The Relay for Life candle ceremony was an emotional one, as people remembered both those who had died of cancer and those who had survived.
The darkened track at Wanganui's Cooks Gardens on Saturday was decorated with glowing lanterns and teams walked in silence as a solitary spot-lit piper played.
Wanganui-Rangitikei-Waimarino Cancer Society manager Linda Farley said it was a beautiful evening. The relay was the first she had arranged, and the first to be held at Cooks Gardens.
A cancer survivor herself, she walked the survivors' lap at the beginning holding hands with fellow survivor Marie Baker, who supported her through her breast cancer.
The relay was also special for Hayes Garland, the father of Brendon Thompson-Garland who died in November aged 11, after a five-year battle with a brain tumour.