it is important to eliminate the root causes in order to solve the problem.

My task was with Max and our instructor Courtney to regulate traffic over biking course. We had to watch if any bikers were coming and if not, then let people through. The most difficult part was when bikers were riding in both directions, but we managed to handle the traffic and happily no accidents occurred.

This event happened during our coldest day in Portland so far. In the morning, we were told to expect rain at 9 AM and when the time was 9:02, it started to rain. Quite precise! It lasted 2 hours with small pauses in between. When each of us finished our tasks we then proceeded to have brunch. The combination of wind and rain was not very pleasing. Actually, it was so cold that Max’s hands turned purple. But the participants were very strong because they did all this triathlon with these weather conditions and wearing shirts without sleeves.

I think that the atmosphere of this event was different than it would be in Estonia. In Estonia, it is not so common that whole families come out to support and cheer. It was really fun to see small children scream “Go, mommy!” And what was new to me in America overall is that people greet and say thank you a lot more than in Estonia. For example, today a lot people said “Thank you!” to us for letting them cross the road. Even during my morning runs every other person says, “Good morning.” However, in Estonia people only greet people they know and are familiar with.

After the event, everyone was very cold and had the best part of our day: a hot shower. I believe that despite the weather everyone felt good to contribute to this great cause to fight against cancer. Besides, we got $3 Dunkin Donut card for volunteering!