The Relay for Life of Riverview has come to an end after a 25-year run in Oakmont, but the battle against cancer continues.

Oakmont breast cancer survivor Nancy "Moochie" Donatucci, a longtime organizer for the relay benefitting the American Cancer Society, says she'll keep up the fight by selling hanging baskets, daffodils and mums.

"I'm here 18 years later as a survivor because of research. They need money to do that," Donatucci said Saturday as the final relay was underway at Riverside Park.

While she and others called the relay coming to an end "bittersweet," it was going out on a high note, exceeding its lifetime goal of raising $2 million, said Aly Ruffing, a senior development manager with the American Cancer Society.

"That's very significant, especially in a town this small," Ruffing said.

Former Oakmont residents Jim and Judy Schwartz started the relay 25 years ago. They now reside in Florida, but came back for the opening ceremony on a day that was cloudy, cool and breezy.

This year's relay had 15 teams on the roster, up from 10 last year, but a few were not at the track, Ruffing said.

"It's been a great day and we've had a great turnout," Donatucci said.

Barbara Kutilek, of Oakmont, had been involved with the relay since the first in 2001, beginning as member of a team formed by the Riverside Women's Association before starting her own team, Circle of Friends, in 2006.

She chaired the relay before Donatucci, and became a survivor herself after being diagnosed with lymphoma in 2015.

"It was great from the start," Kutilek said of the relay. While the American Cancer Society they'd be doing well with 15 teams raising $15,000, they had 40-some teams and raised over $70,000.

"We had a wonderful first year," she said. "Then it just kept going."

The tally reached six figures around 2008-09, and it hit $1 million in 2011.

Having the relay end is hard emotionally, but the time had come, Kutilek said.

"It's very bittersweet. I have been seeing a lot of people today I haven't seen in a long time," she said. "It's a big event to put together. There's only three or four of us here. We were ready. Twenty-five is a good number -- and $2 million is just phenomenal. We just said it was time to end."

Standing out in Kutiliek's memories of 25 years of relays were having to take shelter from torrential rain in the nearby Riverview High School, after which she wondered if anyone would come back -- and they did.

"We'll miss it," she said. "We'll really miss it."

Among the teams at the final relay was Team Leri, there for the first time. It was the family and friends of Harrison resident Brian Leri, the longtime executive chef at Hoffstot's Cafe Monaco in Oakmont, who was 51 when he died from colon cancer in November.

He and his wife, Megan Leri, were high school sweethearts at Highlands, together 36 years and married for 27. His wife and family formed a team for the relay to honor him.

"It was fitting that we come here and walk," she said. "He spent a lot of his time here."

A staple at the relay over the years have been cross country runners from Riverview, for whom the relay became part of their training, coach Palma Ostrowski said. The estimate was they had run about 4,600 miles coming into Saturday's relay.

Once 24 hours long

Ostrowski remembers when the relay ran for 24 hours, overnight, which changed after 2014. She remembers those times in the middle of the night, around 2 or 3 a.m. when they'd be the only ones on the track, and, with the luminaries lit, how quiet, beautiful and serene it was.

Rather than being sad about the relay ending, Ostrowski chose to think of the lives it has benefited.

"They've just done a phenomenal job," she said. "I'm thankful they were able to do it for so many years and have such strong support from the community."

Seeing her mother walk during the survivors' lap was a standout memory for Patti Wetmore, of Verona, a cancer survivor and captain of her team, the "Monkey Business Crew." Their team has been known for its meatball subs, with the meatballs made by her mother, Dorothy Meier, who died in 2019.

Wetmore figures her family has raised close to $20,000 over the years.

"It's been a lot of fun," she said.

Like Donatucci, Kutilek said she'll keep fundraising for the American Cancer Society in some way.

"We're all very passionate about it and want to keep fighting against cancer in any way that we can," she said.