Caribou Legs completes epic Peel run

Gwich'in long distance runner Brad "Caribou Legs" Firth arrived in Whitehorse Tuesday after running 1,200 kilometres from Inuvik to protest the Yukon's government's decision to open the Peel watershed to industrial development. He plans to deliver that message in person on May 5.
 

Carried by Caribou Legs

Gwich’in long distance runner Brad “Caribou Legs” Firth kicked off his epic 1,200-kilometre journey from Inuvik to Whitehorse this week.

The modern-day mailrunner is carrying a packet of letters to Yukon Premier Darrell Pasloski from Mackenzie Delta people concerned about the future of the Peel watershed.

Much of his trip down the Dempster Highway will be in the Peel watershed. He’ll cross the lower river at Fort McPherson and once in the Yukon he'll run through the Ogilvie and Blackstone River valleys.

If all goes according to plan – and that’s always a bit of a gamble when dealing with the notoriously stormy Dempster country - he hopes to complete the run and deliver the letters April 22.

Firth, who was born and raised in Inuvik but later moved to Vancouver, returned to the North last year to raise awareness about substance abuse. The former crack addict credits long distance running with pulling him out of the abyss.

Last year he ran 740 kilometres from Fort Smith to the N.W.T. capital of Yellowknife in 10 days.

Click here to track his progress.

Meanwhile fundraising continues for the Peel lawsuit against the Yukon government filed by two First Nations and two environmental groups. The trial is set for July 7-11.

They say they've raised nearly half of their $100,000-goal and there are more events planned.

The What About the Peel? art show by Yukon Artists at Work at their Whitehorse gallery on Industrial Road opens April 4 and runs to April 28.

The Yukon Youth Indoor Climbing Team’s Peel Climb-a-thon fundraiser is  April 5 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 1307 in Porter Creek. And the Zip-line for the Peel fundraiser at Equinox Rocks April 12.