The 25th anniversary of Rick Hansen’s extraordinary 40,000-kilometre Man in Motion World Tour is upon us, and a commemorative relay is in the works to raise awareness about spinal cord injuries, to celebrate today’s “difference makers,” and to inspire people to believe that anything is possible with courage and determination.
Most importantly for Rossland, we’re on the route and relay organizers want our town to participate in the celebrations.
The upcoming relay will retrace the 12,000-kilometre Canadian segment of the original world tour, but this time many will be in motion: Some 7,000 participants from across Canada, each hand-picked “difference makers,” will run, walk, wheel, or bike a portion of the distance.
The tour begins on Aug. 24 in Cape Spear, Nfld., the easternmost point in North America, and ends in Vancouver on May 22, 2012 for a homecoming celebration.
Each day of the relay will begin and end with a celebration, grassroots events that will give communities the opportunity to come together in their own way to recognize locals who are making a difference, to raise awareness about accessibility, and to inspire a new generation to take action.
A stop in Rossland is planned and a volunteer committee is needed to help organize the festivities.
“Twenty-five years ago I set my dream in motion,” said Rick Hansen, the man who wore out 94 gloves and punctured 124 tires from 1985 to 1987 as he wheeled himself the equivalent of the Earth’s circumference in 792 days. “[My dream] took me through 34 countries and across 40,000 kilometres as we raised awareness of the potential of people with disabilities.”
Hansen was paralyzed from the waist down in a car crash when he was 15, but soon set himself new goals and dreams, pushing through intensive rehabilitation and going on to win 19 international wheelchair marathons, including six Paralympic medals.
Holding true to his credo that “anything is possible,” his world tour raised $26 million towards spinal cord injury research and quality of life programs. He has since leveraged this money to more than $245 million through the Rick Hansen Foundation.
Hansen is president and CEO of the foundation, a registered charity that provides leadership to create inclusive communities for people with spinal cord injuries and to search for a cure by connecting people and resources to help make innovation possible.
“The 25th Anniversary Relay will be an exciting opportunity for Canadians to join the journey, to keep moving forward and to create a new dream,” Hansen said.
Celebrations for the 25th anniversary began one year ago with events that took place throughout 2010 from Jordan and Israel to Australia and China, recognizing the achievements of difference makers and fostering collaboration for continued progress in accessible communities and spinal cord injury research.
The Canadian relay will focus on engaging people to strive for positive change. Relay participants will each be a recognized force for positive change in their communities, embodying determination and excellence, and will collectively cover between 40 and 80 kilometres each day, passing each other the single Rick Hansen Medal forged by the Royal Canadian Mint for this occasion. By its end, the tour will have traversed 600 communities and reached more than 70 per cent of the nation’s population.
Every Canadian over the age of 12 will soon be able to apply to be a participant in a portion of the relay. Organizers say participants will include “those whose efforts have removed barriers and contributed to making their community more accessible and inclusive, those who have overcome adversity, those who are promising youth leaders, those who live by the credo that anything is possible, those who are committed to making a difference in the lives of others and those who mirror the values of determination, courage, integrity, inspiration and teamwork.”
Hansen said, “These difference makers’ remarkable stories will not only showcase the positive impact these individuals have had in their communities, but will remind us that we can all become champions of change. Working together, we can recognize and inspire a new generation of difference makers to never give up on their dreams and realize that, with courage and determination, anything is possible.”
The event is supported by a number of major sponsors including McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada. McDonald’s customers raised $1.5 million in Canada in 1987, and this time the relay will stop at McDonald’s restaurants as the relay moves from the east coast to the west.
Hansen said, “ To have the support of a partner such as McDonald’s — who were there from the beginning, and who will be with our team again as we travel across the country — makes this all the more exciting.”
For more information on participation or the Rick Hansen Foundation, visit www.rickhansen.com.
To learn about Rossland’s role and to get involved, contact Renee Clark at the Chamber of Commerce at 250-362-5666, or renee@rossland.com.