Newmarket's Paul Weston rang in his 60th birthday by running 60 miles to raise money for Alzheimer's research,
The triathlete has been running regularly for the past 10 years and since then has completed many triathlons and Iron Man runs.
"I mostly do triathlons but if you're a triathlete, you tend to do quite a bit of running anyway," Weston said.
He turned 60 on Tuesday, May 23 and wanted to mark it by running 60 miles in two hour shifts along the Tom Taylor Trail. He would start at Riverwalk Commons and run north either 10 kilometres or 15 km to Holland Landing, depending on who he was running with at the time.
The first run began at 7 p.m. May 22 because that was midnight in the U.K., where Weston is from. He would do the run and loop back to Riverwalk Commons for a 15-minute rest to hydrate and get some nutrition in.
Groups of two to three friends would join him for shift as Weston said "to make sure that I had someone alongside me."
However, early on Weston pulled a muscle in his calf, which slowed him down to a jog or fast walk at times. Nonetheless, he continued on and finished 60 miles, about 100 km, by late morning on Tuesday.
Along with his running, he was fundraising for Alzheimer's Research UK.
"My mother's in the U.K. She's 91 years old and she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's two years ago. She's now in palliative care. She probably hasn't got much longer left," he said.
He began fundraising when he did the London Marathon earlier this year and continued to collect donations with this recent run. Combined, he has raised more than $9,000.
Weston is still hoping to raise more and is having a birthday party Friday night, where he has asked friends to donate in lieu of gifts. He also has an online page where people can make a contribution.
"What was very interesting is that the more I tell people about my mom, the more people say, 'Yeah, my mother or my father or my brother, sister, uncle, grandparents, whatever were inflicted as well,'" Weston said. "The vast majority of people I've spoken to know somebody or is related to somebody who suffered with Alzheimer's disease. That's why I want to do something to try and find a cure."
