by Lawrence Lannoo
The Canadian Cancer Society received support from area golfers July 9th and 10th, as the annual “Marathon Monday” golfing competition was held at area golf courses.
Patrick Law, an organizer and participant in the event, said in an interview July 7th Marathon matches would be held this year at four different courses to raise funds for the Cancer Society.
“Dylan and I started Marathon Monday 12 years ago,” he said. “Once a year we go out there and golf from sun-up to sundown, raising funds for the Canadian Cancer Society.
“We added other Marathons in other locations this year, and we are over $20,000 in donations right now.”
The Marathons included: Patrick and Dylan competing at the Glenboro golf course; Bryce Watson and Jordan Moore at the Pleasant Valley course (on Sunday, July 9th); and Glen Tosh and his son Ty at the Souris course.
A Marathon was also scheduled for two Minnedosa golfers as well, he added.
While the other golfers had a goal of 100 holes for the day, Patrick and Dylan intended to play over 200 holes during their meet on Monday.
Their past record was 217 holes in one day, Patrick said.
Donations can be directed to the Marathon Monday cause by going online to marathonmonday.ca.
There is also an online auction attached to the Marathon fund-raising effort.
The origin of Marathon Monday had some emotional ties for Patrick and Dylan.
“I had the idea to do a marathon, and it coincided with when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer,” Law remembered. “Dylan was nice enough to do it with me and was fully on board with it, though he had no real ties to that disease.
“Then, a couple months later, his grandmother was diagnosed and passed away before… the year was up, so it was real close for both of us.”
He noted that, though Dylan grew up with him in the area, Thornborough now travels from Lethbridge to Glenboro every year to continue participating in the event with Patrick.
They have kept their competitive spirit through the years, he added, with Patrick winning seven and Dylan winning four of the annual Marathons before this year.
“We keep score the whole way through,” Law added, with their games beginning around 5 a.m. and continuing to around 8 p.m.
Patrick said they intend to continue the annual competition into the future, hopefully raising more and more funds every year to support cancer research.
Law is a golf professional at the Minnedosa Golf and Country Club.
(In an email received the morning of July 11th, Patrick provided a summary of this year’s results: “Dylan and I completed 225 holes yesterday, golfing from 5:00 am to 8:45 pm. Glen Tosh played 127 and his son played 108 holes with him yesterday as well. In Pleasant Valley, Bryce Watson & Jordan Moore played 100 holes on Sunday July 9th.
“In Minnedosa, Brett McNabb & Wyatt Rapsky played 108 holes on July 9th as well.
“This makes 1,101 holes played across Manitoba for Marathon Monday. We are fast approaching $30,000 this year across all fundraising channels.”
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