While rain and lightning halted events for the first time ever on Saturday night, organiser Jodie Iliani said the weather did not deter participants to come back the following day.

“We’ve never had to stop before until last night. We’ve had snow, we’ve had hail, we’ve had thick and heavy rain, sideways rain but this is the first year we had to stop,” Ms Iliani said.

“We ended up moving everybody off site but we asked them to come back the next day, and they did and what a great finish it was,” she said.

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The inspiring biennial event raises money and awareness for the Cancer Council, supporting a mission to “end the disease in our lifetime.”

Organisers had lower expectations of what money could be raised this year as many charities have been under pressure due to ongoing drought conditions.

However, a surprise direct donation of $50,000 from the Sharp family, on top of collective efforts, made sure the fundraiser exceeded expectations.

“There are a lot of charities working really hard at the moment with drought relief, but with the family donation of $50,000 we’re still way over the $100,000 mark. I expect we’ll probably end up raising somewhere around $150,000 for the Cancer Council,” Ms Iliani said.

“When Mrs Sharp passed away, she bequeathed the money to go to some form of cancer research. John Sharp has been on our committee and has been a big advocate for Relay for Life. The family were here doing laps today,” she said.

The highest fundraising teams this year were: Bing Lee $5472, Moss Vale Hotel $5000 and Donut King $3786.

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