EAST GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — For the 39th time, a popular 5K race returns this weekend to East Grand Rapids.

The Corewell Health Irish Jig begins Saturday morning in the downtown area. The race looks to help raise awareness about cancer, particularly colorectal cancer, and educate the community on ways to prevent and screen for it.

Dianna Webb, the vice president of Digestive and Specialty Health at Corewell Health, said that the need to inform the community is more important now than ever before.

“We’re seeing younger and younger patients come in with cancers. It is the second leading cause of death right now among men and women in the United States and it’s preventable,” she said. “We need to get the population to get screened and to start talking about it and this event will hopefully shed some light on that.”

Webb also shared ways that people can help themselves and their loved ones, like eating right, staying hydrated and getting regular exercise.

The 2023 Irish Jig will kick off in downtown East Grand Rapids at 8:30 a.m. More information on the event and colorectal cancer can be found here.