10 days, 10 provinces, 10 marathons: Quebec man kicks off fundraiser in St. John's
Andrew Sampson | CBC News | Posted: May 19, 2018 8:53 PM | Last Updated: May 20, 2018
Patrick Charlebois tracing Terry Fox's journey and raising money for cancer research
As the sun rose Saturday morning, Patrick Charlebois dipped his feet into the Atlantic Ocean, and set off on a journey Terry Fox first started 38 years ago.
He began in St. John's, embarking on the first of 10 marathons, which he plans to complete over the course of 10 consecutive days in each of Canada's 10 provinces.
Along the way, Charlebois will try to further the iconic runner's journey by raising money for the Terry Fox Foundation and cancer research.
He said it made perfect sense to start in Newfoundland and Labrador, just like Fox did.
"It was very inspiring as a runner myself to commemorate a guy like Terry Fox that ran [in 1980] and inspired an entire country," said Charlebois, who lives in Trois-Rivières.
"I said to myself, if he can do it, I can do it."
A well-known runner who previously ran seven marathons in seven days across all seven continents, Charlebois completed his first 42.2-kilometre trek by running approximately 11 laps around Quidi Vidi Lake.
So far, so good. But while other runners might have more time to rest, have a drink, and celebrate, he had a flight to Halifax to catch ahead of tomorrow's Bluenose Marathon.
He'll run that marathon alongside his twin brother, before continuing on to New Brunswick, and eventually ending his journey in British Columbia.
If all goes well, Charlebois will finish that journey in Vancouver's Stanley Park alongside Terry Fox's brother Darryl.
He collected a jug of water from the Atlantic Ocean, just like Fox did back when he started the Marathon of Hope, and if he makes it to the finish line he plans to pour it into the Pacific Ocean.
"Every start of each marathon, I'm gonna do 15 pushups like Terry did at one point in his Marathon of Hope," said Charlebois.
"I invite people that got inspired by Terry Fox's story to pledge, because unfortunately we still need money for cancer research, because unfortunately people again today are affected by cancer."