A student is running from Ashcroft to Lytton on the one-year anniversary of the fire that destroyed 90 per cent of the Fraser Canyon community.
Lytton resident Troy Aleck, who is entering Grade 12, has been training for the run of more than 75 kilometres. He is accompanied by Tim Sam, who is also doing the run, with family and friends in support vehicles to cheer them both on.
Also accompanying the runners is Lytton Fire Rescue Chief Jason Phillips in a Lytton fire engine. Ashcroft Fire Rescue Chief Josh White and 2nd Deputy Chief Jonah Anstett escorted the group in an Ashcroft fire engine to the department’s boundary south of town on Highway 1.
Aleck says he has done runs of 20 km and 40 km in the past, but nothing as long as the run from Ashcroft to Lytton. In addition to reminding people about what happened to his town, he is raising funds to build a new basketball court in the community.
The basketball court was on the grounds of the former Lytton Elementary School building on Main Street. Along with most of the other buildings in the downtown core, the school was destroyed in the Lytton Creek fire, which started in the late afternoon of June 30, 2021.
Anyone who would like to donate to Aleck to help rebuild the court can do so by emailing timsam003@hotmail.com.
Before Aleck set off on his run, Anstett presented Chief Phillips with a cheque for $4,000, raised during a slo-pitch tournament in early May that was hosted by Ashcroft Fire Rescue.
White presented a cheque for $1,000 from his mother Phyllis in memory of his father, Rev. Jim White, who spent several years in Lytton ministering to the community.
The funds will go toward the purchase of new equipment for Lytton Fire Rescue, which lost most of its equipment, as well as its fire hall, in the 2021 fire.
On June 23, the provincial government announced an additional $21 million in funding for Lytton to help re-establish essential infrastructure and services, including fire protection.
editorial@accjournal.ca
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