What could have been a lonely all-night walk over two mountain summits and 72 km of paved road ended up being 10 km longer and a marathon of peace and good will for dozens of people who accompanied Guy Black on his journey.
The Port Moody man concluded his 72K Walk for Korean War veterans Saturday at Burnaby's Central Park. It began Friday morning at Banting middle school in Coquitlam and continued through to Burnaby and North Vancouver.
Black said although he was tired he was buoyed by the encouragement of Banting middle school students, army and marine veterans, local politicians, as well as members of the Korean Ladies Association.
"We had to push the pace," recalled Black of the final few kilometers, "And we were walking super fast and all those ladies were with us to the end."
His two sons also accompanied him on part of the walk and his wife drove the support vehicle.
The walkers hiked up Burnaby Mountain to SFU for a ceremony, continued up Mt. Seymour in North Vancouver, for another ceremony, and then, when it turned out they were ahead of schedule, detoured to the North Vancouver cenotaph to honor Donald Hastings, a North Van soldier who died during the war.
"We ended up calling it the 82 km walk," Black joked.
