Longest Ice Hockey Game 4 CF

On January 12, 2011, it was announced that a total of 40 women will start playing hockey on August 26, 2011 at Canlan Ice Sports Burnaby 8 Rinks in Burnaby, British Columbia. The goal is to play for 10 consecutive days as they attempt to set a new Guinness World Record for playing the longest hockey game while also raising funds and awareness for the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The Vancouver Chapter of the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Partners are planning this event to be held from August 26th to September 5th, 2011. The group will attempt to play until September 5, 2011, and break the old Guinness mark by 65 minutes. Each player is aiming to raise $2,000 for CF. The key organizer is Valerie (Val) Skelly. She had the idea of planning the event back in November 2009. All funds raised in the event will go to Cystic Fibrosis Canada, in an attempt to support research aimed at helping people with the disease. Skelly's father, Bill Skelly dropped the puck to start the game on August 26th. The current record for the longest game of ice hockey is 241 hours and 21 minutes, held by Sherwood Park's tournament organized by Brent Saik.

Origins
When Skelly was 17, she had a summer job at a camp for kids coping with CF. She stayed in touch with one of the campers for 10 years until her friend succumbed to the disease. As an avid hockey player, Skelly started approaching her teammates in her recreational women's league (in January 2010) about the possibility of playing a charity game for CF.

Inspiration
Eva Markvoort, a double lung transplant recipient, died in March 2010, at the age of 25, while waiting for a second lung transplant. Artwork with her image was used for the promotional poster in this event. The promotional poster for the event was based on artwork by Cyrus McEachern. When Skelly approached Cystic Fibrosis Canada about her idea and the possibility of a spokesperson for their purpose, CF Canada introduced her to Bill Markvoort, whose daughter Eva had just lost her battle with CF. Bill Markvoort will drop the puck to begin the last session of the game.

Roster
The age group of the roster varied from 20 year old competitors, right up to players in their 50's.

Aftermath
The Longest Game 4 CF ended Monday September 5, 2011. The players beat the previous record of 242 hours by an extra 65 minutes, and it became an official Guinness World Record. It has since been broken by a cancer fundraiser, but it still remains the all-female record (previous all-female longest ice hockey game record was 26 hours).

Proceeds raised during the game for Cystic Fibrosis was $170,000. One player suffered a concussion, while another injured the tendons on her ankle so bad she couldn't lace up her skates. Due to swollen feet and extreme inflammation of tendons, many players needed larger-size skates. Many borrowed, and some sent their friends to hockey stores. For the last shift, one of the players had to pull out the insoles and skate directly on jagged ends of rivets even in her larger skates. By the end, both teams were down to 14 per side at the end. Health professionals intervened and advised participants they were doing permanent damage to their bodies. The result was that the participants wound up playing five on five with one substitute player on each bench for four hours at a time. To cover for injured teammates, healthier players played 5 - 7-hour shifts. Originally, the schedule was established to ensure players would rest at least three times for eight hours during the week. Despite the four hour rest, players were unsure if they should attempt to remove their skates out of concern of not being able to put them back on.

The game was featured in the prominent hockey blog Puck Daddy.

A documentary, Lace Bite, was created of the event by Sharron Bates and Carmen Klotz. It was well-received through the film festival circuit in North America and Europe and won several awards. It was featured as the opening night film at the Canadian Sport Film Festival in Toronto even though it wasn't sports-themed and won the people's choice award at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival even though it wasn't queer-themed.

Many players and volunteers continue to volunteer and fundraise for the cause. For instance, Melanie Briggs sat on the Board, Sarah Willie volunteers at GearUp4CF each year, Sharron Bates and Tamaki Kano completed GearUp4CF, Trish Tait volunteers at Great Strides, several got together and raised $1,400 through a hot dog sale, and many players and volunteers participate in Great Stride.