What is the Global Relay For Life Festival?

The Global Relay For Life Festival is a 24-hour virtual Relay For Life celebration open to all Relay For Life participants across the world! You can learn about all 29 Relay For Life programs, network with other Relay For Life participants, and remember those touched by cancer during our luminaria display. We will celebrate, remember, and fight back together!

The Relay For Life movement began in 1985 when Dr. Gordy Klatt (a colorectal surgeon) decided to walk and run for 24 hours in Takoma, Washington, USA, in order to support the American Cancer Society and his cancer patients. That was the beginning of a team event that allowed communities to take up the fight against cancer. In 1996 the Relay For Life movement went Global, with it’s first community event in Portsmouth, United Kindgom.

For 25 years the Global Relay For Life movement has brought together cancer societies across the globe, now uniting 29 Relay For Life Partners in one shared mission: to find a cure for cancer and support patients and their families throughout their journey.

In 2019 the Global Relay For Life program raised over $51 million US dollars by engaging more than 28,000 teams, 484,000 participants, and celebrated over 43,000 cancer survivors!