It was during the fall of the year1989 that I first started wondering what I could do about bringing more awareness to the problem of racism and discrimination. This problem not only occurred here in Pictou County but across the province of Nova Scotia, across Canada, and actually the whole world. Since I had a good running background, having run a number of marathons and shorter racing events, I came up with the idea that I might do a run of considerable distance around our county. It wasn't until early 1990 that after hearing about March 21st being the International Day to Eliminate Racism and Discrimination that I announced I would indeed be doing a run on that day. 
 
Thinking that I would be the only one who would be doing the entire run, I was overwhelmed when my good friend Doug Craig, who is also a distance runner, informed me that whatever distance I was going to run, he would run by my side the entire way. When Doug measured out the route that I had given him it turned out to be 35 miles in length. This would indeed be a challenge for both of us. 

When I set out on the first run in 1990, I was supported by my family, Doug, Rick Lorne Marsman from Truro, Egor Egan and Ed Le Blanc who followed in a security vehicle, along with police escorts, to keep us safe. My brother Francis had a van and that was used to carry refreshments, equipment, etc. The 35 mile distance lasted two years, I then added on another three miles so I could run through my home community. The old distance would end in the New Glasgow Town Hall. The new 38 mile distance would allow us to finish at the Ward 1 Community Center. It didn't take long to realize the Community Center wasn't big enough to hold the large crowds that were in attendance for the finish. We then decided to finish at the New Glasgow High School gymnasium where the facility was big enough to accommodate the large crowd.

Henderson Paris