By Adriene LaPorte

Students will fill the UA Soccer Stadium Saturday for something other than a sporting event. They’ll be there for the UA Relay For Life.

The opening ceremonies for Relay For Life will begin Saturday at 2 p.m. Fifty-three teams are registered, but anyone can attend.

The event is free and will include activities and live music, but it is also a chance to honor cancer survivors, remember those who have lost their lives to cancer, fight for a cure and celebrate the hard work of this year’s volunteers.

“Relay is a fun event that allows us to have fun after spending many months raising money,” said Kit Pearce, Relay For Life director. “The largest misconception about Relay For Life is that it is a race. It is not.”

The relay will open with cancer survivors taking a lap around the track and then the participants joining. “The opening ceremony is meant to celebrate not only our accomplishments as volunteers and fundraisers, but also the accomplishments of cancer survivors,” Pearce said.

A luminaria ceremony will close the event at 10 p.m. Luminaria bags line the track with the name of a survivor or in memory of a loved one who lost their lives to cancer, and participants take a silent lap. Luminaria bags are $5 and can be purchased at the event.

Before the festivities on the soccer field, an annual survivors luncheon will be held at noon in the Rec Center’s social activity room. The luncheon is for survivors connected to the University to come for a meal and to bring a guest as a way to honor the survivors and bond with one another through commonalities.

“Survivors show and enjoy each other’s company. They have just this one thing in common, and this is a way to honor them and do something special,” said Andres Pena, UA Relay For Life co-chairman.

Groups have been raising money since January and have collected around $26,000. An earlier fundraiser grossed $14,000. After expenses, the money will go to the American Cancer Society. The Relay For Life events are the society’s biggest fundraisers.

According to the Web site, 5,000 Relay For Life events across the country raised more than $409 million in 2008. The American Cancer Society uses the money to help people fighting cancer, provide cancer prevention and detection information, research cancer cures and to form grass-roots lobbying to pass cancer fighting laws.

For more information visit RelayForLife.org/Alabama or e-mail [email protected]