Ontario man to run 750K for mental health awareness

An Ontario man is training to run 750 km in eight day this summer to raise money and awareness for mental health, something which has deeply affected his family.

“A friend of mine’s wife said something like ‘you should run across the country for a charity’ and my first thought was that I don’t have enough vacation time,” says Clay Williams, an ultramarathon runner.

“Shortly after that, actor Robin Williams passed away and he took his own life. Coincidentally, I’ve got a little brother named Robin Williams. He didn’t take his own life, but my two oldest brothers did, about 20 years apart. My wife suffers from depression as well as my older sister and my daughter, so I thought there’s a good thing to work towards.”

Williams was originally planning to run the nearly-600 km Erie Canal Marathon Tour from Albany, N.Y., to Buffalo. He was hoping to extend the route through Buffalo into Canada and run the Welland Canal to raise money for Mood Disorders Society of Canada, but in January the event was cancelled due to a lack of interest.

Without an event to raise money, Williams decided to map his own unique route, running along two of Canada’s longest man-made waterways and still complete the fundraiser. He’s now planning to run the length of the Trent-Severn Waterway and the Rideau River in the span of eight days, running nearly 100 km per day.

“We mapped out a route roughly following the waterways. It’s a unique route that takes back roads and community paths from Port Severn down to Trenton, a car ride over to Kingston and then Kingston up to Ottawa along the Rideau Canal. At the moment it’s about 750K”

Alongside Defeat Depression, a campaign run by the Mood Disorder Society of Canada, the run, titled Canal Pursuit, hopes to raise $10,000, but Williams also notes he thinks they can double that before the late-August start.

Williams will begin his run on Aug. 28 and run until Sept. 4.