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In 1997 Janet Blades, of Canada Hill, Nova Scotia, became an inspiration his cousin, rider Hamish Gordon, when she embarked on The Relay-to-Recovery. It was a cross Canada run relay in aid of breast cancer research and education. The idea was to find runners right across Canada to participate. The idea was that I would run the first 10kms each day, then we’d be met by runners through the day to continue the relay. The inspiration for the Relay-to-Recovery was because her sister, Andrea, (Hamish’s cousin) got breast cancer at age 36. Having already tragically lost one aunt to breast cancer, and knowing that her other aunt (Hamish’s mother) had battled it twice, Andrea was the final straw!

The event began on May 15th 1997 in St John’s, NF, travelled across Canada to Victoria, BC arriving there on 22nd July 2003. We drove back in the camper to PEI and ran tip to tip there. From there we boarded the ferry to NS, drove to Halifax, and ran Halifax to Yarmouth on the north shore and back to Halifax on the south shore with the final end date of 25th August 2003. Janet raised $75,000; had 770 runners/cyclists and roller blade runners participate. And she personally ran 756 kms, and cycled 1,194.5 kms.

Janet, in memory of your valiant battle to make a difference we, the riders, dedicate 100 km or our ride to you.