World’s longest soccer game in Sherwood Park raises big bucks for the Cross Cancer Institute

EDMONTON – When Sherwood Park’s world record-breaking soccer game ended Sunday after 66 hours of continuous play, 26-year-old Tara Short ran into her mother’s arms and wept.

Soaked with rain, exhausted and very sore, the players around her celebrated their feat, cheering, hugging and lifting each other up into the air.

But Tara sobbed on the field with her mother, Joan, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the esophagus and lymph nodes in February.

Joan is the reason Tara decided to play the game, a fundraiser for the Alberta Cancer Foundation that started Thursday evening and finished at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, 30 minutes later than planned because of a thunderstorm.

“I’m feeling every emotion right now,” Tara said. “Happy, sad, glad, mad, everything.”

Her mother added: “Proud.”

The marathon game beat the previous Guinness World Record by six hours. All together, it raised $108,025, surpassing the original goal of $100,000.

Short said she hopes the funds will help cancer patients get treatment as early as possible. Her life has felt like a roller-coaster ride since finding out about her mother’s prognosis, she said.

“It’s tough to think that I might not have my mom for much longer.”

Dozen of family members, friends and volunteers huddled under a sheltered area and took to the sidelines with umbrellas and Canadian flags to take in the final stretch of the game. Though many of the 36 participants were running on less than five hours of sleep, there were at times up to 12 people playing on each team. Some were limping around, their feet and ankles taped and bandaged.

“My body has been going through so many different changes,” said Dallas Denning, whose toes were blistered and bruised. The 24-year-old soccer coach was inspired by several family members, especially his grandmother, who passed away in 2010 from bone cancer.

“It doesn’t matter how much pain we’re in, that’s probably the most pain someone could go through,” he said.

The final score, which was kept secret until the very end, was 425 for the red team versus 335 for blue. But that clearly was not top of mind for anyone.

“I can’t believe it’s all over,” said organizer Michelle Chambers. She initially came up with the idea for the fundraiser in 2007, after losing her grandfather, grandmother and aunt to cancer within eight months. Seeing it come to life was overwhelming, she said.

“Everyone is so awesome. It’s great.”

Volunteers were available around the clock, cooking, cutting up fruit and delivering ice and water to those who needed it. There was also a massage area and hot tub set up on-site.

“It’s an incredible community. Everybody gets involved for some reason or another,” said volunteer Carl Britton, who previously helped out at the world’s longest hockey games.

The money raised will go to pay for a new PET/CT scanner for the Cross Cancer Institute. The machinery can detect tumours that are two or three millimetres in size compared to a normal scanner, which picks up on growths that are 1-1.5 centimetres.

“It’s such world class technology that wouldn’t be funded if it wasn’t for events like this,” said Lindsay Gilbert, spokeswoman for the Alberta Cancer Foundation.

Video footage and witness statements from the event will be sent to Guinness World Records for approval in the coming weeks.