More than 3,000 of UA students, members of Greek Life and Tucson community members gathered Saturday at the UA Mall to participate in the 2008 CATwalk, which raised a record $130,000 for the Bobbi Olson Fund at the Arizona Cancer Center.

As a tradition, various UA sorority and fraternity programs energetically participated.

Nutritional science junior Nichole Cuda said in addition to supporting the cause, she was there to “”come together with Greek Life.””

The incoming president of Alpha Chi Omega, Cuda said last year’s CATwalk allowed her to “”really get to know the girls better,”” that it was “”a really good bonding experience”” while supporting a great cause.

Kara Subach, current Alpha Chi Omega president and political science senior agreed, saying she enjoyed “”coming together for a single cause.”” Subach said that it was also nice to get to know people from other organizations and good for the newest members to experience.

Encouraged by his fraternity to attend CATwalk, business economics junior Jeff Sandell said he was “”very happy with the participation.”” Sandell expected near 100 percent attendance from Beta Theta Pi, his fraternity.

While UA Greek Life makes up the majority of the walk, many members of the community participated in the 10-kilometer run.

Despite having their route changed at the last minute due to a Tucson construction project that began at 6 a.m., runners remained in good spirits.

Sunnyside High School senior Cody Coate said he ran “”for fun,”” as well as to “”do something for the community.””

Coate’s teammate, Sunnyside High School junior Angel Camargo said he wanted to “”help cancer raise money.”” Coate and Camargo run for Sunnyside and were encouraged by their coach to attend, said Camargo.

Numerous runners wore tags on their backs reading, “”Running in honor of”” with the name of a loved one who had cancer. The runners’ dedication was evident – one woman even ran with a sling around her arm.

CATwalk began with a 10k run at 10 a.m., followed by a 5-kilometer walk at 1 p.m. There was also a walk for children at 1:15 p.m.

Free food and drinks were available for participants, ranging from Papa John’s pizza to fruit and Powerade. Water cups were plentiful to rehydrate everyone under the warm sun.

Public health graduate student Angelo Ercia was one of several “”waterboys”” filling up cups with water for the thirsty. Ercia said he was “”basically doing whatever needed to be done.”” He became involved by working with the fraternity and sorority programs, he said.

In addition to Greek Life, Better Than Ever, Tucson residents, UA men’s track & field, women’s track & field and women’s tennis also participated in CATwalk.