YOUNGSTOWN — Despite continued road closures and the demolition of the 13-story downtown Realty Tower building, a major race and fundraiser is expected to grow this year, a lead organizer said.

“We encourage people to arrive early,” Sarah Dobos, race director of this year’s 15th annual Panerathon, said.

The event, which begins at the Covelli Centre on Front Street, will get underway at 10 a.m. Aug. 25. Registration begins at 8 a.m. that day, Dubos said.

The Vindicator is a media sponsor.

The road construction will not affect the routes for the 10K run and 2-mile fun run and walk, she said. Dubos added that last year’s event brought an estimated 10,000 runners, walkers, spectators and others. It’s a figure that’s expected to be surpassed later this month.

In addition, this year’s Panerathon likely will feature 50 to 60 vendors representing a variety of local and regional organizations, along with activities for children. Mercy Health also will have a strong presence, including many of its umbrella agencies, she said.

New to the Panerathon are efforts to feature live music onsite. At least one act already has been confirmed, with work being done to include others, Dubos said.

In its 14-year history, the Panerathon has generated more than $4.5 million for the Mercy Health Foundation Mahoning Valley to support the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital. It is hoped this year’s event will bring that figure to more than $5 million, Candace Madden, the Panerathon coordinator for the Mercy Health Foundation, said.

The foundation holds the funds for Joanie’s Promise, which was created to ensure that all women, regardless of ability to pay, are provided access to treatment at the breast care center, she said.

The center, the region’s first such facility, opened in 2011. Five years later, a mobile mammography unit was introduced “to eliminate barriers of transportation so many people are faced with and put it in their backyard, if you will,” Madden added.

The breast care center’s value also lies in its educational and early detection efforts, along with providing higher standards of care locally so that patients don’t have to travel to Cleveland, Pittsburgh or other long distances for treatment, she said.

In addition, regular interdisciplinary meetings are held at the center with all care providers to evaluate and investigate each patient’s needs, then provide a plan of care regarding necessary treatment for them, a process Madden called “full-centered care.”

The center’s opening Nov. 2, 2011, coincided with Dr. Rashid Abdu’s birthday. On that day, he walked in the facility’s first patient, Madden said.

Before Joanie Abdu died from breast cancer in 1994, her husband vowed to her that no woman in the Mahoning Valley who faced the disease would go without specialized breast, diagnostic and cancer care.

Team registrations must be completed by Aug. 16, and preregistration for individuals Aug. 19.

The cost for the 10K is $30 preregistration and $35 on race day. For the 2-mile it is $25 preregistration and $30 on race day.

Register www.panerathon.org.