First Annual Canary Derby Raises Almost $50,000Don Listwin says the soap box derby will become an annual event Victoria, June 12, 2006 - The first annual Canary Foundation Soap Box Derby benefiting the BC Cancer Foundation, raised almost $50,000 for early detection cancer research this past weekend in Victoria. The derby was hosted by Canary Foundation founder Don Listwin with 12 teams participating in the race and was attended by approximately 700 people. Canary Derby 2006 challenged local technology CEOs to design, build, and race soapbox cars in support of early detection cancer research. All proceeds from the event were donated to the BC Cancer Foundation, Vancouver Island for the BC Cancer Agency's Trev & Joyce Deeley Research Centre. The top place finishers of the Soap Box Derby were Aspreva Pharmaceuticals in first place with a combine time of 71.25 seconds, Carmanah Technologies in second place with a combine time of 72.88 and Mercurial Communications in third place with a combine time of 76.70 seconds. Top three fundraising teams were Carmanah Technologies $8,100, GenoLogics $6,851 and Aspreva Pharmaceuticals $3,500. Carmanah was awarded a VIP trip for two to be Listwin's personal guests at the San Jose Grand Prix in July. "This event was a tremendous success thanks to Michael Ball and his committee the participation of members of Victoria's high-tech sector and our corporate sponsors," said Listwin. "It was great to see so many people at the derby and of course the car racing was the highlight for everyone both young and old." Pit crew and burger flipper volunteers included local BC Cancer Agency scientists who are working on the Canary Project on Vancouver Island: Dr Xiaobo Duan, Rob Sahota and Andrew Wray Listwin and Ball were so impressed with the local community support they have decided to make the Canary Derby an annual event. The University of Victoria’s Vancouver Island Technology Park is proud to once again provide the venue again next year.
The BC Cancer Foundations raises funds that directly support research and care at the BC Cancer Agency, throughout British Columbia.
Canary Foundation is the result of Don Listwin's personal mission to find a way to detect cancer sooner. To date, the foundation has donated over $16 million to researchers. Named after the "early detection" role canaries once played in alerting coal miners to hazardous fumes, Canary Foundation is the only North American non-profit exclusively devoted to the early detection of cancer. Don Listwin is a networking veteran with more than 25 years of high-level and high-profile industry experience, including senior roles at Cisco Systems and Openwave Systems. A US-based Canadian, Listwin sits on the board of Victoria-based GenoLogics, a company that develops research systems to help manage, integrate, and analyze enormous volumes of data in order to advance health science research and scientific discovery. GenoLogics was recently named the Emerging Technology Company of the Year by VIATeC (Vancouver Island Advanced Technology Centre).
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