A New Year’s Eve nightmare turned into sweet relief Wednesday for a British man who has spent the last nine months running across Canada for charity, after his bag containing hours of footage from his journey was stolen in a vicious robbery and later returned to police.
Jamie McDonald, from Gloucester, England, started his New Year’s Eve at an Earls restaurant in downtown Banff, Alta. After dinner, McDonald says he and a few friends left for a party at a nearby hotel. McDonald says that, as he was leaving the party, three men popped out of another room, jumped him, and then pulled him inside where they beat him up.
McDonald, who reported the incident to police, says he suffered some scratches and bruises, but was more concerned about the bag he left behind in the room as he escaped his attackers.
McDonald, 27, began a 7,000-kilometre, cross-Canada run in March to raise money for children’s hospitals in Canada and Britain. Often dressed as comic book superhero The Flash as he darts from town to town pushing his belongings in a cart, McDonald has already trekked through nine provinces, and now just has Alberta and B.C. left to conquer.
The bag McDonald left behind in the hotel room contained his money and his credit cards. But more importantly, he said, it had his video camera inside that has hours of footage and photographs from his incredible journey.
“The bag means everything to me … I’m documenting the journey,” he said. “So I’m hoping the inspiration and the fundraising continues even when this journey is finished.”
Later on Wednesday, however, McDonald’s fortunes took a turn when a stranger dropped the bag off at the Banff RCMP detachment. He told CTV Calgary it was a moment of relief and happiness, but also an “experience I'm probably going to try and forget.”
McDonald says he can now focus on the last 850 km of his journey, arguably the toughest and most dangerous stretch as he will have to navigate the Rocky Mountains.
And despite suffering from chronic tendonitis, getting only five hours of sleep per night -- and now some cuts and bruises from his attackers -- the determination of this self-described “fundraising adventurer” hasn’t waned.
“I feel like I’ve come so far … I have to finish it. I have to make it,” he said. "We need to remind ourselves that these incidents happen and it's a blip in the ocean to actually how the world is and how amazing this country is.”
With a report from CTV Calgary’s Kathy Le and files from The Canadian Press
