The community-run Leyburn Sprints for historic and classic cars on the Darling Downs will add Ovarian Cancer Australia as a worthy new cause to its list of beneficiaries in 2012.
Ovarian Cancer Australia will become the official charity for the event which, throughout its 15-year history, has assisted many local community organisations and projects.
Ovarian Cancer Australia is the peak organisation for ovarian cancer in Australia and the only national organisation dedicated to raising awareness of ovarian cancer, delivering support to women and their families affected by the disease and funding the best ovarian cancer research.
Its presence at the Leyburn Sprints on August 18-19 will help raise awareness among women in rural communities about the risks of ovarian
cancer.
More than 1200 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in Australia this year and about 800 will lose their battle with the disease.
New research has revealed only 33 per cent of women can correctly identify the most common risk factors.
Less than one per cent of women know they need to look for a family history of ovarian cancer on their father’s side.
“Given there is no detection test for ovarian cancer, it’s vital that women know the risk factors and the symptoms of ovarian cancer. It’s extremely concerning how poorly understood the genetic risks of ovarian cancer are amongst Australian women,” Ms Paula Benson, ovarian cancer survivor and chair of Ovarian Cancer Australia, said.
The president of the Leyburn organising committee, Ann Collins, said the sprints was one of the most popular community events in the region and would provide an excellent forum to publicise the help available to women through Ovarian Cancer Australia.
“The issue of ovarian cancer is equally important to women in the country as it is to their city counterparts, but it could be said they have less direct access to vital information and advice,” Mrs Collins said.
“To have Ovarian Cancer Australia present during the sprints weekend I’m sure will be a great opportunity for many women among our spectators to find out more about this disease.”
The Leyburn Sprints time trials will be run on a one-kilometre course around the closed public streets of the tiny former gold town between Warwick and Toowoomba. It commemorates the running of the 1949 Australian Grand Prix nearby.
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