Toronto hockey referee skates for 19 hours, 26 minutes in Petawawa, Ont.
Steve McNeil stepped onto a small community rink in Petawawa, Ont. Saturday at midnight, and will skate there non-stop until 7:26 p.m.
The marathon skate is part of McNeil's journey of skating across Canada on a mission to raise money and support for Alzheimer's care.
"My mother was battling Alzheimer's for 20 years, she was in a nursing home for 11 years," McNeil tells CTV News Ottawa. "I'm a recreational hockey referee in the city of Toronto, so in the middle of a hockey game I thought, okay it would be pretty cool if I went out and skated for 19 hours and 26 minutes because that's the year my mother was born."
McNeil lost his mother, born in 1926, in 2013 after his first marathon skate. Since then he's skated in every NHL city in Canada, with his stop in Petawawa marking his 29th marathon skate.
"It's gotten easier both mentally, physically, and emotionally," says the 60-year-old from Toronto.
McNeil says of all the cities to visit and skate in, Petawawa has been a stop he's been wanting to make for some time now.
"I'm skating for the Alzheimer's Society in the Ottawa region obviously, but at the same time I'm skating for the Marianhill Foundation because our military families are directed to them."
McNeil asks anyone who can to donate $19.26 to the Alzheimer's Society of Marianhill long-term care home in Pembroke.
"We fundraise for all our capital and equipment," says Linda Tracey, CEO at Marianhill. "So to have this unit, to maintain the building where these beds are located, this fundraising goes towards that and the equipment we use in it."
Gabriel Dalton, 14, turned out Saturday afternoon in Petawawa to show his support for McNeil. Dalton's grandmother lives with Alzheimer's and is currently on a waiting list to get into Marianhill.
"It's pretty sad because she forgets everything she forgets everything pretty much," says Dalton. "And it's hard because she doesn't even remember our names sometimes."
"A caregiver's day pretty much is 19 and a half hours a day," recognizes Tracey. "So really aligning the skate with the work of the individual caregivers is really unique."
McNeil says when he stepped onto the ice at midnight Saturday the temperature was -34 degrees. He layers up to stay warm, but says the key is to stay in motion. McNeil's trick to power through the 19 hours and 26 minutes is a constant stream of AC/DC into his ears.
"I saw them by accident when I was 18-years-old in 1978 in Toronto and I've been a fan ever since," says McNeil, decked out in his AC/DC sweat pants and toque. "Seven years ago when I found out Malcolm was diagnosed with dementia I thought it would be a nice musical tribute that I would listen to only AC/DC when I did these events."
McNeil also skates with a wooden stick named Thunder that he's had for 25 years. The hockey referee says the constant air guitar helps keep the fingers warm too.
"I think it's crazy," says Dalton, watch McNeil enjoy himself out on the ice. "Really good on him for doing that for our community and for Marianhill."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Video shows suspect setting Toronto-area barbershop on fire
Video of a suspect lighting a Richmond Hill barbershop on fire earlier this week has been released by police.
'I have the will to live': N.B. woman needs double lung transplant
A New Brunswick woman suffering from sarcoidosis, a disease that limits your lung capacity, is in need of a double lung transplant.
The kids from 'Mrs. Doubtfire are all SUPER grown up now, and we're not OK
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
Police officer hit by driver of fleeing vehicle in Toronto
York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
Boeing is on the verge of launching astronauts aboard new capsule, the newest entry to space travel
It’s the first flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule with a crew on board, a pair of NASA pilots who will check out the spacecraft during the test drive and a weeklong stay at the space station.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
Suter scores late goal, clinches series for Canucks
Pius Suter scored with 1:39 left and the Vancouver Canucks advanced to the second round of the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Friday night in Game 6.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
TD worst-case scenario more likely after drug money laundering allegations: analyst
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.