From January 8 to February 4, 2024, 1,042 people and 154 teams took part in the fourth edition of the "Move Against Cancer" charity campaign, supported by companies and organizations as sponsors and supporters. With a total of 15,386 hours of physical activity collected, the organizers' initial goal of 10,000 hours was far exceeded. This impressive achievement also raised nearly 3,400 euros for the "Exercise and Cancer" patient program at the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) in Heidelberg, Germany. This program offers exercise to cancer patients to help alleviate the symptoms of cancer and the side effects of treatment.
The online campaign, initiated by the Living with Cancer Foundation (Stiftung Leben mit Krebs), the NCT Heidelberg and the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation, aims to motivate people to exercise for a good cause. For the campaign, participants used a special app on their smartphones to record the number of hours they exercised. They could participate alone or in a team of up to four people. The sports tracked ranged from cycling, swimming and running to volleyball, rowing, yoga, Pilates and walking, allowing for a wide variety of participation.
At the end of the campaign, Dominik Schnautz took first place in the individual category and the "Krabbenkutter" team took first place in the team category. Barbara Holborn, a former cancer patient, had already participated in 2022 with her daughter Helena, and this year they wanted to do their best. Joined by two friends, Petra Aldenrath and Julia Lisges, they accumulated a total of 321 hours of exercise. Barbara Holborn says, "We biked, swam, hiked, jogged, did aqua fitness, yoga, Pilates and weight training, and played tennis and volleyball. We did most of our exercise on our own as we were active at different times and even in Taiwan. We found the campaign and the app very appealing, extremely motivating and it pushed us to do our best."
With her participation in the "Move Against Cancer" campaign, Barbara Holborn wants to encourage and motivate others: "For me, taking part and my 'Krabbenkutterteam' were incredibly important to prove to myself what is possible. And I wanted to show that no matter what your condition is, you can always do something. The shared experience brought the team together and the victory is something very special for the four of them. Incidentally, the team's creative name refers to the team founder's home in northern Germany and to "Krabbe" as a synonym for cancer - although the word is not associated with the horrors of the disease.
For more information about Move Against Cancer, click here.