Mt. Robson Ultra - Fundraiser for the Graftons

On June 15th, an extremely scary and life changing event took place.  A large group of us were mountain biking in Valemount, BC and our friend,  Chantelle Grafton, had a pretty major spill.  Through quick response from friends and emergency crews, she was stabilized and air-lifted to Edmonton where she has remained in neurological ICU ever since.  Her injuries are pretty serious, badly damaging three vertebrae and her spinal cord.  Thankfully her helmet did its job and Chantelle did not suffer any brain damage.  Generally, a person with this type of injury is expected to have no movement below the neck and are unable to breathe without the use of a ventilator.  So far Chantelle has been able to swallow and trigger her own breathing, but we will not know the full outcome for many more weeks.  

The Graftons are now currently living in Edmonton until Chantelle's injuries become more clear, then transferring to a rehabilitation centres in either Vancouver or Edmonton.  This will be a long hard road for the family, but Chantelle is one seriously determined badass. Her resilience is truly inspiring.    

With this type of life changing event, many costs arise.  Living expenses, mortgage payments at home, travel costs, medical bills, accessibility renovations, the list goes on.  This is why I've decided
to start a fundraising campaign that will assist  with other on-going fundraising efforts.

Here's a little about me.  My name is Hayden Manwell.  I first met Warren (aka Agent Orange) on a ski-touring trip through the Bonnington Mountains.  Without going into too much detail, its fair to say that Warren carried me through a lot of that trip. Later when Nicole, my girlfriend, and I moved up to Prince Rupert, we would meet up with the Graftons a few times a year for biking, camping, cow wrestling and ski trips.   

A couple years ago Nicole signed me up for the Mt. Robson half marathon.  Seriously un-enthused, I trained and ran it along with Chantelle and friends, completing the race in a pretty average time.  Some other friends ran their first Ultra in that same event, and it really inspired me to do the same.  So with a goal of running my own Ultra before I was 30, this is the year that I have to actually do it.

This is where my campaign kicks off.  I'm signed up for the Mt.  Robson Ultra Marathon September 7th, 2019.  I am not a runner.  In fact, I kind of hate it.  I am an extremely average athlete.  My goal is to finish.  That's it.  But I need everyone's help to carry me across the line.  

So what I am doing is selling songs to go onto my playlist for the run.  Any donation buys you any song you want me to listen to during my 6 hour long endeavour.  Good ones, bad ones, its really up to you (Wu-tang, old school metal, or Katy Perry much appreciated).  100 songs at an average of 3.5 mins per song equals about 6 hours (my estimated  finish time). 

If you donate, please leave your song in the comment box provided at time of donation, and I'll add it to the list!

Please consider donating any amount, any little bit helps and goes a long way to support a really badass couple!

*This fundraiser is in part of other fundraising efforts for the Grafton's.  All money raised will be pooled into a Registered Disability Savings Plan

Thank you.
-Hayden