Nearing the close of summer, our friends from Ciele Athletics and Canada Running Series West invited us to embark on a journey through the Kettle Valley Rail Trail in the Okanagan region of southern British Columbia.

Our team of 11 runners were selected to participate in The Speed Project, an ultra-relay event founded in 2014 originally routed to race from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in the fastest time possible.

This year however, due to the pandemic and social distancing measures, The Speed Project introduced a global TSP-DIY event, held as a decentralized footrace tracking team progress and times remotely via the Strava app. Starting at 4:00AM on September 5th, teams of runners from around the world had 31 hours and 15 minutes to run as many kilometers as they could, wherever they wanted, relay-style - all in the name of charity.

Our team decided on an experiential journey from Merritt, BC to the Myra Canyon Trestles in Kelowna, running day and night in four leg intervals through desert-like terrain and the sweltering Okanagan sun. The result was an admirable finish with a combined distance of 304.8km and a total gained elevation of 1513m.

Designed for a cause, the TSP Fund is an initiative of The Speed Project to support organizations harnessing the power of running to address inequalities in health, fight systemic injustice, and create pathways to opportunity in communities worldwide.