2009 was another amazing year at the Tournament - with over $48,000 raised - bringing a grand total of over $300,000 donated to PMHF

Please read local newspaper reports:

Like no other ball tournament

The R.A.C.H. (Rallying Against Cancer Hardcore) softball tournament is a tournament like no other.

Played once a year in memory of cancer victim Rachel Higgins, the three-day event held at Kinsmen Park is an occasion featuring rain-or-shine camaraderie, fun, kindheartedness and a genuine appreciation for a good cause.

Every year, for six years now, residents, former residents and non-residents gather to toss, hit and catch to raise money for a cause chosen by Higgins during her battle with cancer – head and neck cancer research at Princess Margaret Hospital.

The tournament does an effective job capturing the spirit of energetic Rachel Higgins. Against all odds, including Saturday’s deluge of rain, the fundraiser keeps on going – as strong as ever year to year.

This year, the tournament raised more than $48,500. Garnering a reputation as the little tournament that could, it has now raised more than $300,000 in six years – about $1,000 for every ballplayer on the field each year.

While friends, family and even people that didn’t know Rachel Higgins, but now do through the spirit of her tournament, miss her, her legacy lives on in the spirit of the R.A.C.H. tournament.

Originally published at http://www.parrysound.com/press/1245856489/

R.A.C.H. tourney raises $48,500

Brandy Cook on local team Hicks with Chicks makes an easy catch on a fly ball from the Wii Too Fit team.

Cody Storm Cooper/North Star

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On a muggy Friday afternoon at Kinsmen Park, amidst a sea of pink and purple T-shirts, beer, and baseball gear, revelers stood still as Margaret O’Neill threw the opening pitch of the Rallying Against Cancer Hardcore (R.A.C.H.) three-pitch tournament to her husband Hughie.

The O’Neills are Rachel Higgins’ grandparents and, as they have for the past six years, they made the journey from Oshawa for the tournament, which raises money for cancer research in honour of the exceptional woman who died from head and neck cancer in 2005 at the age of 24. Rachel’s mom, Joanne asked them to throw the opening pitch this year.

“There isn’t a word to describe it,” said Margaret, of the much-anticipated weekend, which is a bittersweet homecoming for many Parry Sounders. “The people in the community work so hard to keep the tournament going,” she said.

Tiny, energetic Rachel was diagnosed with olfactory neuroblastoma — a form head cancer — while in her first year of optometry school at the University of Waterloo.

In between endless surgeries, radiation and eventually chemotherapy, Rachel and her mother dreamed up a Parry Sound fundraiser for cancer research.

Joanne Higgins had floated the idea of a golf tourney but Rachel vetoed the suggestion, instead choosing a baseball tournament.

In five short years, the event had raised more than a quarter of a million dollars for head and neck cancer research at the Princess Margaret Hospital.

Year six was no exception. Thirty-two teams and hundreds in the crowd scoped out the action under the Kinsmen roof to raise a total of $48,500, bumping the tournament total up to the $300,000 mark, said Rachel’s mother Joanne Higgins on Monday. The popular silent auction, with donations from local businesses, raised $15,000 alone.

“I’m just incredibly amazed,” said Higgins. “I really didn’t expect that we would make that much this year. I’m always so thankful.”

From a fish fry and silent auction on Friday night, to the beer that flowed as steadily as the rain on Saturday (the first time ever it has rained during the day), the weekend was a hit.

Good-natured cheers and jeers rose off the diamonds during the weekend, and , after years of being finalists, Horseshoe Pines Marina finally took home first place, beating Newmarket team RAGE in the championship round.

But while laughter reigned, there were serious moments as well.

Dr. Jonathan Irish, Rachel’s head and neck surgeon at Princess Margaret, drove to Georgian Bay to speak to a crowd of 300 about his research on Saturday morning.

He and his research team of 20 are researching ‘real-time’ technologies that allow the surgeon to pinpoint cancer cells and tumours and remove them from the body without harming the surrounding tissue.

“Everyone was very impressed as to where our dollars are going,” said Joanne Higgins. “It just helped to remind us as to why we’re doing this and how much further we have to go to help conquer cancer.”

Like everyone present at the tournament, Rachel was never far from her thoughts.

“I think Rachel would just be overwhelmed. I think she would be so amazed that people come together in her honour and her memory to do this.”