Aug. 23, 2011

Sunday, Sept. 18
3 p.m. - "Your Next Step Is the Cure" 5K Walk/Run
Golden Gate Park - San Francisco
Cost: $25/$15
Register Here

BERKELEY - On Sunday, Sept. 18, California student-athletes, staff, friends and family will take to the grounds of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco as part of the Bonnie J Addario Lung Cancer Foundation's "Your next step is the cure" 5K walk/run. The Golden Bear family will be walk and running to honor the memory of former Cal coxswain Jill Costello and Frank Renda, father to Cal baseball's Tony Renda.

Registration to the run/walk begins at 2 p.m. with things getting underway at 3 p.m.

Bear fans are cordially invited to join the Cal Athletics for Team Jill team by clicking here.

A $25 donation/registration fee is required for adults while students, youth and seniors can register for $15.

Near the end of her life, Costello became involved with the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF), which promotes lung cancer awareness and raises funds to find a cure. She helped raise $50,000 for lung cancer research and rallied 1,000 people for the initial Jog for Jill event that took place on Feb. 7, 2010, which was the largest charitable event in terms of number of people in the history of lung cancer. Per Costello's request, there will be an annual Jog for Jill event every February.

After being diagnosed with the disease on June 6, 2009, Costello remained an active member on the rowing team through the 2010 season, coxing the varsity 8+ to a Pac-10 Championship and a helping the Golden Bears finish second overall at the NCAA Championships. The 2010 Pac-10 Athlete of the Year, Costello graduated May 2010 with a degree in political economy and was named to the Pac-10 All-Academic second team. She accomplished all of this while undergoing 22 chemotherapy sessions and 14 days of radiation treatments.

Frank Renda passed away from lung cancer in July of 2010. At the 2010 Jog for Jill, Tony's teammates participated as "Team Frank" in honor of Renda.

2011 ESPN Feature on Jill: Wave & Wake

Sports Illustrated Article: The Courage of Jill Costello

Lung Cancer Facts:

-Even non-smokers, such as Jill, can get lung cancer.

-Every three minutes, another person is diagnosed with lung cancer.

-Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer, taking more people than breast, prostrate, colon, liver, melanoma and kidney cancers combined.

-For every $9 spent on breast cancer, $1 is spent on lung cancer in the U.S.

-60 percent of newly diagnosed lung cancer patients either never smoked or quit smoking decades ago.

-The overall survival rate for lung cancer is 15.5 percent, the same as it was over 40 years ago.