Jon Baker Wins The Karen Grant Top Fundraiser Award
ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY – Determined paddleboarders tested their mettle to help raise over $85,000 in donations and sponsorships for the Dean Randazzo Cancer Foundation Saturday, June 9. Total funds raised for the event as of this writing are just over $85,000 with donations still coming in. Local businesses donated more than an additional $15,000 in in-kind donations.
Despite an impending thunderstorm more than 100 people participated across four events at the 11th annual Paddle For A Cause presented by Curexa Pharmacy in honor and memory of Karen Grant, beginning and ending at Golden Nugget Atlantic City.
Cash prizes of $800 for first place, $350 for second place and $150 for third place were awarded for the 22.5-mile race around Absecon Island in the following categories: men’s open prone, men’s 14-foot and longer stand up paddleboard, women’s open prone and women’s 14-foot and longer stand up paddleboard.
Jon Baker of Egg Harbor Township raised $10,695 to win the Karen Grant Award for top fundraiser at the 11th annual Paddle For A Cause presented by Curexa Saturday, June 9 at Golden Nugget Atlantic City. He is with Dean Randazzo of Atlantic City on left and Dean Randazzo Cancer Foundation President Mark Zappone of Linwood on right. The top fundraiser of this year’s paddle will be taking home a Pau Hana 14′ x 26″ carbon Viper race board. (Michael Wright/ Sparkable)
Jon Baker, an artist and foundation board member of Egg Harbor Township won the Karen Grant Award for top fundraiser with $15,720. Todd DeSatnick, Paul Giunta, Adam Walcoff and Michele Barbera rounded out the top five fundraisers.
Of course, everyone who joins this event does it for this own reason. The winner of the 22.5-mile women’s OC-1 division was Kathy Vallen of Chester Springs, Pennsylvania who completed with a time of 4:38:17 in an outrigger canoe. Vallen is a stage 3A breast cancer survivor and was the first woman to finish the race. She said she dedicated the race in memory of Marie Buyce who died of cancer this past January. Her son Jeffrey paddled prone in the event last year in while his mother was fighting cancer.
Jason Chew of Ocean City was the winner of the 22.5-mile race in the men’s standup paddleboard division with a 14-foot board with a time of 4 hours, 36 seconds. There were two records broken this year in the 22.5-mile race; Lisa Hertz Malick of Melbourne Beach, Florida completed the course in 5:07:44 in the Women’s Prone Stock 18-49 years old division and Louanne Harris of New York City broke the course record by winning the 18-49-year-old women’s standup paddleboard 14-foot category with a time of 4:48:51. The fastest overall finisher in the 22.5-mile race was Jason Malick with a time of 3:31:48 in the Men’s Surf Ski Division.
Race Results:
22-mile (18-49) Women’s SUP 14’ Louanne Harris – 4:48:51 Carly Scallon 5:02:57 Josette Lata 5:11:03 22-mile (18-49) Women’s Prone 14’ Alice henley 5:21:44 22-mile (18-49) Men’s Prone Stock Alex Ferencz 4:35:08 Joe Lemke 4:39:15 Nate Dirvin 5:13:02 22-mile (18-49) Men’s Surf Ski Jason Malick 3:31:48 22-mile (18-49) Men’s Prone Unlimited AJ Deflilippis 3:59:56 Jonny Skolnick 4:05:53 Dan Grothues 4:07:01 22-mile (18-49) Men’s Open Ryan Matthews 3:33:13 Robert Jehn 3:37:10 22-mile 18-49 Men’s SUP 14’ Jason Chew 4:00:36 Sean Duffey 4:01:09 Ryan Oliver 4:01:48 22-mile (18-49) Women’s Prone Stock Lisa Hertz Malick 5:07:44 22-mile (50+) Women’s Open Kathy Vallen 4:38:17 22-mile (50+) Men’s SUP 14’ Andy Giordano 4:47:37 Joe Carney 5:05:52 Tom Forkin 5:11:38 8-mile (18+) Women’s SUP Rachel Obrien 4:53:26 Krissy Halkes 5:16:33 8-mile (U17) Women’s SUP Unlimited Adeline Piola 2:39:51 8-mile (18-49) Women’s SUP 14’ Jennifer Panetta 2:02:25 Kate McBride 2:13:51 Jayne Lukens 3:14:15 8-mile (18-49) Women’s SUP Surfboard Lauren Pagliughi 2:30:10 8-mile (18-49) Women’s SUP Unlimited Tricia Piola 2:35:05 Catherine Toogood 3:23:42 8-mile (18-49) Men’s Prone Stock John Henkes 2:15:48 8-mile (18-49) Men’s Prone Unlimited Zack Weiner 2:11:03 Dave Allison 2:15:34 8-mile (18-49) Men’s SUP 14’ Ken Shiles 3:02:50 8-mile (18-49) Women’s OC-1 Sara Allison Moss 2:15:21 8-mile (50+) Women’s SUP Unlimited Martha Worthington 2:51:02 8-mile (50+) Men’s OC-1 Chuck Allison 2:44:53 8-mile (50+) Men’s SUP 14’ Guy Peterson 1:51:42 Raymond Aufiero 1:53:38 Lawrence Goldstein 2:49:56 8-mile (50+) Men’s SUP Unlimited Tony Duran 3:34:43
The Dean Randazzo Cancer Foundation promotes cancer awareness and assists individuals battling cancer both emotionally and financially. To date, the foundation has raised more than $700,000 and donates 90 percent of its funds to individuals and organizations including the Ruth Newman Shapiro Cancer Fund, Shore Medical Center Cancer Center, Gilda’s Club of South Jersey and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of South Jersey Cape Regional Cancer Center and AtlantiCare Cancer Center.
The foundation was created in 2001 when Dean Randazzo, a professional surfer from Atlantic City, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes. Since successfully battling the disease four times, Dean continues his competitive professional surfing career, proudly representing the Garden State all over the world. The Dean Randazzo Cancer Foundation is a New Jersey Non Profit and 501(c)(3) charitable organization and donations are tax deductible. Donations by check should be made payable to DRCF and mailed to P.O. Box 149, Somers Point, NJ 08244.