Eighteen Georgia Power employees will help fight cancer by running from Saint Simon’s Island to Tallapoosa, Al. as part of an annual, 400-mile relay to benefit the American Cancer Society.

The relay is a joint initiative of Georgia Power and Alabama Power, both subsidiaries of Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE:SO). It begins April 26 at St. Simon’s Island on the Georgia coast.

Runners from Georgia Power will pass through more than 20 counties and 45 cities including Waycross, Tifton, Macon and Atlanta before passing the baton to Alabama Power runners on April 28 near the Alabama-Georgia line in Tallapoosa.

Georgia Power runners will be divided into three teams with six runners each, running in relay fashion. Each participant is expected to run five 4.5 mile-legs, for a total of about 400 miles over the course of three days. The runners will be supported by other employees who will follow the teams in recreational vehicles.

"This is our sixth year doing this relay, which the American Cancer Society has renamed “Run for the Reason.” It started out as just a fun thing to do, but so many of us have lost loved ones to cancer that over the years we’ve realized it’s hard not to take ownership of the event and make it a personal mission," said Georgia Power employee Chris D’Andrea, chairman of the Georgia Power Relay for Georgia.

Overall, the relay is expected to raise more than $170,000 for the American Cancer Society chapters in Georgia and Alabama. The money will come from corporate sponsorships and from donations solicited by individual runners. All the money raised in Georgia will go toward cancer society efforts within the state. Here`s the route and tentative arrival times as the runners travel through Georgia.

Saturday April 26: 9:30 a.m.- Relay starts at Georgia Power’s St. Simon’s Island office. The runners will follow Hwy. 17, then Hwy. 82 toward Waycross and Tifton.

Sunday April 27: 6:40 a.m.- Arrive in Tifton. Runners will merge onto Hwy. 41 in Tifton, then pass through Perry and Warner Robbins AFB before arriving in Macon at 10:40 p.m.

Monday April 28: 10:35 a.m.- Run through Jonesboro. 12:23 p.m. - Arrive Hapeville. 1:42 p.m. - Pass by Georgia Power’s corporate office at 241 Ralph McGill Blvd. Run through downtown Atlanta. Runners will merge onto Bankhead Hwy. toward Austell, then turn left on Hwy. 78, arriving in Douglasville at 5:30 p.m. 10:46 p.m. – Arrive Tallapoosa and hand off baton to Alabama Power runners at the GA/AL state line.

Georgia Power is the largest subsidiary of Southern Company, one of the nation’s largest generators of electricity. The company is an investor-owned, tax-paying utility, serving customers in 57,000 of the state’s 59,000 square miles. Georgia Power’s rates are more than 15 percent below the national average and its 2 million customers are in all but six of Georgia’s 159 counties.