Saturday February 29, 2020 ~ VANCOUVER ISLAND
~ West Shore Voice News
After starting their 600 km run at Port Hardy on February 23, The Wounded Warriors fundraising run team left Port Alberni yesterday, and drove to the February 28 starting point at the Parksville Legion after a quick stop to enjoy the wonders of Cathedral Grove.
“We enjoyed a great breakfast in Parksville and from there we ran to the Lantzville Legion for lunch,” said organizers. After that, they stopped at BC Ambulance Station 122, and then took a quick jog over to Legion Branch 256 and finished their day with a spaghetti supper at Legion Branch 10.
“We hit a fundraising milestone today, topping last year’s total of $125,000! We still have a way to go to reach our $250,000 goal,” says Wounded Warriors Vancouver Island photography coordinator John Penner.
The amount raised in 2019 was $125,000 so this year’s goal is going for double!
Due to recent protests at the BC Legislature, that location for the Wounded Warriors Run finale on Sunday March 1 has been moved from that location (they were to hold their final event behind the BC Parliament Buildings) to instead now be held at Market Square at 560 Johnson Street in downtown Victoria. That event is expected to begin around 4:30 pm.
The run will make its way through Langford from 9 am to 2:30 pm in the west shore on Sunday March 1 before concluding in downtown Victoria. There could be some traffic delays as runners arrive on Highway 1, then taking Leigh Road to Bear Mountain Resort, then heading past Western Speedway and through to the Millstream commercial area with a pit stop at Serious Coffee in Millstream Village, another stop at the Langford Legion on Station Road then heading to downtown Victoria.
Members of the community have been involved each step of the way.
Runners on the team this year: Jacqueline Zweng, director; Matt Carlson, head runner; Rebecca Schillemat, runner; Mike Bowen, runner; Darryl Baswick, runner; Stephane Marcotte & Sarge, support team; Susan Marcotte, support team; Samson Haire, runner; Ashley Duncan, runner; Christopher Loran, part-time runner and Q100.3 media rep; Maria Marciano, runner; Lori Timpson, runner; Mark Blachuras, runner. Medic was Aggie Pringle, photographer John Penner.
Wounded Warriors is a national health services provider which relies on fundraising to deliver its various programs that support the mental and emotional health recovery of first responders including firefighters, paramedics, and police.
=== LINKS:
Wounded Warriors Run BC – main website
Backgrounder on Wounded Warriors (by West Shore Voice News, 2019)