Everest In Edmonton taking big steps to raise money to fight Cancer

By: Nathan Martin Edmonton Sun and Edmonton Journal

Two Edmonton friends have turned their enjoyment of hiking into raising money and awareness in the fight against cancer.

“I said, ‘What’s the distance from the base of Everest to the top?’ and we figured it out and it was 44.5 kilometres, so that’s exactly what we’ve simulated in the city of Edmonton for our charity,” said Mark Pavelich, who, along with Shonn Oborowsky, is co-founder of Everest in Edmonton.

This 58,750-step hike uses trails in Hawrelak Park, Downtown Edmonton and the river valley to create the distance to summit Everest for the event, which takes place on Feb. 26.

“We call it the coolest charity on the planet because, as you know as an Edmontonian, that third week in February could mean -40 C or -10 C,” Pavelich said.

This is only the second year for this event. Last year participants

managed to raise $13,000 for breast cancer research and this year they’re hoping to raise as much as they can for the fight against multiple myeloma cancer. Every penny raised goes directly to Myeloma Canada.

Pavelich said they don’t have a set goal, other than raising more money than last year and beating the time set last year. Last year the hike took around eight hours to complete. This year, he said, he’d like to do it in seven.

“Our charity is not for a specific type of cancer. We’re for all cancer, we’ll be doing a different cancer every year we probably won’t repeat a cancer,” said Pavelich.

Anyone who thinks they can hike that distance, or would just like to donate, can visit EverestInEdmonton.com