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Wounded Warrior Run stops in Port McNeill

For Jacqueline Zweng, the Wounded Warrior Run is a personal matter.
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TYSON WHITNEY PHOTO The Port McNeill Royal Canadian Legion presented the Wounded Warrior Run with a big cheque for $3,800 before lunch.

The Wounded Warrior Run 2018 had a great sendoff this morning in Port Hardy.

Emergency Services, Port Hardy Canadian Rangers, Port Hardy Junior Canadian Rangers, and local First Nations members came out to show their support in -6 weather, cheering on the runners as they took off from Carrot Park at 7:30 a.m., running up Highway 19 on their way to their first stop in Port McNeill for lunch.

The team arrived in Port McNeill roughly around 11:30 a.m., where they were presented with a big $3,800 cheque from the Royal Canadian Legion before sitting down for lunch.

Zweng said the run from Port Hardy to Port McNeill went pretty well, with Deschamps running 20 km in roughly an hour-and-a-half.

She added while it was “pretty cold, we aren’t quite used to those temperatures in Victoria, it was still absolutely beautiful with the sun coming up — there were police, fire, ambulance, rangers, and Chief Calvin Hunt giving us an incredible send off ceremony, so it was pretty magical.”

For Zweng, the Wounded Warrior Run is a personal matter. “A year ago when I was running on this team, these people here accepted me immediately and helped me grow and helped me get through a lot of personal challenges … I want people to know it’s okay to ask for help, and I feel like I’m doing well because I asked for help immediately, because I didn’t wait, I didn’t let it fester.”

The Wounded Warrior Run departed Port McNeill after lunch and will be arriving in Woss around 4:30 p.m. where they will stay the night, before leaving at 9:00 a.m. to Sayward.

The Wounded Warrior Run BC is a relay style run composed of a group of runners covering the length of Vancouver Island in just seven days. This year the team includes current serving military members, reservists, veterans, first nations, police officers, fire fighters, paramedics and civilians.

Runners this year for the team are Jacqueline Zweng, Matt Carlson, Chris Loran, Simon Brown, Mark Dankwerth, Steve Deschamps, and Brett Malcolm.



Tyson Whitney

About the Author: Tyson Whitney

I have been working in the community newspaper business for nearly a decade, all of those years with Black Press Media.
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