Tartans Participate in Annual “Hour of Power” Fundraiser

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – On Tuesday, November 8, the Carnegie Mellon University men's and women's swimming and diving team joined thousands of athletes from collegiate, high school, and club teams across the nation and abroad in the 11th 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 more than 160 teams and more than 8,000 athletes 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.

The all-out 60-minute relay is a challenging workout that fuels team spirit and fosters cooperation among team members. The event aims to generate awareness of sarcoma, a rare cancer that disproportionately affects adolescents and young adults.

"I think the Hour of Power is an awesome event because it's not only great for team bonding and working together for a good cause, but it connects us to teams across the nation all working hard together," said senior Allison Kirkby. "I have friends on other schools' teams that participate as well, and I think it's really cool that the team participles in something so much bigger than our daily grind."

Since 2006, participating teams have raised almost $800,000 to support research at the University of Chicago into the causes and treatment of sarcoma, a rare soft-tissue cancer.

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 to five Hour of Power 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.

All teams are welcome to participate whether or not they fundraise.

Interested collegiate, high school and club teams are invited to register for the 2016 Hour of Power and find more information at http://go.carleton.edu/HourOfPower.  You can also contact Carleton College head coach Andy Clark at aclark@carleton.edu or Rick Mullin at rmullin9@comcast.net.