As mid-August approaches and the Mahoning Valley takes in its last fleeting gasps of summer, residents have no shortage of seasonal traditions to savor. Among them, of course, are the thrills of the Canfield Fair, the stimulation of a new school year, the excitement of Friday night football and the enthusiasm around the Y-LIVE megaconcert series featuring John Mayer and Tim McGraw.

But also earning a coveted niche in the pantheon of end-of-summer highlights in Greater Youngstown-Warren, most definitely must be the Panerathon.

After all, in its 16-year history, the Panerathon benefit race to fight breast cancer has catapulted to become – by far – the Mahoning Valley’s largest single fundraising event of the year.

Last August, for example, 12,000 supportive runners and walkers raised more than $700,000 in the 2-mile and 10K foot races through Youngstown. Since its inception, Panerathon events have raked in more than $5 million to support operations at the region’s state-of-the-art Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital and its mobile mammography units.

That honorable tradition continues Aug. 24 with the running of the 16th Annual Panerathon commencing at the Covelli Centre. Here’s hoping for the biggest and most successful run in its history.

In addition to good-natured friendly competition on display among racers as they wend their way through city streets and Mill Creek Park, and the celebratory atmosphere among breast-cancer survivors and their supporters on vibrant display at the Covelli Centre starting gate, the Panerathon means business — serious business.

Its overarching raison d’etre is and always has been to help save lives and lower the incidence of breast cancer among women throughout the Mahoning Valley. Toward that noble goal, the successes have been many:

• Since the inception of the JACBBC, over 160,000 breast imaging exams have been performed

• The JACBCC has been consistently honored with the prestigious “Guardian of Excellence Award” by Press Ganey for achieving and maintaining patient satisfaction at the 99th percentile

• The mobile mammography unit, “Joanie-on-the-Go,” services 25 sites monthly and has performed more than 15,600 mammograms.

Those successes have resulted in earlier detection, earlier treatment and lives saved.

According to the most recent National Cancer Institute State Cancer Profiles, the five-year trend of breast cancer is declining in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties despite rising trends in other urban areas of the state, including Akron, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo. We cannot help but think the Joanie Abdu center and its Panerathon champions have played an important role in our region’s distinctive progress.

Such progress, however, may well have remained pipe dreams without the generous support of the Panerathon’s primary movers and shakers.

Prime among them is Warren-based Covelli Enterprises, a leading national franchisee of Panera Bread eateries and from whom the event owes its name. Covelli’s long-standing commitment to civic engagement in general and to the Panerathon cause in particular has attracted many similarly civic-minded sponsors.

As a result, Covelli, the Mercy Health Foundation Mahoning Valley and other Mission Partners underwrite 100% of the significant costs of putting on Sunday’s massive event. That means 100% of all registration and sponsorship fees go directly to support the breast-care center.

Great thanks also must be extended to Dr. Rashid Abdu, acclaimed Valley surgeon and husband of the late Joanie Abdu, who lost her battle against breast cancer three decades ago.

Since then, he’s been a major force behind the establishment and growth of the center that bears his late wife’s name.

Also deserving of kudos, of course, are the tens of thousands of participants in Panerathon who have walked, dashed and hurdled to bring triumph to the event and hope to thousands of Joanie Abdu patients.

Here’s our hope that the 16th annual Panerathon shatters the already amazing participation records of past years.

Online team preregistration ends Friday; online general preregistration ends next Monday. Registration also is available on race morning, but fees are raised.

Greater participation clearly translates into a more robust positive impact on our community. Unfortunately, there is much more work and many more miles to run to continue the downward course of breast cancer incidence in the Valley.

Despite some progress, however, there remains a tough row to hoe in the long journey to conquer breast cancer in our nation and in our community once and for all. That’s why it’s crucial that as many selfless supporters as possible take those next critical steps Aug. 24 at Panerathon 2025.

Run, don’t walk, to your nearest device to register today.