In late 2018, after Cst. John Davidson was killed, myself and my partner Sgt. Hanninen asked the National Peace Officer’s Memorial Run permission to create a West Coast Run and were granted it, said Detective Daryl Young. Their Run to Remember has been going since 2005. We worked hard on organizing it and with the full support of our Chief Mike Serr it took shape and was a huge success.
2019 was our first year, and we had 10 runners. This year is our fifth, and we have 43 runners doing the whole run. There are 123 Peace Officers who have died for their communities in BC, and the Run to Remember runs one kilometre for each of them. The mission for the Run and the Ride is to bring awareness to our fallen and to help their memories and names live on. Every person that sees the Runners shirts thought, even for a brief moment, about the lives that were lost and the heroes that we are remembering. A hero remembered never dies.
The Run to Remember is an emotional rollercoaster. There are typically a lot of laughs and a lot of tears, some heavy hearts and lasting memories of our journeys to remember our fallen. We established a 11km Run to Remember for the last leg of the run, which was led by Denise and Drew Davidson the first year. This year we have Sarah Beckett’s husband, Brad Aschenbrenner leading the 11km Run from Lochside Elementary. This run is open to the public and we encourage as many people as possible to take part. We meet up with the Riders at the Johnson Street Bridge and they follow our weary legs up to the BC Law Enforcement Memorial Bastion for a brief ceremony.
The link to the 11km Run from Lochside Elementary is: Run to Remember 11km Tickets, Sat, Sep 23, 2023 at 1:30 PM | Eventbrite.
The Run and the Ride were a huge success, one that we are trying to continue building on for years to come. We are trying to create a new tradition, so that people in BC will become accustomed to seeing our shirts and jerseys in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island.
So they are not forgotten.
Come and support the runners by joining us for the last 11 kms leg of the run from Lochside Elementary to the Law Enforcement Memorial Bastion at the B.C. Legislature.
Registration costs $30.
Click on this EventBrite link to reserve your spot and order your shirt.
www.eventbrite.com/e/run-to-remember-11km-tickets-580670359677