With perfect weather, sunny skies and temperatures in the low 70s during the day, the Covington/Black Diamond/Maple Valley Relay For Life event at Tahoma Junior High couldn’t have gone better last weekend.

Sandra Russell, one of the organizing committee co-chairs, said on Monday more than $40,000 had been raised toward the committee’s goal of $64,000 and “we still have until the end of August” to generate donations.

“We have 255 members and if they all collect another $100 we can make our goal,” Russell said on Monday. “Everyone was raving. You couldn’t have wished for better weather.”

There were more participants in the survivors lap Friday night, Russell said, and there were a half dozen new teams.

And there were also a number of established teams, including the Weekend Wilderness Womens Golf Club, which hosted a fundraiser at Lake Wilderness Golf Club earlier this year. The team raised more than $7,000 and as of Friday afternoon they were leading all teams.

For Dottie Watson, one of the WWWGC members, it was a bittersweet relay for a team that has participated in the 24 hour fundraiser for the American Cancer Society for nine years.

“It’s a special year because we lost a team member last month,” Watson said. “She was a breast cancer survivor. She walked with our team for five years. It’s going to be a tough luminaria ceremony.”

Relay is personal for Watson in more ways than one. She originally began participating after losing co-workers to cancer. Then in May 2006 she lost a cousin to breast cancer and two months later she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Just two years ago she told her story of survival at relay. It was pouring rain and she was standing in a tent with the disc jockey and couldn’t see any of the other participants. Watson said she’s glad for that because she may not have been able to make it through it otherwise.

“It’s very personal for me,” she said. “It’s such a warm glow. It’s so cool to be a part of this.”

Tammy Lester, a captain for the Friends and Family Against Cancer Too team, came back for her second year.

“We’ve had so many people who have personally been effected by cancer,” Lester said. “Some are survivors. Some are not. So, I grabbed some family members, I grabbed some co-workers (and formed a team).”

She has the support of her co-workers, her friends and family, and the FFACT team had raised $2,000 by the start of the Relay.

“This year was a little bit tougher due to the economy,” she said. “We’re here to make a difference and we’re definitely going to make a difference with our $2,000.”

One of the things Lester likes about relay and ACS is that the money raised in these communities stays here.

What brought her back this year, Lester said, was the emotional impact it had on her and the realization that it made a difference in people’s lives.

“As a team captain least year I had to read the list of names during the luminaria ceremony,” she said. “I had to leave half way through it and give the list to my husband to read because I got too emotional.”

Each luminaria that was lit, which encircled the entire track at Tahoma Junior High, represented a loved one who had lost the battle with cancer.

Those moments were what kept her and the team going while fundraising. Lester, who lives in Covington, was able to work with Walmart to do a fundraiser. They sold signs for a dollar and spent six hours instead of an intended four collecting money as part of a six-month long preparation for the event.

“We raised $500 that day and we did it one dollar at a time,” Lester said. “I can’t tell you how many people said, ‘A dollar? A dollar can make a difference?'”

Her mom was so affected by the experience, Lester said, that after she retired she began volunteering with ACS to drive patients to their treatments.

“It’s definitely had an impact,” Lester said. “I know what I do today has an impact tomorrow.”