NORWICH – Celebrate. Remember. Fight back. That’s what over 700 Chenango County residents will be doing this weekend as they circle the track at the Chenango County Fairgrounds for the 13th Annual Chenango County Relay for Life.

The Relay will officially begin at 6:30 tonight with opening ceremonies, but participants can begin registering as early as 3 p.m. The two-day event will continue throughout the night and the early morning, concluding at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

Going into the event, Relay Co-Chair Marie DeSarro said she is optimistic about reaching the fundraising goal of $140,000. “It seems like the teams raised more money prior to the event this year,” DeSarro said.

Co-Chair Kim Mack agreed. “We appear to be ahead of the game going into the event as far as the amount raised so far,” Mack said.

DeSarro explained that while the increased use of the event website and online donations may have accounted for the increased fund raising, she is still optimistic about what that will mean for the event total.

DeSarro explained that this year there also seems to be a lot more enthusiasm from the team captains. With approximately 50 teams this year, there are more than ever before reaching higher fund raising totals. One team, the Mad Hatters from Sherburne have already raised over $10,000, and DeSarro said, there are four to five teams this year who estimate they have raised over $5,000 already.