Kamloops This Week
Twenty-five years after his Man in Motion World Tour began, Rick Hansen is on the road again — and he will be in Kamloops on Thursday, March 29.
The Man in Motion tour was undertaken to make the world more accessible to people living with disabilities.
The 25th Anniversary Relay began on Aug. 24, 2011, in Cape Spear, Newfoundland.
From there, the relay is retracing the Canadian segment of his original tour but, this time, the relay is including 7,000 people from across Canada who have made a difference in the lives of others.
The relay will feature medal-bearers who will run, walk, wheel or bike and complete their segments through a variety of forms of movement for all abilities.
The Kamloops event will start at 4:30 p.m. at the Tournament Capital Centre and will feature Hansen completing the final 250 metres of his Kamloops segment with Todd Harding, the city’s local medal-bearer.
This event will include demonstrations of wheelchair basketball and Special Olympics floor hockey, as well as a challenging wheelchair-relay race, information booths, entertainment, free food and free parking.
The legacy of Rick Hansen’s Man in Motion Tour 25 years ago has resulted in Kamloops being a more accessible community.
The two accessible playgrounds at Riverside Park and Prince Charles Park, as well as lift access at Norbrock Stadium and full accessibility at the TCC, are a few of the projects that resulted from the Rick Hansen Foundation.
In addition, there are activities taking place in preparation of Hansen’s visit.
The Swimmers in Motion Challenge invites swimmers to record their pool lengths, with lap tracking sheets available at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre, Westsyde Pool and Community Centre and the YMCA/YWCA.
The Man in Motion challenge asks participants to record distances that they walk, run or roll.
The tracking sheet is available at the TCC Fieldhouse.
As well, the Skaters in Motion challenge is running at Valleyview and Brock arenas, in which skaters are asked to record their laps around the ice.
With these events combined, the goal is to travel the full 40,000 kilometres — the distance Hansen completed during his original tour around the world — by March 29.
For more information go online to www.rickhansenrelay.com.