UT students participated in the university’s first American Cancer Society Relay for Life this weekend and raised more than $30,000 to benefit cancer research.

“I was extremely pleased with how the event went,” said Anna Catherine Davenport, event chair. “There were nervous jitters since this was the first year, but everything ran smoothly.”

Participants and teams took turns walking around Circle Park Friday evening through Saturday morning to raise awareness about cancer prevention and research.

The scheduled finish was set for 6 p.m., but rain forced the event to end early. Davenport said the abrupt finish didn’t undermine the mission of the relay.

“When (the rain) started everyone had started packing, so it wasn’t that big of an issue,” Davenport said. “But it didn’t affect the overall spirits of the participants.”

Due to the rain, the event’s closing ceremony was canceled, but several campus organizations were recognized for their efforts. The Andy Holt Apartment team raised the most money in the team competition, while Phi Mu received the most donations in the organization category.

Davenport said donations were still coming in from participants’ friends and family, and she expected the event to break the $31,000 barrier.

Ashley Waller, a junior who participated with Sigma Alpha Iota, said the strength of the event was seeing so many campus organizations come together to support a good cause. The event, as with many of the participants, was personal for Waller, who lost her grandmother to lung cancer as a child.

She said watching the local cancer survivors start the event by leading the first lap gave her added motivation to help.

“They (the survivors) were so excited for us and what we were doing,” Waller said. “It was great to see how happy they are and everyone else was (with the event).”

Relay for Life began in 1985 when a doctor from Washington took donations for cancer prevention while running around a local track for 24 hours. Since then, the event has taken on national prominence, Davenport said.

She said she hoped the national success combined with the success of this year’s event would spur annual participation.

“Everyone was pleased, so hopefully this is something people will see as beneficial and will continue to work with,” Davenport said. “There is a statistic that if everything known about cancer prevention was used, two-thirds of all cases of cancer wouldn’t occur. … That’s what we’re trying to fight, and I think we’ve started the battle well.”