COEUR d'ALENE - The end was bittersweet.

But wrapping up 14 years should be memorable too, and that's what Friday's Kootenai County Relay for Life charity event in Coeur d'Alene was.

Around 3 a.m., the skies opened up and poured on 79 teams walking to raise money for cancer research. The storms were so severe, that the event shut down around 8 a.m. instead of noon, as walkers fled for safety.

Some ending.

"The rain was pretty crazy," said Nicol Barnes, relay organizer through the American Cancer Society's Great West Division, on the last relay walk she'll organize in her hometown. "That put a damper on things unfortunately, but for the most part it went really well."

Barnes, it turns out, is hanging up her hat. And Friday's event, which started out with around 1,500 walkers on Friday, fell short of its $150,000 fundraising goal by $60,000.

It's her last Relay for Life event in Coeur d'Alene, as Barnes is looking to change careers by pursuing other ventures, keeping her options open in the meantime.

But one relay wouldn't define Barnes' 14 years, anyway. For nearly a decade and a half, she has put on Relay for Life events across the region, from Sandpoint to the Silver Valley and Moscow - raising more than $1 million along the way.

"I've had great a run and worked with a lot of great people and it's just time to move on," she said, adding her future could include returning to school. "It's been challenging and inspiring, and I've made a lot of wonderful friends and I just hope in a small way I've made a difference. That's what matters to me the most."

It's just time to move on, she said. Besides, the real workers are the volunteers.

"I just help them basically," she said.

Last year, the Coeur d'Alene race raised $100,000. This year, the volunteer committee insisted Barnes stay up the entire night in the final event in her hometown, bittersweet but memorable too.

"I've probably have a little bit more ownership here than any other one I've done," she said of her hometown race.