Junior sailors from across Tidewater and Central Virginia out-did themselves in this year's Christchurch Leukemia Cup Junior Challenge, although the record-setting effort was not done on the water. Gusty ENE winds scrubbed the scheduled races on the Rappahannock River in this year's regatta at Christchurch, but the young sailors raised almost $21,000 to fight leukemia.      "It was an awesome accomplishment," said Kristin Stokes, regatta coordinator for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. "This puts things into perspective when we look at what these kids can do."Overall, the 50 or so young sailors representing eight area schools took part. The leading fundraising schools were St. Christopher's of Richmond, Walsingham Academy of Williamsburg and regatta host, Christchurch School. Between them, the three teams raised $11,000. Other participating schools included Kecoughtan, Maury, Norfolk Collegiate, Poquoson and Smithfield.    

Just as impressive as this year's fundraising is the total amount of money raised by the young sailors during the four year history of the Junior Challenge: $45,000. "Each one of these young men and women are to be commended for what they have achieved," says Judy Buis, co-chair of the Southern Chesapeake Leukemia Cup Regatta series. "They have simply out-done themselves this year." 

One of the major reasons the young people work so hard on this fundraising event (besides the fun of sailing) is young Craig Murray, an 11-year-old Walsingham student and leukemia survivor and his brother, Justin, who teamed up to raise money. Craig and Justin are just two of the many fundraisers, but it was their enthusiasm that encouraged others to take part. Another is C.C. McCarthy, another Walsingham student, who was recognized as the junior sailor who volunteered the most time to fundraising. Christchurch's sailing team was also recognized for the many hours it spent in the fundraising effort. Other participants helped raise money by sponsoring "dress down days" at school, through cookie sales and other fundraising ventures. Aided by a late donation, the top fundraiser this year and winner of the James Keith hall Memorial Trophy was St. Christopher's. Still, it was each of the schools and young sailors involved that was a winner. Each played an important part in the fight against leukemia, the leading disease killer of young people.  

At the same time the regatta was being held, this year's Leukemia Cup Kayak Tour attracted about 20 boats to nearby Urbanna Creek, and raised about $700.    

Both the Junior Challenge and Kayak Tour are part of this year's 6th annual Southern Chesapeake Leukemia Cup Regatta series, sponsored by SunTrust. Upcoming events in the regatta series include the 2nd annual Poker Run for power boaters at 10:00am on Saturday, May 22; Leukemia Cup Night at the Ball Park in Deltaville at 7:00pm on Saturday, June 19th and Regatta Weekend in Deltaville on Friday and Saturday, July 9-10.  

Regatta Weekend includes a newly-added live (and silent) auction and crab cake feast during the Welcome Reception at the Deltaville Fire Station at 7:00pm on Friday, July 9. Another new addition this year is a Classic Yachts division in the Leukemia Cup sailboat races on Saturday, July 10.  

To register or to obtain more information about any of these events,  please contact Kristin Stokes at the Virginia LLS office at (800) 766-0797/(804) 627-0406 or e-mail her at stokesk@lls.org