Cancer Fitness Institute | Karen Hornbostel Memorial Time Trial

A portion of your race fee is donated to CFI in memory of Karen Hornbostel.

This year the COBRAS/KHMTT donated $1,400.00 to the Cancer Fitness Institute in memory of Karen Hornbostel. The amount of this year’s donation will provide roughly 8 CancerFit Scholarships, which allows the participant to enroll in the 8-week class free of charge. Our continued support of the CancerFit program is very much appreciated by CFI. For more information about CFI, visit the KHMTT.com website. https://khmtt.com/cancer-fitness-institute/

Summit Cancer Solutions was founded by Karen Hornbostel, an exercise physiologist and champion cyclist diagnosed with breast cancer in 1993 at the peak of her cycling career. When she asked if she could exercise during treatment, her doctor did not know, because at that time the medical community advised cancer patients to rest to regain their strength. Karen decided that she was going to continue to exercise, and over the next 13 years made it her life’s passion to help other cancer survivors regain strength and confidence through exercise.

In 1998, Foothills Parks and Recreation District received a grant from the Komen Foundation to create an exercise program for breast cancer survivors at the Peak Wellness facility in Littleton. Coincidentally, Karen worked for Foothills at the time and the Summit Exercise Program for Breast Cancer Survivors was born. Summit ran under the umbrella of Foothills until 2002, when it became an independent 501c3 not-for-profit, allowing expansion to four other municipalities in the Denver area.

Summit was the only program in Colorado offering cancer exercise support in a community setting, utilizing cancer exercise specialists. In fact, the only other organization in Colorado that provided cancer wellness/exercise programs was Navitas; a for-profit program that offered in-depth, one-on-one comprehensive services such as physical/occupational therapy. Navitas closed its doors in December of 2008.

At the time of its incorporation, a strategic decision was made to expand Summit’s mission from serving only breast cancer patients to serving patients with all types of cancer. This decision was prompted by a growing body of research that showed that consistent exercise during treatment produces positive outcomes generalized across all types of cancer, age and gender. As the programs began to grow, they moved away from “direct service” and began to focus on a “train the trainer” model. Summit Cancer Solutions changed its name to the Cancer Fitness Institute (CFI) in January 2011 and merged with the Colorado Parks and Recreation Association. CFI moved away from providing direct service and the exercise program offered in recreation centers is referred to as CancerFit©.

CFI’s mission is to develop and support quality cancer-specific exercise programs for survivors in a healthy and positive community environment. Our goal is to provide cancer survivors with a uniquely tailored, individualized exercise program to assist them in cancer recovery (physically, psychologically, and emotionally) and to keep the program affordable and accessible. Our vision is for any cancer survivor in Colorado to have access to the program, no matter where they live.

The CFI offers training to exercise physiologists, recreation and healthcare professionals on running the CancerFit© Exercise Program for adult cancer survivors. Exercise specialists with a cancer specialty oversee all aspects of the CancerFit© exercise regimen, which aids in recovery and general fitness during and after treatment. The fitness program includes flexibility, cardiovascular, and strength training. CancerFit© is unique! There are only a handful of organizations providing exercise/wellness programs to cancer survivors in the United States. CancerFit© is one of the few programs in the country that uses a community-based model. By operating out of community recreation centers, CancerFit©’s program is “health” rather than “hospital” oriented, gives participants the opportunity to exercise in their community and to adopt exercise as a lifelong habit. CancerFit©’s motto is Get Back to Being You!