Maritime runner tackling a 20-hour trail run in honour of father lost to blood cancer

Justin Moore will be at the North Granite Ridge entrance to the Musquodoboit Trail system well before dawn to begin his ultra-marathon run Sunday.

His plan is to run the loop of the trail twice – a total of 90 kilometres – over a 20-hour period.

Moore’s doing it to raise money for multiple myeloma research – on the day that would have been his father's 67th birthday.

He recalls when his father was diagnosed at age 59.

“He had some major back pain, and went to the hospital because it was abnormal, and they discovered myeloma,” said Moore.

Ross Moore’s treatment included a stem cell transplant, and he went into remission for about six years. But a relapse last December meant another fight, and he died in early March.

Moore says it came as a shock to the family.

“I could have said, ‘the hell with myeloma, life is terrible, I’m upset’, and I was upset, but what it really did was, it lit this huge fire in me to continue to raise funds and awareness because our family was so devastated by it,” he says.

Moore's raised funds for myeloma research before. On Father’s Day in 2021, he raised $5,000 for Myeloma Canada by running the Bluff Wilderness Hiking Trail three times – a total of 72 kilometres.

That time, his father was there, cheering him on at every step.

This year, Moore is hoping to raise $15,000 through his team, No Moore Myeloma – and he has a little extra help.

Turns out Moore is a triplet, and while his brothers aren’t trail runners, they both agreed to join him on his epic trek.

An injury has prevented his brother Gary from participating, but brother Colin is flying in Friday night and will be running part of the way with Justin on Sunday.

He’s been training on trails in Ontario and hopes to cover 50 kilometres.

“I think it will take me 10 hours to complete if I keep up the pace that I’m used to doing out here,” he says. “My goal is to do 50 (km), after 50 if I feel like I can get out again there with him, I’ll give that a go and see what I can manage.”

For the Moores, it’s all about raising money for multiple myeloma research to help improve and extend the lives of those living with the disease, which has no cure.

It’s also a way to honour the man they say was always supportive, always social and smiling – the kind of man who “lit up a room.”

“With his passing, none of us can say enough about what he brought to people and how he made people feel,” says Colin. “I think that's pretty special.”

“My father got seven years,” adds Justin. “There are people with ten or fifteen years living with myeloma, I think that should be the normal.”

The brothers and their supporters embark on their journey the same day as the 14th Annual Multiple Myeloma March takes place in Bedford at DeWolf Park.