Families fight back against cancer at Fight for the Cure 2018

WATCH ABOVE: “Fight For The Cure 2018: Families fight back against cancer ” by Timeout with the Twins

In the spotlight of a warm October sunset more than 1,000 people gathered on Saturday October 13 to enjoy an evening of cocktails, a four-course meal, a silent auction, a live painter and six white-collar boxing bouts in which twelve of their peers competed to raise money for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation.

Among the six bouts was the event’s first ever female bout featuring Lisa Langevin of Kelly Santini, a local law firm, and Daphne Ballard from Christopher A. Moore Professional Corporation.

Fight for the Cure, held annually at the Hilton Lac-Leamy Convention Centre, raised a record-breaking $230,000 surpassing last year’s fundraising total by more than $100,000.

The event, which famously featured Prime Minister Justin Trudeau boxing Senator Patrick Brazeau in 2012, sees beginner boxers train for eight months in preparation for the event.

The white-collar boxers providing this year’s evening entertainment included Michael Bradley (Heart & Crown Irish Pubs), Derek Newberry (Humanscale), Scott McRae (Ottawa Police Services), Mitri Nesrallah (Sysco Canada), Jeff Westeinde (Zibi), Wayne Liko (Horizant.ca), Jason Tilley (Cushman & Wakefield Ottawa), Matt Jacques (Cresa Ottawa), Donnie Ruiz (CFL/Elite Performance Academy), Rick Hiladie (Assent Compliance) and the first-ever female competitors Lisa Langevin (Kelly Santini) and Daphne Ballard (Christopher A. Moore Professional Corporation).

Event co-founder and director Scott Whitteker began the event with his brother Matt Whitteker ten years ago as a fundraising effort to honour their grandfather who was battling prostate cancer at the time.

Whitteker says every year the ultimate goal of the event remains the same.

“It is important, I think [at the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation] they really change lives and that’s why I’m so passionate about it…[Cancer] is something that is going to touch us all eventually so if you’re going to change lives, try to change as many as you can because there’s no point in saying we want to make ‘x’ donation and dust our hands, no, we want to make as much as we can for our local community.”

Whitteker says the success of the event would not be possible without the outstanding support of the headline sponsor Heart & Crown Irish Pubs.

“Through the crazy years with Justin Trudeau and all of the media, through the not so crazy years where we’re kind of just scrapping by, [Heart & Crown] have stuck with us the whole way…it’s crazy that they came onboard like that so I'm very appreciative of them.”

If you would like to participate in Fight for the Cure 2019 contact Scott Whitteker at scott@fightforthecureottawa.com