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Team

Ed Bain, 70, Saanich

Veteran Broadcaster and Community Champion

One of five children born and raised in small town Castor, Alberta, Bain, now 70, said as a kid he rode his bike with his sister’s transistor radio tied to the handlebars. “The light went on for me, listening to these great disc jockeys, wondering if I could do that.”

Upon graduation, the class clown took a job at a car dealership but soon resorted to the Yellow Pages to find a $1,500 broadcasting course – “a lot of money in 1973” – that guaranteed a job if he was willing to travel. He figured he’d make a better disc jockey than car jockey and went for it. Bain worked for radio stations in Saskatchewan for 11 years, spent a few years at a country station in Langley, then in 1987 was offered the job hosting The Q Morning Show at Victoria’s newly licensed 100.3 The Q.

A little more than a decade later, in 1999, Bain expanded his on-air persona, signing on as the weather guy for CHEK TV. In 2020 he added the role of co-host of The Upside, a lighthearted show that highlights people, places and events on Vancouver Island. A rhythm guitarist for the rock band Big Font, which plays local gigs for charity, Bain plays the same Fender Telecaster he bought brand new for $500 in 1973. He has been married 40 years to wife Bev; the couple’s only son Carson works in IT in Toronto.

Bain has been involved in numerous volunteer activities including Golf For Kids, Operation Track Shoes, 24-hour Relay for the Kids, Tour de Rock, United Way and dozens more over almost 40 years. Bain, who recently lost colleagues to cancer – radio host Dylan Willows, 45, to uveal melanoma, and former CHEK anchor Mike Walker, 37, to brain cancer – also rode in the 2007 Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock. Through the tour and many fundraisers he has met a lot of parents of children with cancer. “They all seem to have that same lost look in their eyes, that life is upside down and it will never really be the same again, and that just really sticks with me,” said Bain.

Bain likes that Island Kids Cancer Association helps Vancouver Island families specifically. His motivation to ride in the End2End relay is “to let families know that somebody is in their camp, on their side, trying to ease their financial and emotional pressure, and hoping for the same thing – that once this storm is over their child will be okay.”

Saskia Bjornson, 39, Victoria

Multi-Sport Coach and Adaptability Expert

Bjornson, who will be 39 when she clicks into her pedals for the End2End relay, was born in Vancouver, grew up in Victoria, and works in sport and fitness leadership.

Bjornson has played sports her whole life and has spent her career working with people to help encourage living a healthy and active lifestyle. Saskia spent many years working with BC Wheelchair Sports, where she learned to think outside the box to adapt movement for athletes of all abilities. In 2016 in Whistler, her own adaptability was tested during her first ironman when, after finishing her swim, she transitioned to her bike only for the bike seat to immediately break in half.

“It never crossed my mind to stop,” she said. She zap-strapped on the seat through its centre cut-out but “it was like a swivel chair for the first 20 kilometres.” At the next pit stop volunteers duct-taped the seat in place, but the nose of the seat slanted up. At the next stop the seat was topped with cardboard to flatten it out. “I was in so much pain, my back started flaring up going up and down hills in Whistler,” said Bjornson. “I was in agony, but looking back I wouldn’t change a thing.” She learned invaluable life lessons.

Bjornson has competed in half-irons, distance trail runs and Gran Fondos, and she came fifth in the dual swim-bike Aquabike Worlds in 2017. Given movement is her so-called happy pill, Bjornson focuses her charitable work on bringing people together to explore the great outdoors. When she’s not working out, competing, coaching or hiking with her dog, Scout, Bjornson is trying new things; for 2026, she’s learning to Salsa dance.

Bjornson’s motivation to ride in the End2End relay comes from this: “I love that this is Islanders supporting Islanders. Everyone has a story, everyone is unfortunately affected by cancer in some way. It takes a community to support one another through the good and the bad.”

Ryan Clarke, 46, Saanich

Public Servant and Dedicated Cyclist

Born in Toronto, Clarke’s family moved west through Edmonton, Vancouver, and Seattle where Clarke attended high school. Afterwards, Clarke returned to Canada to attend the University of Victoria. Eventually his two siblings and then parents followed him to Victoria. “I just fell in love with the place,” said Clarke.

The family was in a good place. Clarke’s father, who had been “grinding it out” in finance and business for years, had a knee replacement, retired and was ready to “start the next chapter of his life.” But he no sooner arrived in Victoria than, in early 2016, he was diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer. The diagnosis seemingly came out of nowhere. The family had a history of stroke but cancer wasn’t on their radar. Clarke’s father would live only five more weeks. “We were in absolute disbelief.”

Then, during the pandemic, another blow: Clarke’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She’s now in remission. If there is a silver lining, it reinforced for the family the critical importance of maintaining healthy habits and fitness, regular cancer screenings, and “not leaving everything for retirement.” Clarke and his wife Louise have a five-year daughter, Colette, who goes by Coco. He has been a cyclist since 1999 and competed in some of B.C.’s biggest races and now looks for ways to support new and younger riders.

He also works for the B.C. Public Service in employee engagement, communications and human resources, and volunteers with government’s annual fundraising campaign, the Provincial Employees Community Services Fund, which helps public service employees support charities across the province. His job gives him the excuse to dress well – much like his stylish father who wore tailored suits to work in Toronto. It’s also the excuse he uses to spend too much time checking out the latest trends at Victoria’s Outlooks for Men or eyeing the latest watches at Lugaro Jewelers.

For his sartorial inspiration, Clarke quotes NFL football legend Deion Sanders: “If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play good. If you play good, they pay good.” Clarke’s motivation to ride in the End2End relay comes from the health, happiness and community that cycling has given him, combined with the chance to give back in a meaningful way. “I look forward to working with the other riders to raise awareness of Island Kids Cancer Association and showcase the incredible work this team does to support families across Vancouver Island.”

Morgan Harker, 53, Saanich

From Support Driver to Cyclist

Harker, 53, was on one of two shifts of drivers, bike mechanics, paramedics and others who kept the cyclists safe during their 1,000-kilometre, non-stop ride from Victoria to Port Hardy and back to raise money for the frontline charity Island Kids Cancer Association.

On the road as a driver, it was all about the “business of the ride” in terms of keeping the riders safe, especially as their energy levels waned on the overnight legs. “You could see them declining as the night went on and yet still persevering.” At the same time as watching riders gut it out over hills in the dark and rain, he said he was hearing a battery of updates from families asking IKCA for help. Harker said he marvelled at the “big hearts” of the riders, the “grace and courage” of the kids, and the “strength” of their parents.

Harker recalls the riders, families, organizers and volunteers all coming together as the inaugural End2End team rolled back into Victoria. “It comes full circle and it reminds you why you’re doing all of it.” Harker would have been happy to volunteer as a driver again this year but was thrilled when chosen to be a rider. Born in Edmonton, Harker grew up throughout Western Canada. He moved to Victoria from Winnipeg in 1998, working for the federal government.

Formerly a tennis, squash and basketball player, Harker embraced everything that was considered West Coast. And on the heels of Victoria triathlete Simon Whitfield winning gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Harker believed the “West Coast thing” meant triathlons – until three knee surgeries later he decided cycling was his thing. He ran one ironman and that “was enough.” Harker, who retired in 2013, is equally thrilled to mountain bike, road ride or go endurance cycling, noting “there’s a certain joy to the pain sometimes.”

With 19- and 21-year-old daughters in university, he enjoys time with family and his hobbies of skiing, lifting weights, motorbiking, and playing guitar. Inspired by Canadian icon Terry Fox – whose charity run across Canada to raise funds for cancer research and treatment was cut short by terminal cancer – Harker’s motivation to ride in the End2End relay comes from seeing the dedication of last year’s team and the families helped by donations to IKCA. “It’s about wanting to be part of a meaningful cause that helps children and families get through something no one should ever have to deal with.”

Jeff King, 58, Saanich

Sportscaster and Compassionate Father

Dad Fred King was a well-known radio personality in Ontario and Saskatchewan for over 40 years – “my dad was sort of the Ed Bain of Saskatchewan.” The thought of trying to replicate that career was daunting. Instead, King became an electrician right out of high school. “And I was probably the worst electrician ever,” he says. “I was gonna die if I kept doing that.”

Luckily, in 1988 King took a “huge pay cut” to work his first job in radio in Saskatchewan. Two years later he went to work at the former CKDA in Victoria, then moved back to Saskatchewan to cover sports for eight years with Global Regina. “I was too small and untalented to be a pro athlete, so I became a sportscaster,” joked King. In 2000, King got a call from Bain asking if he’d consider a return to the Island to produce the morning show at 100.3 The Q. In 2001 King joined CHEK News as weekend sports anchor.

King was actually a child when he first met a 19-year-old Bain, who was hired to work for King’s father at a large radio station in Regina. Bain even took a young King and his friend to a Saskatchewan Roughriders game. “We’ve just remained friends the whole time.” Once he got his bearings in Victoria, King signed up as a media rider for the Cops for Cancer Tour de Rock in 2002. Ten years later he and his wife Azure married; the couple have two sons, Cole, 14 and Cooper, 12.

King was covering sports until March 2020 when the full force of the COVID crisis hit. On St. Patrick’s Day, with no sports or events to cover and businesses upended by public-health orders, CHEK’s CEO told King, the sports guy, and Bain, the weather guy, to head to Mount Tolmie for a live segment. “He just sort of said, ‘do something,’ so that’s what we did,” said King, who brought along a hockey net and shot pucks at Bain in goal. It became The Upside, a lighthearted show that helps highlight small businesses, organizations and charities “that need a hand.”

After 25 years on the West Coast, King considers himself an Islander, though forever a Saskatchewan Roughrider fan. He contributes his time to a wide variety of charities. King’s motivation to ride in the End2End relay: “I think it’s the right thing to do if asked. I’ve met so many families dealing with cancer and I’m in a position with some profile to help. As a father of two boys, I can’t imagine if they were ill.”

Jen Millar, 47, Saanich

Pediatric Therapist and Resilient Advocate

Millar’s then nine-year-old son Eamonn started losing his energy and appetite in February 2024. Two months later, on April 2, he was diagnosed with high-risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. “He started chemo the same day,” said Millar, 47, a pediatric occupational therapist at the Queen Alexandra Centre for Children’s Health.

“It changed our lives and perspective on life instantly,” said Millar, who knows the toll childhood cancer takes on a family and the help Island Kids Cancer Association provides. “Eamonn spent 194 days of one year at B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver for treatment,” said Millar. She, husband Trevor, and daughter Charlie travelled back and forth between the Island and Mainland for a year – sometimes together, sometimes apart, but always with someone by Eamonn’s side. “Childhood cancer takes away a childhood, stops families’ lives in their tracks,” said Millar.

The Cowichan Valley-born Millar – the fastest woman in the 2022 TC 10K and a three-time Canadian Masters cross-country running champion – never imagined her family in that place. “Time stands still for all of us while the world continues.” After more than a year of intense chemo and immunotherapy treatments, Eamonn, 11, is now on a daily maintenance program of chemotherapy pills and as well as intensive treatments every two months that leave him unable to attend school or play sports for weeks.

“We’re learning how to balance an oncology life with what used to be, his real life,” said Millar. “We will celebrate in a very big way once he’s done, hopefully, this coming August.” Meanwhile, amid the continuous setbacks even during the maintenance period, the Millars look for a “glimmer of magic” in each day, like when Eamonn, a hockey player, recently made his school’s competitive volleyball team. “It could have been Christmas Day.”

Millar felt the same joining the End2End team as a rider. “It just means the world to me.” Volunteering is in the Millar family veins as Eamonn designs socks for athletic brand Outway to raise money for IKCA and Charlie has thrice cut her hair for donations and to make wigs for kids with cancer. Millar’s motivation to ride in the end2end relay: “I am riding for all the mighty warriors who have no choice but to fight. This is the perfect time to be active with this fundraising, building connections, and creating greater awareness about IKCA and pediatric cancers.”

Kevin Nunn, 63, Saanich

Charitable Fitness Fanatic

It’s Kevin Nunn, 63, born in Cambridge, England, who for charity in 2010 dyed his flat-top hair white blonde to resemble his music hero British punk pop-rock singer Billy Idol. It was a gimmick that worked, and he hasn’t looked back since.

Nunn, who grew up in Yorkshire, spent 22 years in the British army. He might have remained in England but in January 2002 an online dating site led him to Diana in far-off Victoria. After several trips back and forth over the Atlantic “we were married within 12 months.” Despite the speed of their certain union, Nunn would have to give another 18 months to the army before moving permanently to Canada. “We are still married to this day.” Nunn, an admitted fitness fanatic who started playing football (he doesn’t call it soccer) at age four, can today be found running hills around Saanich at 3:30 a.m. before work, with another workout in the evening.

He has worked as a personal trainer. In 2008 he joined the Saanich Police Department as an equipment officer. In 2009, after receiving news that his father’s liver and kidney cancer had advanced, Nunn flew to England, but his father died while Nunn was still en route. Nunn and his brothers lowered their dad into his grave as part of a military funeral. As they did so, a double rainbow appeared. “Every time I see a double-rainbow I think it’s my dad coming to say hello.”

The next year Nunn sported his Billy Idol look as a way to raise $2,300 for the Cops for Cancer. The year after that he ran 60 kilometres over the Malahat from Duncan to Victoria to raise more than $13,500, and the following year pulled a car around the University of Victoria’s Ring Road 12 times to raise $35,000. By 2013, Nunn was a rider for the Cops For Cancer. The next year after volunteering to help ironman triathletes in Whistler, he caught the bug and by 2015 was himself competing in ironmans and triathlons – all raising money for charity.

Nunn calls it an honour and privilege to be selected to ride for End2End and support Island Kids Cancer Association. Nuun’s motivation to ride is based on the notion that one child with cancer is grossly unfair and one too many. “I’m so excited and looking forward to raising as much money as we can for such a deserving cause and IKCA.”

Sara Park, 58, Victoria

Resilient Entrepreneur and Cancer Survivor

She was losing weight and feeling like she had a sinus infection. That April she was distracted by what turned out to be skin cancer, melanoma. After it was excised, Park was back on her bike by June – but again she was lacking energy, losing more weight, and falling behind on rides with her cycling group.

“I couldn’t figure it out, because I thought I was in the best shape of my life,” said Park. Friends urged her to see a doctor. Park was referred to a specialist and diagnosed in October 2024 with Stage 2 B-Cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, an aggressive blood-based cancer. “It was all kind of bizarre.” In treatment at B.C. Cancer she saw the randomness of the disease, people of all ages and stages of cancer and all walks of life similarly affected.

As owner and operator of a boutique sales agency called Coastal Craft Beverages – it represents craft alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage producers on Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, and the Sunshine Coast – Park worked through her illness to serve her clients. She is extremely grateful to her business partner Cam Duke, their suppliers, and clients for their unwavering support and confidence. She completed six months of chemotherapy in March 2025, two months of radiation by July, and all signs of cancer were gone by September.

Park, 58, said she now focuses positively on the many silver linings. The physical, financial, and emotional challenges of the disease only strengthened her resilience, and it brought her and her family – two parents, two sisters and countless longtime friends (her chosen family) – much closer together. And while five years of clear scans is the litmus test, for now Park heads into 2026 trepidatious but “cancer free.” She was “shocked” and grateful to be given the opportunity to join the End2End team.

“I feel like I was so focused on my own journey and healing for such a long period of time,” said Park, adding she wants to focus on something “bigger than herself” and give back. Living in Victoria with a 15-year-old fur-kid named Oliver (Ollie), Park has participated in several triathlons, half marathons, and cycling races, but said post treatment that getting back to her peak cycling days “is going to take a while” – a challenge she relishes. Park’s motivation to ride in the relay: “I am excited and thrilled to contribute and make this successful and achieve the fundraising goals alongside the rest of the riders and support team.”

Sophia Pugh, 52, Victoria

Community-Focused Banking Executive

“There were a number of kids that were very, very ill,” she said. She recalls one boy in a wheelchair with whom she’d play basketball. His Italian-speaking parents didn’t speak English so at one point, when the child almost died, Pugh found herself trying to translate for them.

“When a child is ill, everyone’s afraid,” said Pugh, adding she always thought if there was any way she could offer a hand up to children and their families navigating that journey, it would be a privilege to do so. Pugh, an endurance and recreational athlete who competes in triathlons, cycling and running, was born and raised in Toronto. She now lives in Victoria with her husband Mike. Pugh is a proud mom to sons John – in North Vancouver and finishing his pilot’s licence – and William Buffey, a competitive snowboarder living in Whistler. Pugh and her husband have a blended family of five adult children and many grandchildren.

“Family and community are central to my life,” says Pugh. Pugh is district vice president with Scotiabank, responsible for all 21 branches on Vancouver Island and in Powell River. She’s especially thrilled about the bank’s many community initiatives in which the bank supports the communities it serves across Vancouver Island. Having volunteered for many cancer charities in the past, she said the branches have already raised $15,000 for the Island Kids Cancer Association which Scotiabank has matched for a total of almost $35,000.

Pugh said over her lifetime she’s seen both cancer and the organizations who help cancer patients and families. Pugh’s father had cancer. Her cousin died of the disease, leaving behind a now nine-year old daughter. Through a close friend Pugh has seen how small organizations like IKCA can have a large impact on families, particularly those having to leave the Island for treatment in Vancouver. Pugh said the fundraiser is a great way to really amplify the Island Kids Cancer Association; she is inspired by the support of her Scotiabank team across Vancouver Island, who are standing behind both her and the cause.

Pugh’s motivation to ride in the End2End relay: “Participating in this ride allows me to support important work while riding alongside a community united by purpose. Knowing I’m riding on behalf of such a committed team makes this effort even more meaningful.”

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