CRESTVIEW — After vowing, "I'm gonna try to walk all night," Hayden Graham is currently hoofing laps around the Crestview High School track.
The seven-year-old, a member of First Presbyterian Church of Crestview team, is among nearly 300 people signed up for the annual American Cancer Society Relay for Life.
Like many walkers, Hayden is making his laps in honor of a loved one who survived the disease.
"My grandma, Carla Graham, had cancer," he said.
With a steady rain falling as the relay's 7 p.m. starting time drew closer, some walkers feared the event might be cancelled. But as blue skies peeked through from the north, by 7:15 umbrellas were furled and a giant rainbow formed over Jack Foster Stadium.
"It's great!" Christina Elliot of the Refit Sisters Christian fitness class team said. "It's a sign, I tell ya."
Russ Chamberlain, a volunteer with the Duke It Out team of Duke Airfield veterans, was pragmatic as he waited for skies to clear up over his 17th Relay for Life.
"This kind of thing, car shows, the Triple B–the weather can do it in," he said. "But it looks like it's going to clear up."
As she and fellow cancer survivors gathered in the stands in preparation for their victory lap, Dianne Love, proudly wearing her survivor's purple shirt, smiled broadly.
"It's good to be sitting up here," she said. "It's good to be seen and not viewed."
As the survivors set off on their lap to the tune of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" and other "survivor" themed music, members of the Triple Threat Dance and Cheer school cheered them on with a specially choreographed performance.
"It feels good to support the cause," team member Seth Dockstrader, 12, said.
"They've been working hard on this dance," Triple Threat coach Alana Sanchez said. "We're cheering on the survivors."
And as the clouds continued to drift away, so were more and more supporters who slowly streamed back to the track.
Relay For Life will continue all night until 7 a.m. Saturday morning. Admission and parking are free, and food is available from several participants to support the fight against cancer.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview Relay for Life kicks off after rain delay (PHOTOS, VIDEO)