Thomas Mellish, a paralegal with McEwan & Co. in Trail, ran from Rossland to Christina Lake on the old Cascade highway on Sept. 26, a 65-kilometre trek with over 4,500 feet (1,370 metres) of elevation gain. We spoke with him this week.
What was the inspiration for your run? What prompted you to do this?
I have a habit of making spur-of-the-moment decisions when it comes to long distance things. When I was in England, I decided to do a six-day cycle ride just because I thought I could. It was honestly a similar thought process here. I started running the old Cascade highway in the spring. I learned that it fed from Rossland to Christina Lake. And I thought, well, I’ve ran 20 to 30 kilometers of it. Why not try and do the whole 65? That was genuinely it.
So you were training for it without even knowing it. You were already running that route, and you’re pretty familiar with it.
Yes. That was part of the main reason why I thought it was doable, because I thought, well, I’ve done the first 20, 30 km. How bad can 65 be? He says through his gritted teeth. I didn’t really have any grand plans or illusions. It was more just “this could be fun” and it turns out that it was fun.
What did it turn out like?
Honestly, incredible. I knew that Sheep Creek and the hill coming out of Sheep Creek Valley was going to be the crux of the run, because that was, give or take, about 1,000 metres of elevation gain over 10, 12 km. And I really enjoyed that bit, surprisingly, and I didn’t find it too bad at all. So the problems I built up in my mind weren’t problems at all. If anything, they were the most enjoyable parts. I saw bits of BC that not many people are able to see. So a lot of old fantastic woodland, a lot of old really nice little alpine creeks. In that sense, it was everything I expected and a little bit more.
How long did it take?
The running was just under eight hours, I think it was seven hours, 58 minutes, but then accounting for stops, it took me about nine and a half hours. I say “we” … me and my girlfriend’s dad left Rossland at about quarter past seven, and then we made it to Christina at about half past four that afternoon.
Did he run with you or was he in a vehicle?
Andy’s more sane than I am, so he cycled it. But he put in a really good shift as well, because he was carrying some of my stuff. So he really put his neck out for me.
What was the weather like?
Stunning. There wasn’t a hint of rain or anything. It was slightly overcast, which is perfect. Although it turns out there was a planned burn in Christina that day, so the last couple kilometers became incrementally more smoky. And then the last kilometer where you sprint, well, I was sprinting from Santa Rosa Road to the communal public beach. That was incredibly smoky. But thankfully, that was only about five, 10 minutes. So for nine hours and 20 minutes, the weather was absolutely perfect. And for 10 minutes, it was slightly less desirable.
Did you run into many people along the way, or was it just the two of you?
Running from Rossland to Sheep Creek, which is kind of the halfway point, we met no one. And then there’s a guy who I’ve been talking to on Facebook called Rob about the proposed mine on Record Ridge. He met us in Sheep Creek and gave us a nice little escort because the dogs there can be less than friendly, to put it charitably. And then after meeting Rob, we saw maybe one other person coming out from Sheep Creek to the height of land and then going down, about 20K from Christina, we started seeing people, a lot of cyclists, a lot of hikers. But generally for, I’d say, two-thirds of it, we saw maybe a handful of people.
You had a cause associated with this run?
Yes, two. I work at a law firm in Trail and the lawyers there have spoken to me in passing about how little access there is to legal services here. To give an example, one per cent of BC qualified lawyers practice in the West Kootenay. It’s one of the least represented areas in terms of lawyers per 1,000 people in the whole province. So I came across the Nelson CARES Society because they provide free legal services for certain legal questions like tenant-landlord disputes, domestic disputes. So that was the first prong of it.
The second was that I’ve been running the old Cascade since I moved here in February. It’s give or take eight or nine months now of running it pretty much every week. And when I was here, in 2023, that summer, I learned about the mine proposal on Record Ridge, and that’s obviously advanced a couple of steps since then. It was also that it was running a route which is quite special to me because it’s an area I know really well and, if the mine goes ahead, it certainly won’t retain that character. So I was enjoying that whilst it still lasts with the hope that it will last.
How much did you raise?
I think it was just over $2,500 for the Advocacy Centre.
Is the old Cascade highway popular with runners or are you one of only a few?
Generally, it’s pretty popular in Rossland. I’m a bit weird, so I’ll run there in pretty much any weather. But when the weather’s nicer, an awful lot of people run the road itself. And then sometimes I’ll see cyclists coming down from the Seven Summits. There’s just kind of a runner’s paradise. It’s a link to a lot of trails in the area. And then I would see people coming up and down the hill into Rossland from Sheep Creek. I actually saw Rob a couple of times without knowing who he was on his quad bike with his bright orange helmet. So it does have a surprising amount of traffic.
Do you know of anybody else who’s made the full trek on foot like you did?
I don’t know. I asked Andy about that and he said that if anyone had, it would be a handful. I know there’s a cycle race which goes from Christina to Rossland, so people have done it on bike. But I’m not too sure whether someone’s done it on foot or not.
You’re the first I’ve heard of. That’s part of what makes this so interesting or compelling.
Well, if it’s a title that’s free, I’ll claim it.
