The Relay Weelend Begins Today

 '

 This is it. After months of events of fundraising, and many days to get the campsites ready, the Relay Weekend, described as Second Life's most intense 24 hour period and it's ultimate stress test, is about to begin. 

 

Across the permanent American Cancer Society sim, and American Cancer Society2 and 3, track has been laid, along with a few dozen temporary sims : http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/American%20Cancer%20Society/128/128/27

 

The opening ceremony starts at 10am SLT, taking place  at the stage on ACS2 and ACS3. "If the regions are full, overflow attendees can land on the American Cancer Society island and watch from the back patio of the Relay Building.."

 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/American%20Cancer%20Society3/20/158/34 

 

 Along the track are various campsites and designer sims, from top teams like the Sunbeamers and Roos With A Dream.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/RFL%20Win/124/67/23 

 

To smaller teams such as Kitsunes For A Cure, led by Mattie Carlton

 http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/RFL%20Acceptance/196/124/23

 

It's going to be a great event.

 

See you there.

 

Go Relay!

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

Relay Track Sims Up

 

 This weekend, yours truly found out the sims making up the track for the Relay Weekend were online and up. There are a few dozen sims, including the American Cancer Society sim. 

 

Some are special exhibit sims, and there's the Royal Ascot sim for a horseback riding event. But most are for the various campsites for the Relay teams. 

 

Among them, that of the Sunbeamers, located at RFL Win.

 

Over time, we will show sneak peeks of various campsites, but none of complete builds until a few days before the Relay Weekend. 

 

Go Relay!

 

Bixyl Shuftan 

 

SL Video: "2025 Balloon Flight over Relay For Life of Second Life 'Magic of Hope' Camps"

 

 (click here if the video does not play)

 

 From Cynthia Farshore on July 10, "Ride with Cynthia Farshore on the Sunbeamers balloon as she flies around all the campsites of the 2025 Relay For Life of Second Life in this year theme Magic of Hope. Second Life is a virtual world celebrating 21 years now. https://secondlife.com/ Relay For Life of Second life is supporting the American Cancer Society, since 2006 has raised more than $6 million."

 

Relay Track Update

 

 Several days after the Relay track sims opened to builders, the track has numerous builds up. Some are obviously halfway done. A few look complete, though it's possible the builders have some last minute adjustments. 

Among those in the middle of construction is the Sunbeamer campsite, at RFL Win.

 

 Some had some fancy ways of saying so.

 

 More to come.

 

Bixyl Shuftan

 

 

 

 

Relay Campsites Still Up, For Now

 

 

The Relay Weekend might have officially ended on Sunday. But the campsites are still up. And there are some great ones. The tallest one is the "Helix of Hope," a reoccurring build at the Second Life Cheerleading Squad, whose camp is in RFL Cure. It gets taller every time someone new touches the square to rezz a new piece. It stands over a whopping 300 meters (984 feet) high. 

But they won't be up for too much longer. They will start coming down Thursday, June 13.

 

Relay Weekend: Day Two

 

 

 For those in the East Coast USA, Day Two of the Relay Weekend started off with the Luminaria Ceremony, in which group chatter all but ceased and over the radio stream tributes to those who did not survive their final battle with cancer.

(click here if the video does not play)

Some continued to run, but the majority of the Relayers either went to their campsites or pulled to the side and pondered those they knew who had passed away due to cancer. 

Then it was back to the track for the Midnight and early morning hours. Most would rest, but some would continue to be on the track and camps all night long. 

 

 Some of us were riding vehicles, or mounts.

 

 People would also buy gear from camps. I was gifted this shirt from Charlee.

And there were campsites and their exhibits to check out, such as the Carousel of Hope. 

 

Eventually came the closing ceremony, the video of which can be seen here (or scroll down). 

Cynthia Farshore was there in her balloon over the crowd. The Committee on stage would thank everyone for taking part, and give out acknowledgements and awards for achievements that caught their attention. The top three teams in fundraising were Camping For A Cure, The River of Life, and The Adult Partnership. But almost all of the 199 registered teams contributed something. 

 

 After that, some went home to get some rest after being up for 24 hours or more. But many went back to the track.

It was called the "We Don't Want To Go Home Party." There would be efforts to raise some tiny teams to Bronze rank fundraising, sometimes called "Bronzing Parties." One Sunweaver would contribute 5000L to one. 

 

There was one minor irritation that got under the skin of some Relayers. The lap counting website at https://slrfl.maintree.com/ was experiencing some bad lag. So some residents had to wait hours for their distance walked to be calculated. Yours truly would get eight done.

It was quite a Relay Weekend. But while most teams are stopping events, the season is not over. Later this month is the last major Relay happening - the Royal Ascot horse race from June 17 to June 23. And after the official Relay season concludes, there are other events this year to raise money to fight cancer. Next month is the Fandom Con, starting July 19.

Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan

 

 

 

RFL Track Sneak Peeks: Meli's Maniacs, Back To The 80s

 

 

 Taken at the campsite of the Relay's Meli's Maniacs team. The place was still under construction, so they had this sign out.

 

Taken at RFL Reflection. The theme being "Decades of Hope," it's obvious which decade this camp wanted to show off. 

Word has it the Relay sims are now open to all volunteers. So whole pictures of campsites will be soon.

Bixyl Shuftan

Relay Map Update

 

 

 It's been a few days since the Relay Weekend track sims went up. And already, the map is showing many of the campsites are already going up. Things are still in the early stages, so we're not going to show pictures of whole campsites, at least not yet. 

Among the various teams taking part are the Sunbeamers, the team of the community the Newser has it's office in.

Among the newer teams is Scorn, which was formed this year and got a campsite as well. 

More sneak peeks as the days go on.

The Relay Weekend is from Saturday June 8 to Sunday June 9.

Bixyl Shuftan

SL Video: "Hope Floats Relay Weekend 2023"

 

 

 (Click here to see the video)

 From Grant Wade on June 13, "Relay for Life of Second Life 2023 - 185 Teams come together for this amazing weekend. Relay for Life of Second Life is more than just a fundraiser; it's also a powerful symbol of hope and solidarity for those affected by cancer."

The Relay Teardown Begins

 

 

 Thursday June 15 was "Takedown Day" for the camps at the Relay Weekend track. And so, the builders of various camps began taking their builds down. This included Team Sunbeamers. Checking by this morning, there was little left of the build, save for the ship that was part of both their display and the one for "Roos With A Dream."

 

 What remains in many regions are the roads, the arches marking sim boundaries, and the luminaria. While unconfirmed, supposedly the last unlit one was finally lit Wednesday evening. Most were for someone or a group of people. Others were a message of hope for all.

There were some occasional scattered objects, such as a car left behind, that I was able to drive for a while. Thankfully there were some camps that were still up, at least for now, such as the Cheerleaders' build at RFL Hope. Others were partially left up, perhaps as a last "we were here" message.

For Team ACTS, they took down their camp and left a parting message: "See you next year! Go Relay!"

How long the remaining camps will remain up, is unknown.

Bixyl Shuftan

Reader Submitted Pictures

 

 

 From Charlee Shuftan (Charlee Amethyst). Going around the Relay track, she found this amusing scene in the Meli's Maniac's camp, one guy helping himself at the ice cream machine without a bowl.

 

 

And one from the "Quest for A Cure" camp.

 

Go Relay!

Wildstar's Relay Weekend Pictures

 

With the Second Life Birthday so soon after the Relay Weekend, that cut into our time to post some pictures. But it looks like someone else has. Wildstar Beaumont posted a number of pictures of the track and the various campsites (link). This includes a number of the Sunbeamer's camp (link).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wildstar_b/albums/72177720299712617 

Go Relay!
 

The Relay Track Camps Come Down

 

Thursday June 16 might have been the start of the Second Life Birthday Celebrations. But it was also "Takedown Day"for the campsites at the Relay track sims. So many were taken down.

Some had only part of their items taken down, in the case of this one, some of the copyable ones were put together in one group.

Some builds remained up for people to enjoy, such as "Pegasus Journey."

Someone would comment in the Relay's Discord channel, "If anyone sees a random tent in the middle of what was Relay Weekend, leave me be. I am squatting till next year.. Tough seeing all the amazing builds come down. Amazing displays this season all!"

By the late evening, many places were looking bare.

And so, the sun is setting on another Relay season. This year was different as teammate Alleara Snoodle had passed away some months ago. And yours truly had lost someone close in real-life to cancer. But the Relaying goes on. The theme for next year has been announced, "Hope Floats." And already teams are planning for next year. And of course there are the Making Strides and Christmas Expo events.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Relay Weekend Today

 *

After several months, the high point of the Relay season is finally here: the Relay Weekend. With 36 sims, including the permanent American Cancer Society, there's miles of track to walk around, and many exhibits and campsites to see.

A number of camps caught my attention. At the RFL Hope sim was the Second Life Cheerleading Squad camp, and their tower, or "The Helix of Hope" as it's called. By clicking on a white sign at the base, people can add a small part to it. And all those parts added up. It stands almost 200 meters in height, close to as tall as the sim is wide.

In RFL Comfort, there was the camp of "Ata's Army." This Gold level team got my attention as they were gathered at their campsite, a team of kids, cubs, tinies, and ferals, "A group dedicated to protecting Wolf Mountain Academy and its students!  Chosen by Ata and her commanders to gather information, and attempt to help fight the creatures that go bump in the night." Sadly their leader Ata Howler (AtaZahra Resident) is no longer among them. One of the group told me her battle with cancer came to a sad end a few weeks ago. 

And in RFL Prevention is the campsite of the Sunbeamers. Some things are new this year, such as the "Hall of Heroes." But some things are a part of every campsite, such as the Memorial Garden. Most of the work was done by Cynthia Farshore and Shockwave Yareach, but others contributed as well. 

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/RFL%20PREVENTION/139/68/23 

The Opening Ceremonies start at 10 AM SLtime. 

Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan
 

The Relay Weekend Track

 

In just two weeks since they were spotted online, the thirty-six sims of the Relay Weekend track have been developed from practically bare (minus the American Cancer Society sim) to a patchwork of builds. The various campsites have their exhibits, and the designer sims are complete. 

Currently the Hopefest events are continuing, and tomorrow and Sunday of course is the main event: The Relay Weekend. The busiest 24 hour period of Second Life, it's been called the virtual world's biggest test in it's ability to handle traffic. While no doubt it sees plenty of crashes and the occasional sim going offline for a bit, considering what the event is about, the well done builds, the excitement, the comradery, and of course the fight against cancer, most feel it's well worth it. 

The Opening Ceremonies start at 10 AM tomorrow, and the event goes on to the Closing Ceremonies at 10AM Sunday to the Victory Lab at 11AM, which pretty much lasts until most everyone has left.

Go Relay! 

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Hopefest And The Opening of The Relay Track

 Yesterday, Wednesday June 9, was the start of the Hopefest. While technically it last for five days, it's often thought of as the three days before the Relay Weekend (Saturday June 12 and Sunday June 13). One event was the Hopefest Medieval in RFL Cure, which included events like jous4ing.

Also going on was Bellisseria for RFL Hopefest, which had live musicians such as Zax Claxton, taking place in RFL Hope.

Besides the events, there was of course the various team campsites and their exhibits that were now open to the public. And there was much to see. 

More to come.

Bixyl Shuftan