Saskatoon teacher Megan Wotherspoon is setting out on a 1,500-kilometre Saskatchewan run in memory of her mother, who died of leukemia at 38.
Megan Wotherspoon is marking the age at which her mother died by attempting to run the length of Saskatchewan, a 1,500-kilometre tribute meant to raise money for cancer research.
The Saskatoon teacher, who is turning 38, plans to run up to 60 kilometres a day for 30 days, starting Monday morning in Stony Rapids in northern Saskatchewan and finishing near Climax, close to the U.S. border. Her mother, Louise Tokaruk, died of leukemia in 1995 at age 38, when Wotherspoon was six.
“As I'm approaching this age, I definitely think about her as a young parent and fighting such a difficult battle,” Wotherspoon told CBC News. “It was kind of hard for me to approach the time where her story ended.”
Wotherspoon’s route is not the shortest possible path across the province. She plans to stay mostly on rural gravel roads, which she said are easier on the body than pavement, while crossing four major ecozones: taiga shield, boreal shield, boreal plain and prairie. The route also passes through four Treaty territories.
An ultramarathoner, Wotherspoon has already completed major endurance events, including a 100-kilometre run in the Klondike Ultra and 160 kilometres in the Soul Ultra Marathon. But she said the repeated strain of running more than a marathon each day for a month is a different kind of challenge.
“This is something that I've never done before, kind of that accumulative fatigue, I guess, over days and days,” she said.
Wotherspoon arrived in Stony Rapids over the weekend with her brother, father and stepmother, who are expected to support her on the first and final sections of the run. Other relatives and friends are set to help along different legs. She also planned to visit the school in Stony Rapids before beginning the trek.
The fundraising goal is $10 for every kilometre Wotherspoon runs, with proceeds going to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada. Her father, Brad Tokaruk, told CBC he is “proud and amazed” by the project and said the type of leukemia that killed Wotherspoon’s mother would be curable today with medication.
Wotherspoon works as a student support teacher at St. Michael’s Community School in Saskatoon and plans to share updates from the run with students. She has also connected the project to Treaty education.
She expects to finish in the third week of June near Climax, where her mother was born. Her progress can be followed through a live tracker on her website.
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