Athletic fundraisers in Muskoka that I am missing.

I have participated in several ‘marathons’ – in Korea, that is any distance beyond five kilometres – and have found my training improves as I prepare for them.  A few years back, I carefully, but relentlessly piled on the kms in preparation for a Terry Fox run in Seoul only to find it cancelled*.  The week before I learned of the cancellation, I ran more about thirty km.  The week after, about five km.

There were two events in Muskoka that I wish I could have been home for.  The Terry Fox run was ten days ago and a ‘Ride For Refuge‘ occurred last weekend.  I agree with the motivations for these events, but would probably have joined either one for the athletics alone.  The “Ride for Refuge” helps various charities that bring aid to impoverished regions in Africa.

There were two strange things about the write up for the Ride for Refuge that I want to touch on.  First, the opening to the article tells us that cyclists will be “putting their pedals to the metal”.  I wonder how precisely they do that?  Like the write-ups for the swim team that seemed required to include “made a splash”, “making waves”, “Dive in to competition”, or, I don’t know, some reference to “wet behind the ears”, this is a valueless cliche and unlike those latter ones, the ‘pedal-metal’ isn’t even a bit fitting.

Secondly, one featured charity, Listen to Learn, will “bring Bible resources via mp3 players to impoverished regions of Africa”.  ’Feeding the homeless’ or ‘housing the hungry’ would be far better than supplying bible resources via mp3 players.

I imagine “Hello to the people of drought-stricken Malawi.  I heard that someone in this country has supplied a little electricity for his town (1, 2).  I propose you use it to recharge our mp3 players so you can listen to stories that will not fill your belly nor put a roof overhead.  You’re welcome!”

As I wrote in the previous post, I do enjoy Christian and religious culture, but think the poor in Africa would prefer food first.  Then they would feel more inclined to listen to the MP3s.

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* I do understand why the people in Seoul cancelled the Terry Fox Run.  The run is far less well-known here and the requirements the Canadian leadership made regarding safety and insurance were overly costly.

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Not Really Related:

The Gravenhurst Town Council is working to provide various non-profit organizations free meeting rooms.  I approve.