A Guelph man is challenging himself to complete an ultramarathon in 18 hours in an effort to raise $20,000 for his best friend’s charity.
Klark McGarr is a veteran in the Canadian Armed Forces and director of the We Fund Care, an organization which provides financial support for families dealing with cancer. The charity was created in memory of McGarr's best friend, Ryan Saturno.
Calling it the Run2FundCare, McGarr will run 104km along the Cataraqui Trail, starting in Napanee on Wednesday evening and ending in Smiths Falls on the afternoon of July 1.
“I’ve run a half marathon every Sunday over the past couple of months in training for this,” said McGarr, who called himself more of a ‘recreational runner’ prior to this event, “I’ve now got a 30km run under my belt.”
About three months ago, McGarr recalls two of his military friends approaching him, about joining them for a run along the Catarqui trail.
“They asked me if I wanted to come to do this trail run like we used to do back on Cataraqui,” said McGarr, “And I agreed to it without asking too many questions.”
However, the friends forgot to mention that it would be 104 kilometres.
“I didn’t want to back out,” said McGarr, “One of my friends immediately backed out as they didn’t have enough time to train for it, but I didn’t want to do that.”
So McGarr decided he would need a strong ‘why,’ something that would motivate him to complete the run. That’s when he decided to attach We Fund Care to it and raise money to help families dealing with cancer cover expenses that are not under insurance, which is gas, hotels, loss wages from missing work and more.
Being one of the directors of We Fund Care, McGarr said they were quick to agree to it.
“I approached the board and said, ‘This is something we should try to promote,’” he said.
In terms of his relationship with Ryan, McGarr explains he and Saturno were childhood friends who went through elementary and high school together. When talking about Saturno, McGarr mentions he thinks of him more like a brother.
“Even when I left for the military, it was not uncommon that his house would be the first place I stopped back in town,” he said.
Back in 2010, Saturno was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma, the same cancer diagnosis Terry Fox was given. For six years, McGarr watched Saturno go through the highs and lows of treatment before he passed away in 2016.
““He never gave up, he never stopped smiling,” said McGarr about his friend, who was positive and still made McGarr laugh until the end.
So when he was looking for a reason to stick with the ultramarathon, McGarr chose to think about Saturno and what he went through.
“I’m not comparing what I’m going through with Ryan,” he said, “I know it’s going to be a gruelling event for me, but if these guys can do this for years and years of their lives, and continue to get good news and bad news, what's 18 hours?”
“With Ryan and the foundation, and the families that rely on us, it was a no-brainer.”
McGarr began training with a friend who is a physiotherapist and a former Iron Man athlete, along with immersing himself in the ultrarunner community to become familiar with what to expect.
“Listened to a lot of audio books on my trips in and out of Toronto from some of the greats within the sport, which has given me an idea of what things to expect, and what’s happening to me is normal,” said McGarr.
McGarr mentions he has experienced a lot of mental growth while preparing to do the ultramarathon.
“Immersing myself in the moment and being mindful, putting one foot in front of the other and that kind of thing,” he said.
While it is a big endeavour, McGarr is not doing it alone. He will be joined by a friend who will ride alongside him on a bicycle, and support vehicles.
Since promoting the run through social media, McGarr said he has received a lot of encouraging messages and texts from other people.
“I’ve received a lot of wonderful response from the public, most from my family and Ryan’s family, and some of the people within my circle,” he said, “I know our community response has been unbelievable."
With the $20,000, McGarr said the money will either help support 40 families for a month or one family for many months. Since We Fund Care was started in 2016, it has supported 97 families in Wellington County and the surrounding areas.
The original fundraising goal was $10,000 but the campaign quickly surpassed that and was changed to $20,000. Since then, campaign has now collected over $16,000 through a GoFundMe page set up for the event and in direct donations to the organization.
