Val Pike said she nearly cried this morning after realizing how much Sunday’s Run for Mom collected for breast health initiatives.

Roughly 1,000 participants raised $37,523 at the Mother’s Day run, which saw a large caravan of walkers, runners, strollers and scooters take to the Millennium Trail under sunny skies Sunday afternoon.

That funds total is expected to rise, as Whitehorse wasn’t the only Yukon community hosting a run this year.

Haines Junction, Carmacks and Atlin, B.C., also put on events in support of breast health, said Pike, Run for Mom’s longtime organizer.

“We’ve had really great support from the rural communities,” said Pike.

Wendy Callahan was once again the top individual fundraiser, singlehandedly bringing in $7,500 for the cause.

Since its inception, the event has helped Whitehorse General Hospital fund two mammogram machines.

The run has also worked to provide gowns for women experiencing a mammogram, and has supported Paddlers Abreast – a River Quest team made up of breast cancer survivors – that has competed in the annual river race for the past 15 years.

The run remains incredibly popular for a number of reasons, Pike said.

“It is Mother’s Day and lots of families want to do something that everybody in the family can participate in,” she said.

“It’s sort of the first event outside in the Yukon. People want to get out.

“And I think the big thing is we’re all touched by breast cancer in some way. We all know somebody who died from it or had it. That’s the connection and emotional attachment.”

Yukon rock band Speed Control helped get the crowd in the mood by performing a set in front of the historic sternwheeler SS Klondike.

Participants were then led through a series of stretches by Christine Rushant and Haley Stallabrass before taking to the 4.2-kilometre route.

Many sported Run for Mom T-shirts designed by artist Rosemary Piper, featuring a sunflower.

The flowers represent growth, re-growth and nourishment, Piper said of her design.

A number of T-shirts are still available for $25 at the hospital.

Some runners chose to tackle the route before the race’s official start time at 1 p.m.

“That’s awesome,” said Pike. “We’re totally OK with that. Sometimes I have to remind people it’s not always about the money. It’s about the awareness that the event creates.”

In October 1997, the Yukon’s first breast cancer run – the CIBC Run for the Cure – was held during a snowfall.

The run raised $40,000 for cancer research, but more than half of the total funds left the Yukon.

The success of that run was the building block for the Run for Mom.

On Mother’s Day 1999, the first Run for Mom took place in Whitehorse, which sees all of the funds raised remain in the territory.