The popular pink benefit run, which began in Colorado Springs in 1994 as a fundraiser for breast cancer prevention and treatment sanctioned by the Susan G. Komen organization, is no more.

The local Colorado South office of Susan G. Komen, self-defined as the world’s leading breast cancer organization, was absorbed into a statewide office headquartered in Denver and now is defunct, said Joan Schulz, a former two-time president of the local board.

“Komen consolidated like a lot of organizations — the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the American Heart Association — and they’ve lost their local presence,” she said.

“Komen said, for the time being, they’re going to ‘focus their efforts in different markets.’”

It’s unknown whether a Colorado Springs office will ever be revived, Schulz said.

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Following the pandemic, Komen announced last July that its “More Than Pink Walk and Race for the Cure” would reboot in 40 cities across the United States.

Colorado Springs was not on the list.

It was the first in-person race or walk since 2019 for many locations because of the COVID-19 pandemic. An alternative, the Virtual Walk Where You Are that emerged during the pandemic, also was available for participants.

In Colorado Springs, a “Paint the Park Pink” event, presented last August by a local real estate agency at the Rocky Mountain Vibes Baseball stadium, didn’t have a strong showing from Komen survivors, said Schulz, who assisted with the event.

On top of that, “Many people from here go to Denver for the race and always have,” she said.

Even though disease-born races seem to be waning, a group of about 10 former Komen volunteers decided last fall that the tradition of a Pikes Peak region-centric charity race to benefit breast cancer victims couldn’t die.

The idea percolated on the back burner and “Now it’s come around to the front burner,” said Schulz, a member of the new effort.

“We want breast cancer to be in the forefront of awareness; next to heart disease, it’s a top killer of women,” she said. “This is our motivation.”

They are planning to stage a fundraising walk and run on June 22, 2024.

Although that’s 16 months away, the group has secured Bear Creek Park for the event, selected Cowgirls Against Cancer as the beneficiary organization, and found a sponsoring agent, the Norris Penrose Foundation, which will enable donations to be tax-deductible.

The new race will start at the Norris Penrose Event Center and wind through Bear Creek Park. It won’t be sanctioned or timed or even any specific length, Schulz said. Participants could go 2 kilometers or 5 or 10.

Komen races in years before the pandemic were drawing 4,000-5,000 participants, Schulz said, with the largest crowd of 8,000 occurring just before the Great Recession.

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In its heyday, checks to Komen from the local affiliate were $300,000 to $400,000 from the annual race, she said, with that largest year netting $600,000 — “enough to make a difference,” Schulz said.

In 2019, the last year the event was held in Colorado Springs, about 2,500 people participated in what was the 25th anniversary, and more than $120,000 was raised.

Schulz and others involved believe the new race has the potential to rise to the status of the Komen event.

“Breast cancer impacts so many people, and the need for services is great,” said Schulz, whose mother died from the disease.

Donations and sponsorships have in the past and will continue in the future to provide low-income women with mammograms and support for those with a positive diagnosis, such as a nurse navigator, she said. Money raised also funds research.

“We intend to help give women the ability to stay in treatment and get better and rejoin the workforce, as opposed to lingering on and being sick all the time,” Schulz said. “This is the capitalistic approach to breast cancer.”

The former Komen race was held in September, on the weekend after Labor Day. It had been run in Garden of the Gods Park since 2007. Many participants wore pink shirts, shorts, tutus and other costumes.

Written on pink slips of paper pinned to their chests or backs were names of loved ones who battled breast cancer. Grandmothers, mothers, sisters, daughters, even themselves. A few men’s names, because men also get breast cancer.

“It’s an insidious disease, and there is a lot of need or uninsured and underinsured in every community,” Schulz said. “Imagine when you don’t have the resources.”