Cape Breton marathoner to run entire Cabot Trail as hospital fundraiser

Cape Breton marathoner Herbie Sakalauskas prepares to conquer the Cabot Trail on foot.

Herbie Sakalauskas has run about 20 marathons.

Now, he’s about to take on what might be the biggest challenge – on foot – of his life.

“I’m running around the Cabot Trail,” the Westmount, N.S., resident said on Wednesday. “Two hundred seventy-six kilometers. The full trail over four days.”

To pull that off, the 45-year-old plans to run about 60-to-80 kilometers a day, or, on some days, the equivalent of two marathons.

That’s not a double-marathon distance just anywhere.

It means heading up and over some of the steepest climbs in Eastern Canada, including MacKenzie and North Mountains in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, along with Cape Smokey.

The effort is also a fundraiser – one that is close to Sakalauskas’s heart.

“We’re calling it Run for a Heartbeat, and it’s in memory of my father Simon Sakalauskas who died of a heart attack,” Sakalauskas said. “We’re raising funds to hopefully get to $30,000 to purchase a LUCAS Device, which is a CPR machine.”

“It was brought to our attention that the emergency department (at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital) could really use a chest compression device, like a LUCAS Device,” said Maire Neville, funds development officer at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital Foundation.

Neville is also Sakalauskas’s wife.

She plans to be his number one means of support as he makes his way around the Cabot Trail.

“I will be the water person, I will be the food person,” she said. “If we encounter any weather, I will be the change of clothes person and just basically there to give him encouragement if he’s feeling tired or a moment of, ‘Oh God, can I go on?’ ‘Yes, yes you can.’”

The Run for a Heartbeat has already raised more than $10,000.

Sakalauskas is hoping to reach his $30,000 goal before he even sets foot on the Cabot Trail the first day on Nov. 7.

“I hope I do it. I think I can,” he said with a laugh.

Sakalauskas is plenty familiar with the terrain – having participated in the annual Cabot Trail Relay Race a dozen times.

Still, he knows finishing the entire Cabot Trail in just a few days is no guarantee.

However, he can’t help but look forward to what it might feel like when it’s “mission accomplished.”

“It’s going to be pretty emotional when I’m coming into Baddeck on that last night, coming into Chebucto Street,” he said. “I’m just really excited to give this challenge a go.”

Sakalauskas’s “Run for Heartbeat” is scheduled to take place Nov. 7 to 10.

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