Police half-marathon honours super-hero; raises money for cancer society

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/05/2017 (3103 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When the Winnipeg Police Service half-marathon began at Assiniboine Park Sunday morning, one runner in particular was absent, but not forgotten.

As the 2,900 participants gathered at the starting line, Joanne Schiewe was posthumously presented the Medal of Courage, the highest honour bestowed by the Canadian Cancer Society.

Schiewe, who died last August of brain cancer at age 36, was a longtime fixture at the WPS marathon — she even participated in the 5K run last May. The year before that, she ran the half-marathon after receiving chemotherapy treatments.

Schiewe as the No. 1 fundraiser for the 2015 race ($30,000) and her in memorium fund raised another $25,000 this year.

“Even though she knew she had limited time left, she was a super-strong advocate for this race,” said race director Nick Paulet, who dedicated the 2017 event to Schiewe. “I acknowledged (at the starting line) what we were all feeling. We miss her.

“She’s very present in everybody’s thoughts.”

Paulet said the fundraiser was important to Schiewe for two reasons: brain cancer has a survival rate of just 25 per cent, and most importantly, it is the leading cause of cancer death among children.

The award was presented to Schiewe’s mother, Eveline, and partner Jared Spier.

This year’s event raised from $180,000 to $190,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society, including matching donations from Brain Canada through the Canada Brain Research Fund, a public-private partnership established by the federal government.

In all, there were 1,500 competitors in the half-marathon, another 600 in the 5K event and 315 relay teams of two people.

With Sunday’s total, the annual marathon — now the second-most popular run in Manitoba after the Manitoba Marathon — has raised $1.4 million since Paulet brainstormed the idea around a kitch table in 2005.

“It’s wicked,” Paulet said. “Unbelievable.”

It didn’t hurt that the sun was shining and the temperature, for the most part, was bumping double digits.

“Jackpot,” said Paulet, who is a sargeant in the WPS traffic division. “If you’ve seen our events over the last number of years, we’ve had everything from ice storms to blizzards. We’re back-to-back great weather years.

“So everybody’s happier,” he added. “We get a nice, big crowd. There’s tension because for a lot of people it’s their first race of the season. So there’s a lot of excitement. And people will have bibs with, ‘I’m racing in support of’ or ‘In memory of’. So there’s a lot of emotions there, too, because it’s so closely tied to the cancer society. It’s awesome.”

The events began with a fly-pass of a Canadian Forces C130 Hercules aircraft.

The Winnipeg Police Service’s helicopter, AIR1, was on site for the public to view.

After the marathon, which was put together with 450 volunteers, Paulet said organizers retired to a local watering hole to toast the participants, with the hopes of breaking the $200,000 fundraising barrier in 2018 — and surpassing the $2 million total in 2019.

“Absolutely,” he said. “We’ll see what next year brings.” 

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @randyturner15