Canadian running across the country with a mission, crosses through Montreal after one month of journey

A Canadian is running across the country with a mission: raising funds and awareness for the Heart & Stroke Foundation.

Ultra marathon runner, Ryan Keeping, is doing this to help families like his, who are affected by heart disease.

From Halifax, Nova Scotia, Keeping has already ran daily for over a month now — CityNews joined him on his run through Montreal on Thursday.

“I find the best way to inspire someone is chase your passion as hard as you can,” said Keeping. “That’ll inspire them to do the same.”

“I think we’ve raised like over $100,000 now with the big $50,000 donation we just had,” said Keeping. “It’s amazing, you know, inspire, motivate people.”

“That’s what I’m passionate about.”

Dozens of Montrealers joined Keeping on May 2nd –- to run the last 5km of his day.

The Fondation Familiale Trottier donated that $50,000 to the Heart and Stroke Foundation Canada before the run at Mount Royal.

Keeping’s inspiration, he says is Canadian icon Terry Fox.

“He is the greatest Canadian of all time by far,” explained the runner. “Whenever it gets hard, I just think of what he did.”

“He’s a good example of you never know how long you’re going to get in life.”

“If you live it the way you know you have to and you do what you know is right,” added Keeping. “You can leave an impact that will last forever.”

Fox’s cross-country Marathon of Hope for cancer research in 1980 continues to inspire – like the city’s very own Montreal Runners who ran across Canada themselves in 2018.

As well as the beloved late marathon runner, Eddy Nolan, who ran the Terry Fox Run every year for 43 years.

Keeping’s motto: “Flip The Switch!”

“It’s just a mindset really,” he explained. “It’s like you go into a room and it’s dark and you turn the light on.”

“It’s like anything you want to do, you can become the person you want to be, just kind of flip the switch and go do that.”

Keeping challenged himself to run across Canada under 100 days.

That’s a distance of over 7,300 km to cover.

“75 km a day, for 99 days,” he said. “July 7th, I’ll be finishing in Victoria, British Columbia.”

“We feel very privileged and very grateful,” said Michelle Brisebois, senior vice president, Quebec, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. “That Ryan decided to choose the Heart and Stroke for his big challenge.”

Keeping’s message to Canadians:

“I think everyone should be active,” he said. “And really just do whatever makes you happy.”

“And go out and be a good person,” he added. “Be kind to people, it’s really easy.”