You’re not likely to see any members of the Mount St. Marythoners breaking the tape or setting records in events at the GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon, but they’re as good as it gets when it comes to raising money.
The team, representing Mount St. Mary Hospital, was put together in 2006 to bring in money in support of the hospital’s 200 complex-care residents. Many are elderly, but there are also younger adults at the Fairfield facility.
The Marythoners, led by 85-year-old phenom Sister Lucy DuMont, have run, walked and volunteered their way to a fundraising total of over $316,000 since the group started. DuMont was the top individual fundraiser again this year with over $8,000, topping her first-place total of $6,333 from 2013.
The overall team total for 2014 stood at $18,000 before the day’s events started, and there looked to be a good chance for more, said Paula Greene, Mount St. Mary’s senior development officer.
Greene’s comments came as she was wearing a stuffed purple octopus on her head — one of several oddball costumes at the Marythoner’s ocean-themed Beacon Hill Park cheering station, run in partnership with the James Bay Community Project.
The cheering station was in a new spot, but has been a fixture on marathon day since 2008. The smiles and high-fives from the runners make it all worthwhile, said Lynda Withan, who was strapped into a cardboard boat.
“I even had somebody salute me!”
The Marythoners were spread through the various runs, Greene said.
“We have 28 people on the course today,” she said. “It’s mainly the eight-kilometre and half-marathon, and we’ve got two full marathoners.”
One of those was 77-year-old Evan Fagan, who was running his 145th marathon — a total that began in 1988. He has run 19 Victoria marathons over the years and is already looking ahead to running the Honolulu marathon in December.
Fagan said he has run as many as 10 marathons in a year and used to clock about three hours and 35 or 40 minutes.
“Now it’s just over six hours,” he said. Finishing a marathon is always a great feeling, Fagan said.
“I enjoy the social aspect of it, as well.”
He said his body still holds up to the distance, and he felt fine after Sunday’s effort.
Fagan is a long-time volunteer at Mount St. Mary and a former member of its board of directors. He has also served on the marathon committee.
The Marythoners were among 22 groups taking part in the event’s CHEK Charity Pledge Program. The pledge program has been helping local charities raise money for 10 years.
An added touch to this year’s marathon was a pacing team of six runners, five from Washington and one from Vancouver, who held long sticks with estimated times attached to the top. Members of the group, known as the Marathon Maniacs, ran the entire 42 kilometres carrying their signs, helping other runners keep track of how they were doing.
How tough is it to run a marathon with sign?
“We’re used to it,” said Nick Paterno, waiting at the start line with the three-hour, 45-minute sign raised comfortably above his head.
The Maniacs know how to keep a pace that matches their sign.
“We’ll be within a minute,” said Paterno, a resident of Puyallup, Washington.
He said that he can generally pull off a 3:10 marathon when he runs signless.
Out on the course, the orange-clad Generation 4 team walked six-strong through the half-marathon. It was made up of family members from Duncan, Youbou and Alberta. The walk was in memory of Allan Wyper, who died in February and was husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather to the group.
As always, signs were a big part of the day’s atmosphere. One bunch of family friends brought the paper tablecloth from Saturday’s pre-race dinner — already full of doodles and signatures — and emblazoned it with “Go Jess Go”, for runner Jessica Morberg.
Another sign read “Worst Parade Ever”.
“Where’s the floats?” quipped the sign holder.
Organizers had a full complement of 1,600 volunteers to help make the event happen.
