Aurora couple raises thousands for food banks circling P.E.I. on foot

It was a welcome relief for George and Erlinda Biondic to sleep in their own bed on Sunday night.

People often joke they might need a vacation to recover from their vacation, but the Biondics' recent trip to Prince Edward Island wasn't necessarily a pleasure trip; instead, it was a lengthy trek on foot around the Maritime province in a bid to raise money for food banks here in Aurora and in Charlottetown.

The Aurora couple travelled to P.E.I. on June 20, driving 17 hours to Fredericton, arriving on the Island at 1 a.m. where they spent the next month travelling the Island Walk Trail, walking up to 30 km each day until they had completed a circuit of the province.

George and Erlinda Biondic – 73 and 85 respectively – are no strangers to pushing themselves to the limit. Having set numerous international marathon records in their respective age categories, they've even walked from Toronto's waterfront to the City of Barrie on a fundraising mission – but this year they wanted to do something special, not only for their community, but for Erlinda's milestone birthday.

Despite their experience, however, George told The Auroran upon their return it was not without its challenges – physical and logistical.

“Let's put it this way – this was the most difficult endeavour that we've ever engaged in, and not just because of our age,” says George. “We didn't know some of the challenges that we were going to be facing until we actually got there.”

Upon arrival, they rented a minivan, dubbed “the bedroom”, which they strategically placed along the way so it would be there for them when they reached each day's finish line. It was only large enough for a couple of cots and a few personal items. Their own vehicle, which they drove out there, served as the kitchen, “stacked with coolers and dry goods hopefully to last a month,” says George.

“Our daily routine was up at 4 a.m. and the mosquitos were as hungry as we were – and I have the welts here to prove it,” George says with a laugh. “After leaving our vehicles – the kitchen and the bedroom – at the daily start and end point, we would do our walk of about 20 km or more. We would walk along shoulder-less roads quite often, or the Confederation Trail, which is nicely groomed. Our backpacks would bulge with food, drinks, clothes and maps.

“Unfortunately, Google Maps was a foreign concept to us, so I paid the price for that and should have learned. It would have saved a lot of headaches and frustration in getting lost. The other thing that was very limited were washrooms, and that made it, shall we say, interesting. Occasionally, a local would say to us, ‘Oh, [a washroom] is only two kilometres down the road, a minute in the car,' but when you're walking 20 kilometres [per day], adding four more kilometres is a different story.

“At the end of the walk, after collecting our vehicles, we would return to the campground, where Erlinda would promptly start cooking supper and making trail sandwiches for the next day. I would plan the next day's walk, where we would leave the cars and where we'd be walking, all from paper maps that were really inadequate because they didn't have all the information, the roads were not named. Lastly, we needed to communicate with the outside world, and that would be through email. Exhausted, we would fall asleep to the sounds of falling waves, which were only yards away from our campsite, which was a real positive.
“Because it was difficult [we were asked] if we would quit this challenge along the way, but we couldn't – not while people needed food. We knew we had to continue going on.”

Erlinda recalls the beauty of the island and the kindness of its people – as well as the number of Ontarians they encountered along the way.

“There were only three people doing the Island Walk and they were all from Ontario – the rest were mostly locals on their bikes or walking their dogs,” she says. “It was kind of lonely because most of the time it was just George and I on this whole road. You might think P.E.I. is flat, but we encountered some of their biggest hills – and they're really steep!”

Their mission also attracted the attention of local media, and Erlinda says when their location was announced on the radio each day, people would keep their eyes out, chat with them for a minute, or even join them for a bit.

“Some locals knew what we were doing and would invite us to have lunch or a nice afternoon chat…” says Erlinda.

“Or use the bathroom!” George adds. “We said we didn't have time. They had no idea that we couldn't wait to get back to the campground and start doing the things we had to do. We literally had no spare time.”

The important thing, as Erlinda notes, is “we came back in one piece.”

“We're happy to be home. It's nice sleeping in my own bed!” she says. “The last report from the Aurora Food Pantry was they had collected over $7,000!”

There will be little time for the couple to rest, however, as they begin a whirlwind of preparation as Erlinda is set to be inducted into the Aurora Sports Hall of Fame this fall and is already brainstorming ideas for her speech and collecting medals and other memorabilia from her storied career as a senior runner for inclusion in their upcoming exhibition, which will be curated by the Aurora Museum and Archives.

In the meantime, there is still time to contribute to their mission for the Aurora Food Pantry.

For more information on how you can keep the momentum going locally, visit www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/3719 and select “George and Erlinda's PEI Fundraising Walk from the drop-down menu under FUND.

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter