Beginning on June 7, a bunch of kayakers, runners and bikers will paddle and pound the pavement via your complete Florida Keys – and a superb portion of Miami – like different folks’s lives rely upon it.
The twenty sixth Castaways In opposition to Most cancers tour, dubbed “The Larger Boat Tour,” will goal to “take a chew out of most cancers” by drawing inspiration from the legend of Huge Mo, a 20-foot hammerhead shark reportedly lurking beneath Center Keys bridges.
“Just like the tales of Huge Mo, most cancers could be a scary monster,” the group’s tour description reads. “That’s why the Castaways In opposition to Most cancers will struggle again in opposition to the darkness of the depths in 2025 with the Larger Boat Tour.”
That “struggle again” entails elevating greater than $300,000 in donations for the College of Miami’s Sylvester Most cancers Middle. There, funds are matched at 50 cents on the greenback to fund ongoing analysis tasks – studying extra about chemotherapy-resistant sarcoma cells and exploring new virus-drug mixtures to treatment superior renal and colon cancers, to call just a few.
Volunteer athletes for the nonprofit traverse the Keys in 3 ways, all ranging from the recently-renamed “Castaways In opposition to Most cancers Seashore” on Virginia Key in Miami. Kayakers will open the trek on June 7, adopted by an eight-runner relay crew departing on June 12 and a cycle crew leaving the seaside at 4:30 a.m. on Friday, June 13.
If all goes to plan, all three groups will converge at Key West’s Simonton Seashore between 4 and 5 p.m. on Friday for a celebration to honor those that have fought the battle in opposition to most cancers, whatever the end result.
Battling bugs, climate, winds and scorching solar, the Castaways have raised greater than $2.7 million of their 26 years of daunting treks, with greater than 4,000 miles paddled, 680 miles cycled and 320 miles run. They hope to interrupt previous the $3 million barrier this yr as they proceed chipping away at a five-year, $1.5 million pledge to Sylvester from 2022.
Although she will’t accompany the crew on the complete paddle as she used to, Marathon-based cancer-fighting legend and survivor Suzy Curry stepped up her recreation differently in 2025. Repeating a feat from the yr prior, Curry is in the midst of a “Golden Oldies Triathlon” at her personal tempo – traversing the size of the Keys by way of each methodology utilized by the Castaways. She’s already walked 107 miles, kayaked 110 and biked 67, and he or she’ll end up on June 4 with a 20-mile trip into Key West.
“Being 70 now, the physique says, ‘No manner you possibly can kayak 110 miles in 5 days,’ regardless that the mind says ‘Hell yeah, you are able to do it,’” she instructed the Weekly. “I snicker on the mind.”
The general public is invited to rejoice the Castaways’ arrival in Key West on Friday, June 13 starting at 4 p.m. A closing ceremony will happen on the Hyatt Centric Key West’s dock at 7:45 p.m.