Wonderful Women
A Conversation with Sarah Rines
Each year, hundreds of women gather to swim, bike, and run in the Maine Cancer Foundation’s Tri for a Cure—an all-women sprint triathlon—to raise money for cancer prevention and treatment. This July, the singular event will bring over 1,000 women to south Portland.
Sarah Rines at last year’s Tri for a Cure
Sarah Rines, a Senior Program Manager at MaineHealth Center for Tobacco Independence and a former board member at the Foundation, is no stranger to the Tri. “This is my eighth Tri for a Cure,” Sarah, who lives in Portland, explained over the phone. Her voice was warm and enthusiastic. “I’m excited to participate. It’s an amazing event both from the standpoint of the community and the funds it raises. I’m focused on training—we’re two months out!”
When Sarah first became involved in the Tri, she didn’t know much about it. She’d been encouraged to participate and joined a relay team that needed a swimmer. “I went to the event and saw the community and the other women and the way everyone was holding each other up,” she said. At the time, Sarah’s aunt had been diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer, and Sarah witnessed cancer survivors participating in the event. “I set out knowing this was something I wanted to be involved in. As my aunt was dealing with her battle with ovarian cancer, I was able to see all the challenges. When someone has cancer, there’s not always a whole lot you can do.”
The Tri was something Sarah could do to support her aunt, who passed away—from ovarian cancer—in 2018. “Now, it’s something I do to honor and remember her. I still have all the notes she wrote me when I was doing it when she was alive. It’s something I can feel I can be in control of and show how much I care.”
Sarah was first exposed to the Maine Cancer Foundation, which is dedicated to reducing cancer incidence and mortality rates in Maine, through her day job. “I work in public health, primarily in prevention as well as treatment helping address tobacco use and exposure. From the public health side of things, I was connected to some of the work the Maine Cancer Foundation was doing.” She went on to serve a seven-year term as a board member. “It’s a wonderful, mission-driven organization,” she said, focused on being good stewards of the money they raise. It was exciting for her to become involved in the fundraising process and to see where the money was going, from early detection efforts, to access to treatment—including lodging for those who needed it—to cancer research tools. “Maine is a rural state. It’s important to make sure folks have access to transportation to get treatment. The Foundation has done a great job through their grantmaking programs. They see where the gaps are, where the opportunities are. They ask, ‘How can this money help Mainers?’”
The Foundation’s website provides reports outlining where funds have gone, and has a map tool where you can search grantees and their locations. Funds have gone to all parts of the state, and to all different areas of prevention and treatment.
“They are supporting patient outcomes, helping to make sure people have access to treatment and care. They’re also doing a lot of work in health equity to make sure they’re not leaving certain population segments behind,” she said. They look for opportunities for organizations to be able make a difference in their own communities.
Because of the Foundation’s transparency, the Tri, for many women, is not only a way to make a difference, but a way for them to feel good about where, specifically, their money is going. And money is an important part of the story: to participate, each triathlete must raise a minimum of $500 for the cause. In the fifteen years the event has been running, it has raised over $20 million. In 2022, it raised $1.6 million alone. “It’s a really cool aspect of Tri for a Cure,” Sarah said, describing the fundraising part as “mindboggling” and “awesome.” At the event, “Cancer is something that’s touched everyone’s life. People really want to support that.”
In addition to providing facts about where, exactly, the funds go, the Tri features preventative messages along its course, so that those participating, and their supporters, can see them. The messages might provide information about sun protection or the importance of screenings, for example.
From her day job, Sarah knows all too well the importance of such messages. “Unfortunately, there’s such a tie-in with tobacco use and cancer. The problem is we know that tobacco use and nicotine are very addictive substances and it can be very hard to quit, but we also know quitting is one of the best things we can do for prevention.” She believes that the more organizations there are providing support and doing capacity-building to be a part of the solution, to raise visibility and awareness of these issues, the better.
As for any woman considering participating? “If you’re thinking about doing it, do it,” she said. “Sign up! It’s set up so that we’re all in this together.” The first wave is reserved for survivors, and the same person—a survivor—finishes last every year. “She makes sure no one out there is left alone at the finish. She won’t leave anyone behind.” For an event that, at its heart, is about lifting others up and remembering the importance of the cause, it’s a moving image.
Sarah’s connection to the Tri continues to evolve, as she has also met some of her best friends through the event. “These are friends I spend time with all year long. So there’s the personal connection—I feel close to my aunt as I’m able to do this—but also that I’ve built this group of wonderful women who are some of my best friends. That’s a really wonderful side benefit that I didn’t know would come out of this.”
