Allie Clark, Carleton junior and Program Director of Carls Against Cancer, is looking forward to participating in the 10th year of the Hour of Power.
“It’s hard to describe if you’re not there. It gets so loud in the pool, and it’s this amazing energy. It feels like you’re really making a difference,” said Clark.
On November 10, Clark and the rest of the Carleton swim team will participate in the Hour of Power, a relay in honor of Ted Mullin, a Carleton swimmer who died in the fall of 2006 from synovial sarcoma, a rare soft-tissue cancer.
“I didn’t know Ted personally but I’ve heard a lot about him so I feel like I know him well, and a lot of us know his parents well,” said Clark.
The swim team felt it would be a meaningful memorial to Ted to run a Hour of Power practice for one hour with continuous relays, any stroke, all-out swimming, with the objective of keeping all relays in each lane on the same length.
“What happens is we sprint for an hour and the goal of the relay is to stay on the same length with the team for the whole race. The idea is that no one goes ahead of anyone else,” said Clark.
The Hour of Power does not just happen in Carleton’s West Gym. College, high school, and club swimming/diving teams across the country participate. Simultaneously swimming the Hour of Power across time zones adds to the spirit of the relay. Last year, 183 teams and about 8,700 athletes participated.
Clark hopes the 10th anniversary of the Hour of Power will bring the biggest crowd to the pool yet. Carls Against Cancer is pushing for more publicity and attendance this year. On Tuesday, October 6th, the Mullins’ family was at Carleton to speak about the Hour of Power and their goal of hitting $1 million this year.
“We want people to know about what’s going on and this cool event that started on this campus ten years ago,” Clark said.
The participants in the event are asked to collect donations for the Ted Mullin Fund for Pediatric Sarcoma Research at the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital (UCM). Each summer, the UCM hosts four Ted Mullin Fund Scholars in pediatric cancer laboratories to give collegiate participants in the Hour of Power the opportunity to explore their interests in science and cancer biology.
Joyce Kim, Carleton junior, was one of the four Ted Mullin Fund Scholars at UCM during the summer of 2014. Kim worked in a neuroblastoma lab and looked at the combination of metformin, a drug that can treat type two diabetes, with other chemotherapies on cancer cells. She also shadowed doctors once a week to observe how they collaborate and discuss treatments for patients with cancer.
“I think this is one of the best scientific research programs because you can interact with people in the lab one-on-one, and they give you the extra attention that really helps you see if this is what you want to do with your life,” said Kim.
Throughout the summer, Kim felt grateful to the Mullin family for giving her the opportunity to do research.
“The other scholars and I would hang out but also have conversations about how this opportunity from the Mullin family has given us so much experience,” said Kim.
Kim’s experience as a Ted Mullin Fund Scholar traces back to her participation in the Hour of Power.
“When I entered the pool at the Hour of Power, the whole vibe of the room was something unique. There was this memory of Ted but also the rejuvenation of fighting against cancer. The summer experience really reinforced that feeling of the importance of finding treatments and cures for cancer,” said Kim.
By participating in the Hour of Power this November, students become eligible to apply for the Ted Mullin Fund Scholars Program for the next summer. Students can also support sarcoma research, cheer on the Carleton swim team, and honor Ted Mullin by attending the event.