Running with the penguins part of a marathon odyssey
A teary mayor’s wife, Dr. Oz and the offer of a wedding or funeral helped raise some $120,000 Friday at the 20th anniversary gala of Pilgrim’s Hospice.
Sarah Chan, wife of Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson and the honorary chairwoman of the gala, told guests at Sutton Place Hotel that she had mixed cold medicine, wine and coffee before speaking.
“The cold medicine was to prevent me from becoming too emotional,” said Chan. But she teared-up as shes poke of how the work of Pilgrims Hospice resonated with her as she had helped her family care for her grandmother before she died
Order of Canada recipient Elexis Schloss donated four front seats to hear television’s Dr. Oz speak at Rexall Place June 5. They sold for $1,200.
Rev. Mike McCaffery spontaneously offered a wedding or funeral in St. Joseph’s Basilica. It raised $600.
Some bigger items: a luxury skybox at an Oilers game sold twice for $9,500; a Louis Lavoie painted before the guests went for $9,000 and a two-week stay in a condo on Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast raised $9,500.
Pilgrim’s Hospice board chairman Richard Wong said he attended his first Hospice gala in 2004, a year after arriving in Edmonton. “My mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and died a lonely and painful death in her final days,” said the Chateau Lacombe manager. “Pilgrims Hospice was my calling.”
He announced Pilgrims Hospice was working with Canterbury Court to make beds available to seniors who would live out their lives with dignity and respect.
Marion Boyd decided 20 years ago with Helen Hays and Patricia Lynch Ordynec that a voluntary hospice was needed and held the first Walk in My Shoes dinner in her basement
“I was delighted to hear from the Pattison Outdoor Advertising people that they were making an in-kind donation of $50,000 to help spread the word about the Hospice and that the Flaman Companies will continue as our presenting sponsor,” she said. “Insight Insurance is also going to help us significantly with a marketing campaign.”
MUDDY ANTARCTICA
Thoughts of freezing to death while running the Antarctica Marathon were replaced in Mike Yasinski’s mind by the fear of a running shoe being lost to the mud.
“The cold, penguins, icebergs and whales, I was ready for them all,” says Yasinski, 43, a partner in the Hudson Tap House pubs in Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge and Saskatoon.
“But I hadn’t expected muddy bogs over the entire course. The temperature was about zero. I had to take extra care in tying my shoelaces to make sure I didn’t lose a runner. Some people did. But worse, some fell headlong into the mud.”
Yasinski is back in Edmonton after his recent adventure and is training to race the Rio de Janeiro Marathon in July and he New York Marathon in November.
He’s a member of a 13-strong group of runners who are taking part in the Seven Continents Marathon Challenge and has already completed 42.2-kilometre races in London, Auckland, Tokyo and Kenya.
“The run in Kenya was probably the most memorable,” he says. “Armed rangers and helicopters kept wild game off our route. We travelled it again in a vehicle next day and saw everything from cheetahs and hyenas to lions and rhinos.”
Yasinski met his Marathon Tours group in Buenos Aires, flew to Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego and then boarded a Russian research ship for the two-day sail to the race course at King George Island. “Some 100 runners were taken ashore on Zodiacs,” Yasinski says. “Marked gravel roads connect the scientific bases of Uruguay, Chile, China and Russia.
“Flags marked the route to keep as off moss in the highly sensitive environment. We ran out and back to two research stations and made loops at the start-finish line.”
Runners were told they could add an hour to their usual marathon finish time. Yasinski was happy to finish seventh in four hours and 17 minutes.
“Our group, with runners from every all over the world, has really bonded,” he says. “When we have completed the challenge, we have vowed to complete a marathon in everyone’s country.”
LET’S HOPE FOR CLOUDS
A warning to our riders cycling back from Haida Gwaii with a totem pole for the Stollery Children’s Hospital came this week from dermatologist Dr. Barry Lycka, founder of the Canadian Skin Cancer Foundation.
“The risk of getting skin cancer in Canada is now two to three times higher than in previous generations,” Lycka says.
“In the 1960s, the chances of getting skin cancer were one in 20. In the 1990s, the risk rose to one in six.
“If you have to go out in the sun, use sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher.”
Lycka is giving all our riders sunscreen and a vitamin A cream that can protect the skin for up to 17 days.
A Red, Whites & Blues night is to be held by the Skin Cancer Foundation on Friday, May 9 at the Oasis Conference Centre, 10930 177th St. Funds raised will support a school education and awareness program, aimed at eliminating skin cancer in Canada. Tickets: 780-423-2723.