Walk for breast cancer draws more than 3,500

Thousands of people yesterday completed the two-day, 39.3-mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer event under sunny skies.

The D.C. walk this year included participants from 40 states and four countries. The oldest walker was 89, and the oldest volunteer was 74.

Pink ribbons were handed out to participants every three minutes to represent how often an American is diagnosed with breast cancer.

Charlotte Corwin, 34, of Crofton, Md., walked with three friends.

“The four of us have been friends since college, and we couldn”t even imagine life without one another,” she said. “That is why we have to make a stand — for us and for all of the women in our lives.”

Dr. Korin Hudson, the event’s medical director, said some of the walkers on the first day suffered from dehydration but were treated on the course by medical staff, with the help of volunteers and more than 5,000 gallons of bottled drinking water.

Event organizers said more than 3,500 people participated in the walk — 26.2 miles on Saturday and 13.1 miles yesterday — to raise money for breast-cancer awareness, treatment and research. Organizers immediately after the event did not know the official amount raised, but said they would release that figure on the foundation Web site.

The walk took participants through Georgetown and into Bethesda before concluding at City Center Events Plaza on Ninth Street Northwest, where actress and Avon Foundation honorary chairwoman Reese Witherspoon presented grants to area hospitals and research centers, including a $1.25 million grant to Johns Hopkins Medical Center.

“Together, I truly believe we are going to end breast cancer. We are going to find a cure,” said Miss Witherspoon before the crowd of walkers, including cancer survivors, and others who waved white pom-poms.

The foundation started in 1955. The Avon Breast Cancer Crusade started in 1992, and Avon breast-cancer programs are now in roughly 50 countries.

The foundation’s signature “pink ribbon” products and events are known worldwide. The largest is the U.S. Avon Walk for Breast Cancer series, which began in 2003, according to the foundation. The walks, in cities across the country every year, have raised roughly $150 million since their inception. Participants must raise at least $1,800 to participate. Events in other cities, including Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and New York, are scheduled for later this year.