Ecole Notre Dame des Vallees brought the Secret Marathon 3K Run to Cochrane on March 7.
Teacher Meredith McMorran decided to bring the charity event to the school with the help of volunteers from the Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan charity and Cochrane marathoner Martin Parnell.
“I went over there and we did a 3K run walk, at 3:30 in the afternoon,” Parnell said.
The students sported running bibs with no numbers; only the word “equality”.
Parnell, 337-time marathon runner and keynote speaker, was proud at how far the Secret Marathon project has come since its initial inception in 2015.
“In February 2015, I was diagnosed with a clot in the brain,” said Parnell.
“So basically, for almost six months, I was literally sitting here, looking out the window with double vision.”
But everything would change in late October 2015 when his wife would hand him an article about the first Marathon of Afghanistan.
“There were 60 runners. 10 international, the other 50 were Afghani men, except for one Afghani woman,” said Parnell.
Her name was Zainab, Afghanistan’s first female marathon runner, who had to overcome both physical and verbal obstacles just to train for the race.
In order to prepare, she decided to run inside the safety of her walled garden for hours on end.
On Oct. 15, in spite of the negative social backlash she received, Zainab successfully completed the race.
“When I read her story I decided, ‘no,’ I have to do something,” said Parnell.
“Like here I am moaning and groaning about me, when there are people in way worse situations than me.”
Parnell decided that if recovered enough to run a marathon again, then he would travel to run the second Marathon of Afghanistan.
A year later in 2016, he would find himself on a plane to Kabul, along with an audio crew and filmmakers Kate McKenzie and Scott Townend, provided by John Wilson, co-founder of Viiz Communications.
The project dubbed the Secret Marathon saw Parnell train McKenzie to run the marathon and documents the stories of Afghan runners and their adversity. It was all done in secret to avoid possible terrorist attacks, hence the name.
“There was a lot of planning for that year, and obviously my wife, Sue, had concerns,” said Parnell.
“This isn’t travelling to Florida.”
But Parnell said the trip went very well, in the end filming for a total of 11 days.
The spirit of the race would travel back to Canada with Parnell and McKenzie. It was during the Ottawa Half Marathon in May 2017 that the Secret Marathon would gain a life of its own in Canada.
While in the nation’s capital, Parnell and his team caught the attention of Running Room founder John Stanton, who spotted the shirt that McKenzie was sporting; the same one she wore during the Second Marathon of Afghanistan.
“That’s where the idea started to come, ‘why aren’t we doing that?’” said Parnell.
Parnell says it was quite a big thing to do an event with them, and with the Running Room’s sponsorship, the Secret Marathon 3K Event was born.
This year more than 1,000 runners participated across 11 Canadian cities plus countless “virtual” signups worldwide.
So far the marathon has raised more than $12,000 toward its $15,000 goal. Those who donate $30 or more receive a digital copy of the film and will have their names added to the credits.
The goal of the event is “to develop a film study for students that allows them to explore issues of equality and gender as well as thinking about the kinds of health and fitness goals they would like to set for themselves. It is our hope that the film will inspire the next generation to be leaders who are passionate about making the world a place where everyone is free to run.”
For more details or to donate, go to https://thesecretmarathon.com.
