Fellow in yellow completes cross-Canada run

SAULT STE. MARIE — While several people have run, walked or bicycled across Canada over the years for various causes, Nova Scotia’s Trevor Redmond stands out from that distinguished group.

Redmond has done all three – run, walked and bicycled – in separate treks across the country.

Starting a run from Halifax in 2024, Redmond reached Vancouver last month.

“I feel strong. I’m in awe that I was able to do this considering what I was up against, and that was a lot,” Redmond told SooToday in a recent phone interview.

Brightly dressed as he travels, he’s known as The Fellow in Yellow.

Redmond ran while pushing a fully loaded self-made cart containing a tent, supplies and food.

Now in his 50s, he limps as a result of a serious injury he suffered as a teen.

In 1986, Redmond was struck by a vehicle and suffered a serious injury, nearly losing a leg.

Doctors were uncertain if he would ever walk again, let alone cross the country three times.

Redmond’s run was a fundraiser for the Dollar a Day Foundation, an organization that supports mental health and addiction initiatives in communities across Canada.

His run has raised $63,000 for DADF so far.

The 10,256 km cross-Canada run was preceded by a 11,421 km walk across the country in 2006-07 and a 14,632 km bicycle trek in 2009.

His first two journeys were fundraisers for cancer research at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.

Redmond said he raised approximately $32,000 for that cause.

Facing some extreme weather conditions during his run, Redmond slept overnight in motels, homes of supporters and in his own tent that he kept in his cart.

“The land bent and folded me like in the makings of a sword and the people I met gave me the materials to withstand the impact,” Redmond said.

SooToday spoke with Redmond in February and again in March.

He distinctly remembers his stop in the Sault in the winter of 2025.

“I wasn’t just passing through the Sault. I got to live there for about a week or so just because of the weather,” Redmond said.

“The land does pound you out. The folks at the Sleep Inn in the Sault really looked after me and I’ll never forget that.

“They really lifted my spirit and gave me hope in the middle of the winter in northern Ontario. They nourished my spirit and I remember the nourishment of those free breakfasts they gave me every morning as well. They gave me lots and lots of eggs to rebuild on.”

He spoke with many Canadians on his run, encouraging people to get physically active in order to be mentally healthy.

“Exercise your mind, your body and your spirit. That’s what everybody can give themselves,” Redmond said.

The importance of that is something he learned during the recovery from his accident in the 1980s.

Redmond said that his message about the importance of physical exercise has caught on with some.

“People are telling me they’re on the treadmill imagining that they’re out there doing what I’m doing. So it has inspired people to move after long conversations on the roadside and in the communities I’ve visited.”

Officially ending his run by reaching Vancouver, Redmond said he is currently running across Vancouver Island.

He then intends to run back to Eastern Canada.

“It would be nice to go back to Stellarton, Nova Scotia where I had my accident, where I grew up. The people at the Victoria General Hospital in Halifax where I was for a month and a half were my family. I want to run all the way back to that hospital. If I can do that, I will.”

More information on Redmond can be found on his website.