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Adventurer raises funds for sick kids

He wears a superhero costume, and he’s certainly making a heroic effort on behalf of children’s hospitals.
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Jamie McDonald

He wears a superhero costume, and he’s certainly making a heroic effort on behalf of children’s hospitals.

Jamie McDonald wears a Flash costume and is pushing a baby stroller, both to make him visible to passing drivers and to draw attention to his cause, as he runs towards Salmon Arm.

He’s running the entire journey across Canada with only the gear he can carry in the stroller and a mission to raise money for children’s charities.  So far his efforts have raised more than $100,000.

McDonald is supporting a different charity in each province, but children’s hospitals feature prominently in his fundraising. In B.C. his efforts will go towards BC Children’s Hospital. But this is not his first fundraising effort. Two years ago, in his first fundraising exploit, he cycled 22,000 kilometres from Bangkok to his hometown of Gloucester, England. Two days after completing that he decided to attempt the world stationary cycling record and succeeded at 265 hours, raising more money for charity.

While McDonald was hoping to reach Salmon Arm this week, recent bad weather between here and Golden and repeated highway closures were hampering his progress.

There’s been other challenges as well, between cold temperatures and a New Year’s mugging in Banff, where a group of thieves stole his  bag, including photo and video documentation of the run. The bag was later retrieved.

Some Salmon Arm citizens are hoping to give McDonald a warm welcome as he comes through the region, however, due to the changing weather and road conditions, more information will be available once McDonald gets closer to the city.

For more about the run, to contribute, or to track McDonald’s progress, see the website jamiemcdonald.org.