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When Jean-Paul (JP) Hernandez was preparing for his first marathon, he wanted it to be “memorable.”
He came across a photo of a group of people dressed as comic-book superheroes washing windows at a Pittsburgh hospital, and that’s when he decided he would don his own costume.
“Immediately, a lightbulb went off in my head,” said the 42-year-old, who currently lives in Oshawa, Ont.
In 2013, he outfitted himself as the DC Comics character The Dark Knight, and in choosing this character, he also decided on a cause — Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.
In the book series, the superhero swears to avenge the murder of his parents by fighting crime, and Hernandez says, “I wanted to make my own little vow that I never want to see another parent have to see their child suffer.”
He says the hospital is a place that’s close to his heart.
“When I was seven years old, the hospital saved my life,” said Hernandez. “One night, I had my appendix — out of the blue — rupture, and my parents frantically drove me to the hospital.”
His first appearance as the Dark Knight Runner was at the 2013 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. Since then, he became a familiar face to many families by helping to raise more than $6,000 for the hospital through running marathons across the Greater Toronto Area and beyond.
But he is now retiring the cape that made him a marathoner celebrity — he’s currently pursuing his studies at Durham College full time.
His time as the Dark Knight Runner also inspired others. Immediately after his first run, he says people started noticing the costume and they wanted in on his cause. “People said to me, ‘Let’s get a team together.'”
By the next year, a troupe of comic-book-costume-clad marathoners had joined forces to create the Justice League Runners.
“The superhero theme of Batman and the Justice League Runners is fitting for the hospital because we often view our patients and our doctors and our nurses as superheroes as well,” said Andrew Petrick from the SickKids Foundation.
Now studying in his Oshawa college’s occupational therapist assistant and physiotherapist assistant program, Hernandez says he hopes someone will carry on his legacy and his cause.
“Any charity runner is amazing in the sense of what we all want to do for SickKids.”
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