When A Marathon Was Cancelled, Two Peterborough Men Created Their Own And Raised Vital Funds For One Roof
/When the Ottawa marathon they were slated to run in was cancelled due to Covid-19, Peterborough friends Peter Laurie and Javier Bravo (Peter teaches at Fleming College, and Javier is Student Recruitment Coordinator there) turned all their training into something positive for the community.
They ran their own marathon on Father’s Day from Peterborough to Omemee and back, and turned it into a fundraiser for One Roof Community Centre, raising more than $2,300 so far. Supported by family and friends, they were able to run the marathon on one of the hottest days. (It was the 2nd marathon for Peter, and first for Javier.)
Javier & Peter (photo by Cathy Bolan)
"We were already well into training for the Ottawa marathon by the time it was cancelled, and there was no question about whether we would keep running,” Laurie tells PTBOCanada.
“We decided that if we were going to train through a pandemic and then run a marathon, it should also be about giving back. When we contacted One Roof, they were thrilled that we were taking them on as the focus of our fundraising. In little more than a week of publicity via Facebook and Instagram, we had raised over $2,300.”
Photo by Cathy Bolan
"The day of the run itself was forecast to be brutally hot, and it truly was, with a high somewhere north of 30 C,” Laurie tells PTBOCanada. “Even though we started early Sunday morning, things got hot very quickly. The last half of the marathon, which involved running back from Omemee on the Trans Canada Trail, felt like a war of attrition as we worked hard to stay hydrated.”
Photo by Cathy Bolan
