Yellowknife (Mar 09/05) - Lace up, Run for Our Lives and raise money to stop breast cancer in the North this October.

A new fundraising initiative to replace the annual CIBC Run for the Cure in the Northwest Territories has been announced in Yellowknife and it will solely benefit the North.

The new run also will be sponsored by CIBC. "Now we can have 100 per cent of the funds raised in the North remain in the North," said Terry Chang, a run organizer.

With the national Run for the Cure event, 75 per cent of the money raised stayed in the Territories and 25 per cent went to national breast cancer research, Chang noted.

Last year in Yellowknife, the run raised almost $200,000.

Lynn Cook, president of the Stanton Territorial Hospital Foundation board, said the new run will help the territories greatly. "It's amazing and very important that we will have all of the funds stay in the Northwest Territories," Cook said.

"As a foundation, we've spent many years raising funds for the Stanton Territorial Hospital. There's always a great need."

Cook said a Run for Our Lives committee will consider requests for funds and equipment and decide how the money will be spent.

"The committee will make the decision about disbursing the funds," she said.

This year's run is set for Sunday, Oct. 2 and will coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness month.