TRURO - Candace Sutherland started running when she was eight, completed her first marathon at 12 and has now begun a cross-Canada trek.
The 17-year-old from Winnipeg is raising funds and awareness for four charities (The Salvation Army, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, Canadian Diabetes Association and the Canadian Cancer Society) as she traverses the country. The Vision4Hope began on March 20 in Newfoundland but the seeds for the run were sewn much earlier.
"The idea has been in my head since I was 12," Sutherland said yesterday during a rest day in Truro. "I never thought I would go through with it."
But now being on the road, where she is averaging between 30 and 40 kilometres a day, the teenager knows anything is possible if you put your mind to it and work hard.
Sutherland, who is travelling with her uncle Ken Wolf, also is raising awareness about poverty. She says in Winnipeg on her way to train she would see lots of people, including children, lining up at soup kitchens and it made her think about her own childhood in poverty, which she described as "brutal and rough."
"We always relied on food banks and stuff," she said.
Sutherland's father has schizophrenia while her mother was diagnosed with mental developmental delay when Sutherland was only eight years old. The young Aboriginal girl was put into a government agency before an aunt stepped in and battled for custody.
Sutherland wants to make a difference and has been raising money for good causes by running for years.
"She basically gave up her childhood to help people," Wolf said.
Pounding the pavement each day takes a toll on the body and means months away from home, but the youthful runner is committed to the cause.
"I miss my family and friends," she admits, "but I know I am doing something to change people's lives."
Today, Sutherland will speak at Cobequid Educational Centre before heading back on the road.
