Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

BC CANCER FOUNDATION

Walking for Bob: An (almost) octogenarian treks from Calgary to Vancouver for cancer research

Jul 18, 2022 | 4:07 PM

KAMLOOPS — Gary Averbach got his legs going around 9:30 Monday morning (July 18), after trekking into Kamloops on Sunday night. Next month, he’ll turn 80. Before hitting that milestone, he had another he wanted to reach.

“By the time I was 80, I was going to walk — at first it was going to be Vancouver to Calgary, but I realized that Calgary is about 1,200 metres higher than Vancouver,” Averbach explains. “I could save that by walking this way.”

The journey has been dubbed Bob’s Walk for Cancer Research, in honour of Gary’s friend, cousin and business partner Bob Golden, who died of cancer last summer.

“He knew I was doing the walk, and said, ‘I want you to do this for cancer research,’” Averbach recalls. “A deathbed pledge, you know. That changed it. Up to then, I was just doing it for myself.”

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Averbach began his march on June 25 and has yet to take a rest day along a route that has taken him through two provinces along the Trans-Canada Highway.

“I’ve walked every day, an average of 27 kilometres,” Averback says. “We’re at 625 [kilometres] right now, and I think we have about 500 more to go.”

For a man who is on the cusp of his 80th birthday, Gary has been able to keep up a steady pace along his march to the sea. Even more impressive, his spirits have remained high throughout the walk.

“There have not been any serious times when I’ve thought, ‘Geez, I can’t do this.’ There have been many days when I wasn’t enjoying myself, but never a time where I’ve felt this was too much for me.”

So far, he’s raised almost $350,000 for the BC Cancer Foundation, which is close to 70 per cent of his goal.

“I want a half million,” Averbach says. “I’m not going to be happy with a penny less. We’ll do a half-million, or I’ll keep walking somewhere.”

To help Gary reach his fundraising goal, you can visit the BC Cancer Foundation website and look under the events tab for Bob’s Walk for Cancer Research.

He expects to stride into Vancouver sometime around August 10.