East Vancouver: Home to the World’s Largest High School Marathon Program

Darve Wilkinson vividly remembers his reaction when he was told where he’d be attending high school.

“When I found out I was gonna go to Britannia, I actually cried,” Wilkinson recently admitted in front of a crowd of peers and strangers. “I cried my eyes out because I heard terrible things about the school.”

Four years later, Wilkinson can laugh about the experience because of the positive impact the East Vancouver secondary school, specifically its unique Streetfront Program, has had on his life.  

Streetfront is an alternative program that welcomes students in grades 8-10 who are struggling with the conventional high school education model. Many Streetfront participants are at-risk youth grappling with socio-economic issues that dwarf their educational adversities. The program blends 60% of core high school curriculum (English, math, etc.) with 40% physical activities to provide a pathway that is arguably more challenging given what its participants have previously encountered in school.

While hiking, camping, and other outdoor opportunities represent a portion of the program, its foundation is rooted in running. Every Streetfront student commits to running a minimum of five kilometres, three times a week.   

“It's very difficult to get anybody to run long distance, let alone really marginalized kids,” acknowledged Trevor Stokes, the Head Teacher at Streetfront. 

“The difference with us is that every single staff member, we run and we participate in everything that the students do. So it's a very different model. We run every stride with these students. There's never a situation where they can go, well you're not doing this. We're enduring everything that they are. We’re going through the same machinations that they have to. And that's a real beautiful opportunity to have a conversation about who they are and what they want to achieve.”

 

Those goals are rarely evident when youth first join the program as too often, Stokes and his fellow teachers are meeting children whose dreams have been suppressed, youth who’ve been told either explicitly or implicitly that they’re incapable of the kind of accomplishments every child dreams of until they’re led to believe otherwise.

Using running as the vehicle, Streetfront tangibly demonstrates to its participants that they are capable of more. While completing a half-marathon or marathon is certainly not a requirement of the program, many students conquer those distances during their Streetfront journey. In fact, Stokes proudly shares that Brittania has run more marathons than any other high school in the world.

“Over the 28 years that I've been doing it, we have more high school marathoners than any other place in the world. That's not like the most in Vancouver. That's not the most in B.C., that's not the most in Canada. That's the world. And if you look at the demographic in which we work with, that's exceptionally surprising,” Stokes proudly states. 

“There are so many financial barriers that include people from being participants. We remove that entirely because we've chosen an activity that really just requires will. When you run 42 (kilometres), the marathon doesn't give a crap about how rich you are, how poor you are, what’s your size, what your background is. It's just a distance. And it's really kind of uncaring, and it's cruel. But we love that because it removes all barriers. All social strata are equal at that point.”

The commitment and resilience required to train for and to run such distances translates to other facets of life for Streetfront students. The program boasts a 96% graduation rate, which is remarkable when Stokes explains that many of the participants were not regularly attending school prior to joining Streetfront. 

Though most of the events Streetfront participates in are local runs and races, there have been trips to backcountry camping expeditions in Eastern Canada, international marathons, and even an ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro. Such destinations are concrete examples of what Streetfront is trying to teach the vulnerable faction it serves.

“If we don't try to change the narrative of what's happening with these youth, it's exactly the same story that's going to be told over and over,” says Stokes. “I often use the metaphor of a bowl. They'll climb almost to the lip of the bowl, but then fall back down. We're trying to give them tools and skills to get outside of that bowl, and to gain a greater perspective so that they can see something magnificent of what they've achieved.”

The goals Streetfront’s teens create for themselves are admirable but not without associated costs. Partnerships with big shoe companies are helpful in providing footwear, but the program could not provide the extended opportunities without significant financial assistance. 

Enter the Strachan Hartley Legacy Foundation (SHLF). Named for the former UBC Football captain turned doctor whose life was tragically cut short by cancer at 30 years of age, SHLF started a community run just months after Hartley’s passing in 2007. Family and friends agreed that using the run to raise money for a worthy cause was the most fitting way to honour a man who devoted so much of his time and talent to helping others and pursuing athletics. When they discovered Streetfront, it checked all of the boxes on their list.               

“We wanted a place that provided young people with the opportunity to benefit from both academics and athletics because that’s what we all had,” revealed Aimee-Noel Mbiyozo, one of Strachan’s sisters, while explaining how the Hartley family sought to use her late brother’s legacy to assist others. 

“We found the perfect partner in Streetfront.”

Through its annual 5km and 10km treks around the streets and trails of North Vancouver, SHLF has raised more than $840,000 over the past two decades, the vast majority of which has funded Streetfront. Not only has it allowed the program to purchase the necessary outdoor gear and transportation for students who would otherwise not have the means to participate in events outside of their own community, but it has also allowed youth like Wilkinson to dream beyond their own borders and rethink what is possible in running and, more importantly, life.    

“I've been lucky enough to share stories and build bonds with other youth from Streetfront, and we've had so many experiences where maybe in the moment were not so fun, but looking back you can just see the growth, and we're all so thankful for those opportunities,” Wilkinson told a captivated audience at the 20th annual SHLF run earlier this month.

In a beautiful bookend to the way he entered Britannia four years ago, Wilkinson was once again overcome with emotion last Saturday evening. This time, however, his tears were a combination of relief, exhaustion, and joy as he completed a 100-mile run on the Sunshine Coast Trail. 

It’s safe to say he never envisioned himself running an ultra-marathon as a 17 year-old, but that’s the type of self-belief the program builds. As Wilkinson described in the final words of his speech the previous weekend, Streetfront’s true impact can’t be measured on any race course or by a timing chip. 

“I've watched youth go across the country on backpacking trips, feeling unsure about themselves, like they don't belong. They leave these trips standing shoulder to shoulder, not only with their classmates and teachers, but with a family that supports every dream they can have and boosts every spark of adventure that pops into their brains, shaping it into a flame of imagination and courage.”

Want to learn more about Streetfront? Check out this conversation with Trevor Stokes: