ShawneeDispatch.com

Shawnee roadsides turned into pink ribbons on Friday and through the weekend.

The Kansas City Breast Cancer 3-Day for brought more than 1,200 participants, many of whom walked the entire 60-mile loop for the event. On Friday the route began at Kansas Speedway. After an introductory lap around the track, walkers made their way south along Kansas Highway 7 to 47th street, then to the Mill Creek Streamway Trail, where they headed to the Mid-America Sports Complex for rest and encouragement from cheerers.

By 1:45 p.m., about seven hours after they began, 724 walkers had made it to the park, 14.5 miles from their starting point that day at the Speedway.

Kathy Ritz-Beck, Leawood, stood at the entrance to the sports complex to encourage walkers and tally them with the help of a pushbutton counter.

Ritz-Beck, like many of the volunteer staff for the event, wore an outfit that bespoke more fun than a serious charity endeavor, with a pink wig, a leopard-print bra over a pink tank top.

"We're just lifting the spirits of people," she said.

Walkers themselves joined in the fun by wearing similarly goofy outfits with plenty of pink, and T-shirts with slogans such as "Healthy boobs or bust" and "Big or small, we fight for them all." One sweep van drove by with a massive bra adorning its rear windows and a sign that said "We raise our cups to you."

The walk this year was not as grueling as last year's, Ritz-Beck said, when she drove a "sweep van," picking up walkers who were either injured or tuckered out.

"It was hotter last year," she said, and the event walk took place in June, but on Saturday the weather remained in the middle to upper 80s, with a constant breeze.

Stormi Vitts was one of a handful of walkers from Bonner Springs.

"It was nice us through the country park," Vitt said. For lunch the event organizers fed walkers grilled chicken sandwiches, potato salad, chips and cookies.

Vitt, who participated in the event for the first time this year, said she was impressed by the efficiency of the event's organization.

"It's very well set up," she said.

At the cheering station by the baseball diamond, LeAnn Nickel, Wichita, encouraged walkers as they passed, as she watched for her daughter, Amber Nickel, to come her way.

"It's very inspirational -- it makes you feel you have a community to where your donations go," LeAnn Nickel said, explaining the appeal of the weekend's event over the simple donation of money to organizations researching a cure for breast cancer.

Amber Nickel, Lawrence, said the encouragement from her mother as well as everyone else was nice.

"I love the honks" from passing cars, she said.

Gretchen Peirsol, a teacher at Bonner Springs Elementary School, said after on Monday, "The walk was a very moving experience. I accomplished more than I ever imagined. There were many times I felt like stopping, but the encouragement of the people around me, mainly my teammate Kylie, kept me going."

Peirsol said the closing ceremony, held at Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Mo., was emotional. "It was also very moving at the closing ceremonies to see all of the survivors in their pink shirts celebrating a 60-mile accomplishment," she said. "That helped make all of the walking worth it."

In all, walkers expected to raise more than $2.4 million to fight breast cancer. To participate in the event, walkers had to raise $2,200 ahead of time.

Peairsol said that on Saturday night, rainy weather forced the organizers to have participants camp at a warehouse on 95th Street instead of the campsite at Shawnee Mission Park.

Other participants from the area included mother-daughter team Dawn and Kimberly Hemenway of Shawnee. The two made it through the weekend, and because they finished Saturday's walk at 6 p.m., Kimberly didn't even have to miss the Mill Valley Homecoming Dance Saturday night.

"She's a senior, and this was the last year for homecoming," Dawn Hemenway said. "She missed the game, but I let her go to the dance. She was a trooper, she kept on going."

The two had decided to participate in the 3-day after Dawn Hemenway's mother died of breast cancer last year.

Dawn Hemenway said they both got a lot of blisters, but the walk was a great experience and she treasured the time she got to spend with her daughter. She said they might not be able to do the walk next year, but she would like to at least volunteer, adding that the volunteers and even just homeowners along the route were extremely helpful.

"Some had water, some had hoses we could use to spray off," Dawn Hemenway said. "Those people were so touching, and they just made us able to continue on."