Rick Hansen relay coming in February
by Kevin Weedmark
A cross-country relay to mark the 25th anniversary of Rick Hansen’s Man in Motion Tour is coming to the Moosomin area at the beginning of February.
Hansen propelled himself around the world and across Canada in his wheelchair 25 years ago, raising $26 million in the process.
The original Man in Motion Tour passed right through the Moosomin area and so will the relay.
The Rick Hansen 25th anniversary relay will travel from Virden to Moosomin on Feb. 1. The relay will pass through the village of Elkhorn during the day, and there will be an event at the MCC Centre in Moosomin to close out the day.
On Feb. 2, the relay will start with an event at MacLeod School before heading on to the Trans-Canada Highway and passing through Wapella and Whitewood and carrying on to Grenfell.
Local medal bearers will carry Rick Hanson’s medal through Elkhorn, Moosomin, Wapella, and Whitewood.
“We have more than 7,000 Canadians selected as medal bearers,” said Lisa Clement of the Rick Hanson Relay. “Each community on the route is one of the communities Rick passed through on his original journey.”
The organization is in the process of letting people know if they have been selected as medal bearers.
“Those people are just starting to be notified,” said Clement. “Some were nominated by their school or their community. Some have been selected through an online process. Each person walks, runs, or wheels 250 metres. They can walk or run with family members, their dog, members of their soccer team, or whatever.”
There is a set daily routine for the Rick Hansen Relay. Every school day, the day starts with an event at a school. Medal bearers carry the medal through selected communities, and once they reach the edge of town, an endurance athlete takes over. These endurance athletes, who are usually non-able bodied, carry the medal to the next town.
“The endurance athletes are usually non-able bodied athletes, often riding a hand cycle, and will travel up to 30 km,” said Clement.
“At the end of the day, we put the medal to rest, and we usually have some kind of community event. That will be in Moosomin on Feb. 1, which will be our first day in Saskatchewan.
“The end-of-day event is always different, depending on the community. Usually the community does a lot of planning. They may ask a local band to come out, and usually someone from our team speaks.”
The relay has a police escort along busy highways and sometimes lanes are closed off to allow the relay to pass through communities.
So what is the purpose of the relay, a quarter century after Rick Hansen crossed the country?
“The actual goal is to bring awareness to accessibility issues,” said Clement. “We want to create a more inclusive and accessible world. We want more support for those with disabilities.”
The main point of the cross-Canada relay is not to raise money for the Rick Hansen Foundation, but donations are being accepted.
“We aren’t openly soliciting donations but we are graciously accepting them,” said Clement.
Rick Hansen himself is making appearances along the route, but not in every community.
“He comes in and out—his next stretch will be Jan. 19,” said Clement. “In Saskatchewan, he will be in Regina. He will make an appearance in every province and territory.
Clement noted that a lot of younger Canadians aren’t familiar with Rick Hanson’s story.
“Twenty-five years ago Rick was ready to give up, but his fiancee encouraged him to keep going. He had raised just over $1 million in his round the world tour, but once he started the final leg of his tour, across Canada, it really started building, and he raised $25 million going across Canada.
“We have many people on our team who weren’t around when Rick did his first tour, and he wants to encourage youth.
“We’re in Thunder Bay currently. Everyone knows Terry Fox’s story, but this is a new generation, and Rick is still inspiring a nation with some of the things that the has been involed with. We have a lot of people who remember the first tour and the enthusiasm around that.”
