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Color Run Expected To Attract Several Thousand Runners

thecolorrun.com

Nearly 8000 runners  are participating in the annual Color Run in Rochester on Saturday.

The annual 5K race features stops where runners are doused with colored powder.

The Color Run locally is a fundraiser for the organization Teens Living With Cancer.  

The group behind the Color Run is a for-profit organization, and Lauren Spiker, executive director of Teens Living with Cancer says the Color Run people are totally up front about that. She says it is a great event for not only raising money but bringing awareness to the issue of teens and young adults with cancer.

Nationally, there have been some stories lately about other organizations with a different name, running these types of events, and questions about how those events are raising money.

Spiker says it's too bad that disreputable organizations tarnish the image of well-run events, like this one.

"It's despicable that there are as many scams out there as there seem to be lately around charities particularly the four cancer charities that have been in the news most recently, what it does is cause distrust amongst our donors."

Spiker says the Rochester event not only raises money for Teens Living with Cancer, but also has a positive impact on the local economy because of all the runners that show up here.

"…many of whom will have lunch and dinner, perhaps breakfast here, so in addition to the proceeds that come to us, there is a great deal of revenue that gets generated for us locally here in Rochester and I think that's important for people to know."

The race begins at 8:00 a.m. Saturday and it starts and finishes at Frontier Field.

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.