Noah Allison, a local ultra-runner from Prince Rupert, raised about $10,000 and counting for the BC Cancer Foundation during his week-long run to Terrace and back.
Allison started his campaign, titled Miles for Markus, after he lost his father to cancer in 2023.
In last year’s campaign, Allison ran 144 kilometres from Prince Rupert to Terrace, while this year Allison doubled the distance of his run to just shy of 300 kilometres over seven days.
Doubling the distance of the run also doubled the pain he endured, said Allison.
“This year’s experience was definitely something I’ve never experienced before. I’ve done lots of crazy challenges in my previous two years of running to Terrace. Running half as far last year I dealt with half as much pain, so this year I was having to dig really deep, and it was definitely one of the hardest weeks of my life.”
Around 0.3 per cent of Canadians finish a full 42-kilometre marathon, while Allison finished seven in one week.
Not only did he deal with physical pain, he also dealt with many negative thoughts during his run, said Allison.
“There were a couple of times that I broke down out there, I was crying buckets of tears, and every step was excruciating. But in those moments, I was just thinking of who I’m doing it for, what the fundraising is about and all the positive impact that I’d be doing out there. So that’s kind of what kept me going. But there was a lot of times out there this week that really broke me down. I wasn’t expecting it to hurt that bad this year, but we made it.”
Allison’s campaign made waves across Canada with many runners joining him virtually in addition to those who ran alongside him on Highway 16.
Having support from across the country was very special, said Allison.
“There was a lot of different people that came out. Both with me in person and virtually. A lot of people want to help out but weren’t able to be here in person or make a monetary donation. I had over 15 people that weren’t able to join me in person, but posted about their runs on Instagram and posted about my cause.” he said.
“I had people running in Toronto for me, I had people running in Edmonton, really across the country having people thinking about the cause. So it really did mean a lot to open my phone every day, and have some close friends, some people that I never met or barely talked to in my life, but they’re still posting about my fundraiser. It was really special to see the extra support.”
Allison got so much support from the community, but his biggest supporter was his mother, Char.
This campaign likely wouldn’t happen without the support from his mother, says Allison.
“My mom is everything when it comes to the run, and it’s really special. She’s my road crew, she sets up the aid stations, she makes goodie bags for all the runners that come out.” he said.
“She makes sure that my nutrition and hydration are good. She’s the first person to tell me if I’m falling behind and saying, hey you haven’t eaten enough today, or you should have another drink. It’s really special, and I’ve got a lot of people that tell me that they feel like she’s treated them like her own.”
Donations will continue to be accepted and can be made at bccancerfoundation.com/miles-for-markus.
