WESTON, Mass. – On Tuesday, Nov. 12, the Regis College swimming and diving teams joined thousands of athletes from collegiate, high school, and club teams across the nation and abroad to celebrate the 14th Annual Ted Mullin "Leave it in the Pool" Hour of Power Relay for Sarcoma Research, sponsored by Carleton College swimming and diving teams.
The Hour of Power event honors those who are fighting or have succumbed to cancer, including former Carleton swimmer Edward H. "Ted" Mullin, who passed away from synovial sarcoma, a rare soft-tissue cancer, in September 2006. The annual swim relay, which now includes dryland teams as well, has grown from 15 teams in its first year to over 160 teams and more than 8,000 athletes across the nation and the world in recent years. Participating swim teams engage in continuous relays of any stroke for a full hour of all-out swimming. Dryland teams engage in their particular sport non-stop for a full hour.
In the event's first 13 years, participating teams have raised over $850,000 for the Ted Mullin Fund to support research at the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital into the causes and treatment of sarcoma and other rare pediatric cancers. From all sources, the Ted Mullin Fund has now raised nearly $1.4 million.
The funds have been used for a variety of projects that evaluate the genetic basis of sarcomas, the identification of novel markers of disease diagnosis or progression, and the development of new small molecule and cell therapies for resistant disease. Each summer, the University also hosts Ted Mullin Fund scholars, offering four Hour of Power collegiate participants an opportunity to advance their interest in science and cancer biology by spending 10 weeks in a laboratory under the mentorship of a pediatric cancer researcher within the Section of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the University of Chicago Medicine.
As of Nov. 11, 137 teams including an estimated 5,700 athletes have registered for the 2019-20 Ted Mullin Hour of Power Relay. Registration is still underway and more teams are expected to take part.
More information about the Ted Mullin Fund and the Hour of Power Relay can be found at https://athletics.carleton.edu/HoP.
The Regis College swimming and diving teams return to competition Friday evening, Nov. 22, hosting conference foe Saint Joseph's College starting at 6 p.m.