A MAN raising money and awareness for Alzheimer’s disease and breast cancer research is about to come full circle on his fundraising journey.
Eddy Dostaler, also known as Fast Eddy, set out from Victoria in March 2015 with the aim of running across Canada and back, solo and without support. He will be in Nanaimo on Friday (Oct. 28) and is scheduled to end a 608-day, 27,000-kilometre journey on Saturday.
Dostaler said he drew inspiration from his grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s and one of his professors from Thompson Rivers University, the late Tom Owen, who was a breast cancer awareness advocate. He wanted to be part of a solution.
“It’s easy to point out that something’s wrong, but it’s very difficult in order to actually come up with a solution,” said Dostaler. “Now I’m good at running, so I figured I might as well help out the best way that I can. So I wanted to help out my country and those who were within it and inspire other people.”
In terms of fundraising, Dostaler said everything donated by British Columbians stays local as monies go to Alzheimer Society of B.C. and Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation’s B.C. chapter.
“At the end of the day, I don’t suffer from Alzheimer’s and I don’t suffer from breast cancer and I think the organizations and the foundations that actually strive towards finding a cure to these, they have a better knowledge and understanding as to seeing how this can be helping the individuals,” said Dostaler.
He is set to depart from Maffeo Sutton Park on Friday at 3 p.m. and is anticipating covering about 115 kilometres, arriving at Clover Point in Victoria at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Following that, Dostaler said he’s pretty much done with long-distance running.
“I will probably end up running for fun,” said Dostaler. “I’m not a competitive runner, I like to listen to music and go at my own speed, but as far as events, as far as races and those kind of things ... I won’t be that competitive, gung-ho kind of guy.”
For more information, including how to donate, please go to www.fasteddycanada.com.