For a pair of Port Alberni first responders, the Wounded Warriors run will always be personal.
After a one-year pause due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Wounded Warriors Island-wide run launched Monday in Port Hardy and will continue until March 6 in Victoria. Maria Marciano and Dave Nesbitt are back as part of the eight-person relay team.
Wounded Warriors BC holds a week-long run annually to bring awareness and raise funds for mental health programs and services offered to first responders. They are an arm of Wounded Warriors Canada.
Marciano, a constable with the Port Alberni RCMP, will be running her third Wounded Warriors runB次元官网网址攕econd full run, as the 2021 version was cancelled at the last minute due to COVID-19 measures at the time.
B次元官网网址淢ental health is such a huge, important piece,B次元官网网址� said Marciano, who lost a colleague after a mental health crisis a few years ago. Mental health B次元官网网址渟ometimes gets lost in all the other things that first responders do; the mental health component gets buried under that. For me, itB次元官网网址檚 personal. I want the people I work with every single day to know thereB次元官网网址檚 help out there and where to go for that help.B次元官网网址�
She said Wounded Warriors team members have been cautiously optimistic about their chances of pulling off a full Island-wide event this year, but it was tough for her to get her hopes up until the event was confirmed.
Now B次元官网网址渢he excitement is starting to build a little bit.B次元官网网址�
The team got together Feb. 6 to run between Sooke and Sidney at the south end of Vancouver Island, and all members have been training on their own in anticipation of the kickoff. The team comprises eight first responders from communities up and down Vancouver Island who will run the 640-kilometre distance from Port Hardy to Victoria in a relay. The goal is to raise $250,000 for mental health programs.
Marciano has also been training for the Boston Marathon, which will be an in-person event in April this year, and said it has presented some challenges for her leading up to the Wounded Warriors run. She has developed B次元官网网址渁n issueB次元官网网址� with her foot, but is confident she will be able to finish her daily runs for the Wounded Warriors event. Each participant will run every day, somewhere between five and 20 kilometres per day depending on the schedule.
The run over the Hump and into Port Alberni is a long day: around 110 kms in total.
While Marciano has been training individually for the Boston Marathon, her Wounded Warriors partner, Nesbitt, has been training for a couple of his own runs. He will participate in the Whistler Alpine Meadows 100-mile race in September, as well as a Squamish 50-mile. Nesbitt has been combining both road and trail runs around the Alberni Valley to prepare for all his upcoming runs.
B次元官网网址淟ots of stuff out in the trails in town and around the mountains,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淟ast year my training would have been similar any hours. Most of my races are geared toward mountainsB次元官网网址攖hat would be my happy place.B次元官网网址�
The Wounded Warriors run B次元官网网址渨onB次元官网网址檛 be much different than any other of my training weeks, other than it will all be road (running). It will be less hours on my feet, actually.B次元官网网址�
The Wounded Warriors run is near and dear to NesbittB次元官网网址檚 heart. He has been a first responder for 20-plus years with the Canadian Coast Guard, and both teaches trauma resiliency and serves on a critical incident stress management team. Having dealt with his own issues of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Nesbitt said it is important to keep talking about mental health so people are comfortable with the subject.
He supports Wounded Warriors because they provide badly needed infrastructure for mental health programs.
Nesbitt said if he has one message to share with other first responders it is that they are not alone. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e all in this together. DonB次元官网网址檛 be afraid to speak out. Wounded Warriors is a great organization that is here to help anybody that is attached to it,B次元官网网址� he said.
There is also a virtual run happening at the same time: members of the public are welcome to sign up at and raise funds by holding their own personal B次元官网网址渞uns.B次元官网网址� The same link can be used to find the individual fundraising pages for each team member.
