The ACRF is saddened to hear of the recent passing of Australian swimming legend, Murray Rose, following his battle with Leukaemia.

Rose is best known for winning back-to-back gold medals in the 1956 (Melbourne) and 1960 (Rome) Olympics 400m swim – an achievement replicated only by Ian Thorpe. He was an inspiration to Australian swimming, taking six Olympic medals (four Gold) in just these two Olympic games.

Rose’s in-the-pool performances inspired many modern-day Australian swimmers and their personal tributes to him have been heartwarming. He also was wonderfully community-minded and also inspired others out of the pool. We at the ACRF would like to take this opportunity to pass on our deepest sympathies to his family, peers and the Australian swimming community.

If you would like to make a memorial gift or donation in memory of Murray Rose, please click here.

An incredible foursome of women from the Claremont Masters Swimming Club – Elena Nesci, Nicola Corsbie, Lauren Thomas and Sally Bell took on the challenge of the Rottnest Channel Swim this year. Amongst stingers, swells, seasickness and other competitors they achieved amazing results in both the race and their fundraising for cancer research, raising over $10,000!

Congratulations to the Man Eaters and a huge thank you to you and all your supporters for your outstanding contribution to cancer research!

Check out their review of their experience:

“We came. We swam. We conquered!

The much-anticipated netball ‘face-off’ between RailCorp and the Novo Rail Netters had everything a spectator could ask for: fierce competition, plenty of goals, a vocal crowd, and a fantastic charitable result, with almost $1500 raised for The Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF).

RailCorp took an early lead in the match and despite a late challenge from Novo Rail, their netball prowess was not enough to claim back victory.

The winner’s trophy was presented to Nazha Dablan, the skipper of the RailCorp team; however the real winner for the night was charity. $1500 was raised through this company fundraising event and is already on its way to ACRF.

The Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) would like to send a huge thank you to the Kiama Central Senior A’s Netball Team for their incredible support of cancer research.

Late last year, the team set themselves a goal to raise $30,000 for our cancer charity before the team captain Karen Appleby’s 30th birthday. Their efforts culminated in February with a grand ball (“A Bit-of-Bling Black Tie Ball”) which brought families, friends and local businesses together for a night of entertainment, dinner and dancing.

This dedicated group of women unfortunately have a very good reason to be so passionate about cancer research, as each member of the team has supported a parent through this terrible disease.

Some have been lucky and their parents have recovered, but others are still fighting cancer or have sadly lost their battles.

Karen, whose mother is now in remission after being diagnosed with breast cancer twice, said the heartbreaking statistic was not a team curse, but a mark of how common cancer has become.