Million-dollar journey

THUNDER BAY -- Curtis Hargrove has run dressed as a princess to make a little girl happy. He’s donned a Winnie the Pooh costume for another 50-kilometre stretch.

And of course, with kids in his hometown asking him to look like Forest Gump, the Cold Lake, Alta. native, a self-described pretty boy, has grown a bushy beard as he treks his way across Canada, trying to raise $1 million for cancer research, specifically Edmonton’s Stollery Children’s Hospital.

Hargrove, one of dozens of fundraises who walk, run or cycle their way across the vast expanse of Canada each year, hit the national headlines in early July, when he was arrested by highway patrol officers policing the Trans-Canada Highway for the Sûreté du Québec.

Told it wasn’t safe to run along the highway, he was taken into custody and questioned for several hours, before being allowed to continue his journey after agreeing to run along a quieter alternate route. His driver, at the wheel of a rickety-looking motor home, was issued a $52 ticket for driving too slow on the busy highway.

It’s something he’s trying to put into his past.

“You take the good with the bad,” he said Sunday morning, making a stop in Thunder Bay to join the Running’s Room’s running group for an early-morning jog along the city streets and pathways.

“It’s not something you expect to happen along your journey, just another story to tell.”

It has helped him distinguish himself among the fundraising throng that hits Canada’s highways each summer.

In the days after his arrest, Hargrove, whose journey began in May in St. John’s, N.L., saw a marked increase in interest – and contributions to his cause.

At the time of the incident, he’d raised about $14,000, on a journey inspired by young cancer survivor Delaney Saunders. Money began pouring in after that, and now he’s confident he’ll hit his goal by the time he dips his toes in the Pacific Ocean when he reaches Victoria.

“A lot of people were thinking it was a media stunt, but it wasn’t,” said Hargrove, presented with a City of Thunder Bay medal by Coun. Mark Bentz on Sunday morning. “We had a lot of media coverage, it just wasn’t nationally quick like it happened there.

“Five days after the arrest we received $10,000 and our Facebook page doubled and our follower doubled and people became more aware of the cause.”

Hargrove isn’t exactly sure where his total rests at as he runs through Northwestern Ontario. His accountant is on vacation, he said, laughing that contact has been sporadic with the outside world in the cellular-phone unfriendly region.

Running upward of 70 kilometres a day, Hargrove said he does 36 kilometres in the morning, eats and naps, then does the final 34 kilometres later in the day.

He can’t stop to rest, wanting to reach Cold Lake, located on the Saskatchewan border, in roughly four weeks time, about 1,975 kilometres from Thunder Bay.

“My hometown is having a homecoming (for me) on Sept. 21 and I want to be there. I want to run in the day that I’m supposed to run in,” he said.

He’s letting his body dictate exactly how far he goes each day. The run is taking its toll, said Hargrove, who once ran across Alberta and British Columbia to raise $50,000 for cancer research.

“The other day, I was so tired that I actually was in a shower for an hour, just leaning up against the wall because my body and my muscles we sore. I can’t keep in food as much as I used to. My body is so worn out it doesn’t want anything. It’s tough.”

For more information about Hargrove’s run and how to donate to the cause, visit his Facebook page.