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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Start with an ample helping of high heels, add a pinch of slick pavement and top it all off with a 25-metre dash.

Robert Hawkins, in black flame-tipped pumps and his son's bicycle helmet, gets some air as he races in Friday's CIBC Run for Our Lives, an annual race to raise money for breast cancer awareness, prevention and treatment. - Galit Rodan/NNSL photo

This is either a recipe for disaster or, as Friday's CIBC Run for Our Lives demonstrated, quite a comical fundraiser.

The Yellowknife breast cancer fundraiser marked its seventh year with a switch from the traditional weekend run to a high heel dash that took place at Somba K'e Park over the weekday lunch period, from about 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

The morning had been rainy and the park's soggy earth was no help to the stiletto-clad participants wandering around. Only one racer, Iona MacKenzie, fell victim to the course's wet pavement, however, coming down hard on one knee as she skidded through the finish line. There were some gasps and much concern from the crowd, but like any good competitor, she quickly picked herself up and later laughed as she proudly showed off a painful-looking and bloodied scrape.

Some good-natured men also took up the challenge, delighting and surprising spectators as they (generally) deftly sprinted down their pink streamer-lined lanes and past the pink finish line.

Regulations dictated that the high heels had to be at least two inches high and raise the heel significantly above the toes. Though boots were permitted, "Wedge heels are NOT allowed," cautioned the organization's website.

"I'm here today because all of these wonderful people have been helping me for the last two years, two and a half years, getting through my breast cancer," said Barbara Thorburn, who won the Canadian North Aurora Award for highest adult fund-raiser.

"I had a double mastectomy and chemo, radiation and everybody was just behind me so this is the least I can do."

Thorburn and her team from BHP Billiton raised more than $6,000, aided in part by a quilt Thorburn had made and raffled off at the run.

Though Thorburn didn't race - "I can't run in high heels," she said - she donned a pink and white striped toque and, prior to the race, spiritedly danced around in a circle with some costumed and high heeled colleagues from BHP Billiton, including MacKenzie.

Together with the participating communities of Fort Simpson, Hay River, Inuvik and Norman Wells, just over $54,000 was raised, said run director Patty Olexin-Lang, although they were awaiting the proceeds from their Wear the Braid week and are still receiving sponsor monies.

Proceeds raised by Run For Our Lives are invested in breast cancer programs, services and equipment in the NWT, with some funding provided for research.

Last year, money that had been raised in the first six runs, starting in 2005, was used to purchase a digital mammography machine for Stanton Territorial Hospital.

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