Former Olympic boxer runs a marathon a day for kids with cancer

Despite an extensive history in sport, Mike Strange, was not, in fact, a runner, when he first decided to run a marathon a day for almost three months. The 11 time Canadian amateur boxing champion, Olympian and Commonwealth gold medalist (1994 and 1996) was accustomed to short 5K jaunts for fitness rather than the intensive marathon grind.

Part of what he was looking for was that grind, a bit of physical pain to try and help ease the pain of others, particularly of the children in Canada affected by cancer. Mike’s mission began in 2011 when he founded ‘Heater’s Heroes’ an event in honour of his mentor, Robert ‘Heater’ Lavelle. This annual event takes place in Niagara and gives sick children the opportunity to run for themselves. The kids run a mile around a track, cheered on and supported by their family, friends and town. The money raised goes towards supporting the families of children with cancer by providing them with resources that they may not otherwise be able to afford, like a more efficient food pump or other equipment.

After establishing Heater’s Heroes, Mike began to dream even bigger and the Box Run, a string of marathons in likeness of the legendary Terry Fox was born in 2012. Strange started running in Thunder Bay on April 12. Thunder Bay is the location in which Terry Fox was forced to end his marathon of hope and April 12th was the day that Fox started his journey. Strange felt particularly connected to Fox, as he had decided to dedicate his journey to 11-year old Matteo Mancini, who had lost his leg to the same bone cancer as Fox.

When I talked to Mike, he admitted that the goal was for Matteo to dip his leg in the ocean at the end of the run, as it was Terry Fox’s dream to do. Sadly, while Mike was running, Matteo’s cancer spread to his lungs and he was unable to travel to meet up with Strange along his journey. Strange also admitted that his confidence was shaken when Matteo’s cancer spread, but he knew that “If he wasn’t going to give up, neither was I. So, when I got to Victoria on July 3rd, I dipped one leg in the ocean for me and the other in for Matteo.”

Matteo Mancini passed away early in 2013. Mike Strange, however, has continued his fight for cancer patients. Strange has said that one of his favourite Terry Fox quotes is: “Even if I don’t finish, we need others to continue. It’s got to keep going.” Perhaps that was part of his motivation behind his decision to lace up his shoes again this year, running from St. John’s to his home in Niagara Falls, a journey that will consist of a marathon a day, for 94 days.

Jill Tham, a friend of Mike’s who tutored Mancini, joined him for a few days of his journey, along with Mancini’s mother, Maria. “You cannot be around Mike without being inspired by him” Tham said in an interview with Canadian Running. Even four days of his routine was exhausting. “We were running four legs of between 8-10K a day, on our downtime we had to think about social media presence, refuelling and since everyone was a volunteer, no one was taking a salary and all the proceeds go directly to charity, there was always the question of: where are we going to sleep tonight?”

Mike dedicates each day to a different child who has been diagnosed, died of, or beaten cancer. “We put a Canadian flag as a marker in their honour at the end of each marathon. When I start at that spot the next morning, I am reminded of why I’m doing this,” Strange says.

When I talked to Mike he said that it had to be brief. He was about to head out to run his last leg of his second last day of running. I could hear the excitement in his voice when I mentioned the fact that he’d be finished tomorrow. “It’s been hard on the body” he says, laughing, “I’m missing a few toenails!”

He will arrive home on Aug. 9, just in time for the Heater’s Heroes track event to take place, the final hurrah of a brutal physical challenge and inspiring story. A lap will be run in memory of Matteo Mancini.