What an experience!! That is a quote from one of the e-mails received by the organizers and I second it. You have to be there to believe it. It is billed as NORTH AMERICAS TOUGHEST PLEDGE WALK and they are correct.
Can you imagine 63.5 km of gravel logging road over mountainous terrain? You can't - please try because that is what it is! This all started 22 years ago as a challenge between the two mayors of ‚TAHSIS and GOLD RIVER. It was picked up and became a project of the Tahsis Lions Club and has become known world-wide.
The organizing committee composed of three Lions, Betty Ganyo assisted by Grant Skinner and Don Stewart just nicely get one walk out of the way before they are starting to plan the next one. There is a great web site at ‚ www.greatwalk.com
Thursday is preparation day! Readings are placed at both Tahsis and Gold River ends of the road announcing the closure between 4am and 4pm on Saturday except for authorized vehicles. A volunteer crew of ladies comes into the Recreation centre in late afternoon to begin making sandwiches. They use up 175 loaves of bread making 1750 ham, cheese, or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cut in half and placed in zip lock bags. These are then stored in a cooler to be handed out at the checkpoints in the race.
Friday the twelve checkpoints are established complete with tables, port a-potties etc. Betty and several other volunteers establish a registration point at the Information Booth in Gold River for late registrants. At 11 pm that night , Don Stewart and I started out from Tahsis with master lists of participants for each checkpoint. At about 1 am we arrive in Gold River, time for a coffee and then set up the sound system for the starting point at the bridge on the outskirts of the town. A security station is here to ensure only authorized vehicles are allowed on the road.
It is now 3 am and the crowd starts to gather. The weather is miserable as it is raining although the temperature is reasonable. At 3:45am the Mayor of Tahsis welcomes the participants followed by a few words from the District Governor and at 4 am exactly the air horn goes to start the race. 803 (count them) thunder over the bridge with the runners and joggers in front. The route is mostly uphill for the first 12 km and when they reach the summit they find the weather considerably cooler. The lake on the right-hand side is frozen solid with about two feet of snow on top and on the left-hand side of the road is a four foot snow bank. The road is clear but at 2 am it had snowed and was now slush. The joys of an athlete!
Wildlife abounds in this area. We had stopped at checkpoint 6 to install a relay phone and a 200 LB cougar nonchalantly crossed the road about 100 yards away. Several of the walkers reported seeing black bears.
The first runner crossed the finish line in 4 hrs. 47 min. 17 min. off the record. The last one to finish came in 17 hrs. 48 min. The average time this year was 11 hrs. 56 min. On their arrival at the outskirts of Tahsis each participant was escorted to the finish line by either a fire engine or an RCMP Vehicle with siren blaring. They were given a rousing welcome by the townspeople and Lions gathered at the Recreation centre. They were wrapped in a warm blanket or towel , sent to the showers and then given hot soup and received a leg massage.
Total registration this year was 880, as I said earlier 803 started and 656 finished. Many of the non-finishers made it to checkpoint 6 (halfway) which entitled them to a great walk t-shirt. Finishers receive a small trophy that declares "I DID IT" the Great Walk 1999, a certificate with their name and individual time as well as the T-shirt.
The awards ceremony took place at the Rec. Centre at 9 pm where it was announced that 119 charities would benefit from the pledges of $95,200. A truly remarkable accomplishment for a club of 22 members in a community of 700 people.
Awards were given as follows:
| Award | Name | City | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| First man finishing | Steven Royer | Courtenay | 4:47 |
| First woman finishing | Gaela Kilgour | Powell River | 5:38 |
| First female youth (15) | Jessica Herron | Tahsis | 8:54 |
| First male youth (16) | Darcy Bell | Quathiaski Cove | 7:08 |
| Youngest female finishing (11) | Tia Wishart | Comox | 16:29 |
| Youngest male finishing (10) | Stacey Bell | Quathiaski Cove | 15:38 |
| Oldest female finishing (73) | Elizabeth Vos | Nanaimo | 15:20 |
| Oldest male finishing (73) | John P. Zuiker | White Rock | 9:55 |
| Last walker finishing | G. Humphries-Loutit | Port Alberni | 17:48 |
Betty Ganyo, walk co-ordinator, was completely surprised when the District Governor Keith Buchan presented her with the third highest award in Lionism, the International Presidents Leadership Medal, for her efforts on behalf of Lions Clubs International and for her community where she has chaired the Great Walk for the last 12 years.
From the number of complimentary e-mails and other messages received from participants since the event, next year will be even bigger and better for the Millennium Walk. Maybe Mother Nature will be a little kinder then!!
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