It was a long and gruelling walk, but Jaden Shanley and his friends completed a 60 km trek in one day to raise funds and awareness for Movember.
“There’s a few blisters for sure,” Shanley said Monday, after a day spent recovering from the long walk.
On Saturday, Shanley and a group of friends set off from downtown Maple Ridge.
After many years hearing about Movember, the personal trainer said he wanted to get involved and do something positive in 2020.
“It’s been a rough year,” he said.
He also wanted a challenge, so he decided to complete the recommended amount of walking on the Movember website – 60 km for the month – in a single day.
He recruited six friends for the effort, and they set off at 5 a.m. from Maple Ridge, heading west.
They crossed the Pitt River Bridge and made it to Town Centre in Coquitlam a 28 km distance, then did 7 km on the track in the park before turning around and heading back home, arriving after dark.
“There were only three of us at that point,” Shanley said.
One friend had always planned to do just half the route, but two others had to drop out due to injuries.
“Our feet were in pretty bad pain,” he said.
But they managed a slow and steady voyage home.
The support along the way of friends and family helped them get through it, said Shanley.
Another big source of strength on the walk – seeing their fundraising total go up.
On Saturday morning, Shanley had just over $2,000 raised for Movember. The annual November-long event encourages men to grow moustaches as an outward sign that they’re raising money and awareness for health issues impacting men, including mental health issues and prostate cancer.