‘As long as I can’: 85-year-old volunteer cheers on WPS marathon runners

For the past 14 years, Don Willcox has been in the exact same spot cheering on runners at the annual Winnipeg Police Service Marathon.

He sits in a chair on Ashcroft Point in front of a path that takes runners over a bridge on top of Sturgeon Creek, near Woodhaven Park.

“It’s a very quiet spot,” 85-year-old Willcox said. “It’s a very nice spot going down over the creek here, and I just enjoy it.”

Willcox spent Sunday morning in his usual spot, encouraging runners as they ran past, clapping with a noisemaker and even exchanging some high-fives during the 14th annual WPS marathon through Assiniboine Park.

Willcox worked for Scouts Canada for 29 years. When he retired, he said he needed to keep busy.

“That’s when the Winnipeg Police Service was looking for volunteers,” he said. “I’d like to keep on going as long as I can.”

“My philosophy has always been you can’t go through life without being involved in life. So I get involved as much as I can.”

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Race Director Nick Paulet said Willcox has brought a lot to the marathon over the years.

“When you think of a heartfelt volunteer who comes out religiously in snow or rain or sun, or post-surgery for a knee or a hip or in their 80s, Don is just the quintessential, hardcore volunteer,” said Paulet.

“He’s just such an inspiration as far as how to look after your community, belonging to it, and he’s certainly an inspiration for me and the team I work with.”

But for all the encouragement he gives to runners, Willcox doesn’t actually enjoy running himself.

“No, I hate it,” laughs Wilcox, who also volunteers with FortWhyte Alive. “When I was in high school I was good in the dashes but I hated the long runs. We had the half-mile, and I even pretended to sprain my ankle but they still made me finish.”

Medal scare

Paulet said they had about 2,600 runners this year, which is the number they cap the run at.

But prior to the race, there were concerns that participants would not get medals around their neck after finishing. The shipping containers that the medals were in got held up by customs en route to Winnipeg.

Paulet said that by mid-week last week, he learned that the medals wouldn’t make it in time for race day.

“I was convinced they were not going to be here,” he said.

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“We literally emailed all of our runners, put it on Facebook and our website and Twitter letting them know they weren’t going to get their medals on race day,” he said.

But a letter that Paulet had sent out had made its way to Canadian customs officials, who were able to isolate the shipment and clear it so that it would get to Winnipeg quicker. The medals arrived Saturday afternoon.

Paulet even had a contingency plan where his wife would rent a car and try to drive the medals back to Winnipeg in time.

“Everybody was excellent about it, really no negative feedback, but everybody wants a medal,” Paulet said. “I know everybody was happy to get one, especially our first-time finishers. Some people put a lot of training into this, and now they’ll have the medal to show the reward.”