Rich Ralph Comes Home

Today, Rich finished his 4+ month rollerblading journey across Canada! What an amazing journey!! What an even more amazing accomplishment!!!










You can view more photos here and a full map of the journey here.

A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words

Rich Ralph has almost made it ... read more here.

Rich is on the Home Stretch!

My friend, Rich Ralph, is on the final week of his amazing journey! He arrived at the east end of the Fraser Valley this evening and will be making it back to Vancouver on September 8th.

Here's his final itinerary:

Chilliwack - Monday August 27 (Earls at 6:00 pm)

Abbotsford - Tuesday August 28 (Boston Pizza on Sumas Ave at 6:00 pm)

Mission - Wednesday August 29 (Boston Pizza at 6:00 pm)

Langley - Thursday August 30

White Rock - Friday August 31

Surrey - Saturday September 1

Victoria - Wednesday September 5

Duncan - Thursday September 6

Nanaimo - Friday September 7

Vancouver Finale - September 8th (English Bay at 12:00 pm)

Rich Ralph is in Manitoba!

I just finished catching up on the update of the Google Maps placemarkers for the cross country journey of my friend, Rich Ralph. He's rollerblading across Canada to raise money & awareness for Cancer Research.

The past few weeks he has been traveling through the longest and possibly the most desolate part of his journey, with very few communities along the way. But by the time you read this he will have entered Manitoba and be encountering friendly Prairie folk all around! If you're situated along Rich's path, do go out and cheer him on!

Rich Ralph Interviewed by CHML

Rich just reached Vineland, Ontario today. He was interviewed by Scott Thompson of CHML News Radio in Hamilton, Ontario. You can listen to it here. In his latest journal entry he mentioned that he's looking to get in contact with Wayne Gretzky's father, Walter. Not too long ago Walter's wife, Phyllis, died of lung cancer. Because of this, Rich would very much like to meet Walter when he passes through Brantford, Ontario.

If you know someone who knows someone who might know Walter, then please do try to see if you could make this meeting happen!

Rich Ralph Has Reached Toronto!

Rich has arrived in Toronto!!! You can read about it in the Toronto Sun here and watch a heartwarming video here. C'mon Toronto, get out there and cheer him on!!!

Rich's Progress To Date

I just finished updating the customized Google map with entries from Rich's daily journal. Here's an overview of his progress to date - all of this in 43 days - pretty amazing!

This past weekend he spent resting in his hometown of Kingston, Ontario. He's on his way to Toronto soon!

Rich Ralph on YouTube!!!

This is fantastic:

Rich Ralph Has Made It To Ontario!

My friend, Rich, has entered Ontario and is feeling great! If you're in the province do check out his website and cheer him on as he passes through your community: SeeTheEnd.com

Rich Ralph Continues His Journey

I just caught up on updating the Google Map that's tracking Rich Ralph on his rollerblading journey across Canada to raise money for cancer research. He is almost in Quebec now, having survived a "sticky" section of highway and a near attack from a ferocious wild rabbit! Remember, he's not doing this for fun. So if you can spare a few bucks, please do think about making a donation. You can also help by:

• Letting your friends & family along the route know he's coming
• Leave a word of encouragement on his daily journal
• Inform any media connections you may have out there

Rich Ralph in the Halifax Newspaper!

Here's a great article about Rich's journey. There's nothing better than lighting up the imagination of a young kid, inspiring them to achieve something greater than they had ever envisioned before.

An Amazing Day in Newfoundland

If you want to read something amazing, follow this link to Rich Ralph's time in Newfoundland on May 17th. What an amazing journey he's having and an even more outstanding thing he's doing!

I've improved my clickable map on the right such that each entry now provides a direct link to its original journal entry. But you really do need to open the map full-screen to appreciate his journey in full. Click here to see what he's done so far.

SeeTheEnd.ca - The Journey Has Started!

My friend and fellow volleyball player, Rich Ralph, has started his huge rollerblading journey across Canada! I've given his campaign a donation in memory of Mary Haji, who was my friend's mom, but she succumbed to cancer in 2002. This was very apropos because Rich's journey is all about raising money for cancer research.

He's keeping a daily journal and it's very inspiring. Here are some snippets:

May 5

And so it begins . . . We got up nice and early so we could get to Mile 0 before 9am. We drove down to the harbour in St. John’s where I strapped my skates on beside the water. I actually started at a small park called Harbourside Park (where inline skating is prohibited). But since it was very early on a Saturday morning, I figured I could dip my hand in the water and get out of the park before anyone even noticed I was there. When I left the park I headed to City Hall for a few more photos of me standing at the Mile 0 sign.

And just like that, I was on my way through St. John’s towards Paradise (literally). There is a small suburb of St. John’s called Paradise.

As I skated along with my parents trailing, I was over-whelmed by the people of Newfoundland. I wasn’t too sure how I would be received since many people set off from St. John’s each year on cross-Canada adventures. But I guess my idea to rollerblade has turned some heads. People were honking, waving and encouraging me. It didn’t matter at all to them that I was slowing traffic down. They seemed as excited as I was. Some people even stopped their car in front of me and handed me cash donations on the spot! It was fantastic!


May 7

Things are getting better every day now! A lot has happened in the last couple days. After my 70 km start on Saturday, I was forced to rest on Sunday while we waited for the ignition switch to arrive from Toronto. This gave me some extra time to catch up on some e-mails and make some new media contacts. The ignition switch was to be flown in on Monday morning, but we were warned that if it was too foggy, the shipment would be delayed until the fog lifts. Our recent run of luck had us concerned that we would be stuck in Harbour Grace for another full day. That would put me almost 5 days behind schedule by the time I got on the road again. Fortunately, the sun was shining down on us today. The ignition switch arrived with no problems.

Later in the evening, Bill told us we should call his favorite radio station and tell them about my Skate For Hope. So my dad called the VOCM station and was put through to the talkshow host almost instantly. It made for some fantastic provincial publicity! Within minutes, I had messages from people who heard about my on the radio show (including another radio station CHRM from Memorial University).


May 8

I woke up bright and early behind the gas station in Whitbourne. I had my ankles taped and my skates laced up by 7am. I wanted to get an hour in before breakfast. The sky was gray and looked like rain was coming, but the weather was forecasting that the clouds would pass and the sun would break through. Sure enough, the rain started just after breakfast. The reliability of the weather predictions makes me feel like I’m back in Vancouver! It didn’t rain too hard though. Just a constant drizzle. I didn’t get too wet, but my skates spit quite a bit of mud up the back of my legs.

When we stopped for lunch about 10 km short of a town called Come By Chance, I decided to have a nap before starting again. When I woke up, the roads were dry! On came the shorts.

As I continued on, I noticed a car off in the distance sitting on the opposite side of the road. When I approached, two women got out of the car and flagged me down. They had passed me earlier and pulled over to wait for me so they could make a donation! Another prime example of the Newfoundland people.

I finally arrived in Clarenville around 4:30 and was greeted by a local reporter with the Clarenville Packet. I welcomed Kathy into our RV for a quick interview and a photo. She’s hoping to print an article later this week.

I had now reached 100 km for the day! My first 100 K day! But for those of you who know me well, 100 km just wasn’t good enough. I was feeling good, so I choose to move ahead for a little longer. The next town was Port Blanford. But it was 30 km away. I was thinking about going about half way and driving in for the night. But again, my stubbornness came through. I fought through my exhaustion and made it to Port Blanford just after 7 pm. And I’m glad I did.

The first gas bar we stopped at was the Cornerstop. They offered to let us stay there and plug our hydro in. And on top of that, a few locals began showing up and offering donations! The highlight of the evening was a donation from a couple of fantastic kids, Nicholas and Jillian. I hope I’ve inspired them in some way.

Now that I’ve had my bison fajita dinner, I’m just about ready for bed.

130 km today. That’s more than I thought I’d ever do!


Me again. You can read Rich's full journal here and leave him a message here. Please make a donation if you can. And check out the route. If he's coming through your community then take a moment to contact your local newspapers, radio, and TV stations and let them know about his campaign. This isn't about Rich, it's about raising money for cancer research and an example of how one Canadian can inspire others!

See The End: A Campaign to Fund Cancer Research

I want to remind everyone that my friend, Rich Ralph, a Vancouverite transplanted from Toronto & Kingston a few years ago, is about to embark on a rollerblade across Canada to raise money for Cancer Research. He'll be skating from East to West, covering 10,070 km. No easy feat, but I'm convinced he will complete the task!

If you can make an individual donation, great. If you can get your company to make a larger donation, even better. If you're in the media or have media contacts, any press Rich can receive will drum up many more donations. It's not about him, it about the cause.

The best way to contact Rich is just to e-mail him: info@seetheend.com

Or just go directly to the donation form.

Please do help if you can!!