‘Turning grief into action’: Waikato man’s cross-Canada quest captured in documentary

Saturday, 18 July 2026

The grief of losing both parents to cancer in quick succession would likely be crushing for most people.

For Jonathan Nabbs, it galvanised him into running the width of Canada.

The epic 7351-kilometre, 10-month journey - during which Nabbs braved massive trucks thundering close by, encounters with bears, moose and coyotes, and brutally cold winter conditions - raised more than $120,000 for child cancer charities in both Canada and New Zealand.

And a significant part of that journey was captured in a just-released documentary titled Race Be Run, which will soon be seen on New Zealand screens as part of this year’s Doc Edge Festival.

Nabbs, who originally hails from Cambridge, is one of the three sons of lawyer Brian Nabbs and former Silver Fern, Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic coach and Hamilton City Councillor Margaret Forsyth.

Brian died in 2020 and Margaret the following year from cancer - a devastating blow for Nabbs, who was forced to suddenly consider their untimely departure, as well as his own mortality.

“I was still very much in a grieving mode, but the grief made me want to take action,” he said. “I wanted to do something with it.”

“I was very much mindful of the expression ‘Don’t bounce back, bounce forward’. It built up and I ultimately decided ‘Let’s f…ing do something about this. Let’s go!”

After initially walking the length of New Zealand’s Te Araroa Trail - “which was just a joy, and so what I needed” - he set his sights further afield.

During his days as a university student in Canterbury, Nabbs’ girlfriend had introduced him to the story of athlete Terry Fox who, having had one leg amputated due to cancer, embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research.

Fox’s heroism ended prematurely after the cancer spread to his lungs and he had to pull out of his trek. The sad end to that saga served to further inspire Nabbs.

“The borders had just opened again after Covid, and I was determined to channel my energy into something constructive, something that would honour my folks and make them proud of me.

“It had to be a big, big project. I had some time, and I decided this is probably it. This is the window. I had a young mind and a capable body - let’s go big or go home.”

Nabbs’ run began in Newfoundland, on Canada’s east coast, on May 3, 2023 when he set off on foot, pushing a baby buggy named Shania that contained his tent and all of his gear.

As his journey continued, numerous Canadian media outlets heard of his exploits and covered segments of it, including his visits to cancer wards in children’s hospitals along the route.

Eventually, his efforts came to the attention of filmmakers Prabhjit Sabarwal and Richard Carey, who made contact with him through his Instagram page, where he was chronicling his run.

The resulting 15-minute mini-documentary is titled Race Be Run.

“They actually came on board shortly before the end. I had expected it would just be some student with a camera, but the main guy was a real professional who had been involved in all these other productions like Survivor.

“They managed to make a really beautiful little film out of what they shot and making use of the archival stuff I had taken myself earlier, during my journey.”

The distinctive Superman costume that Nabbs wore for much of his odyssey “was picked up in a Halloween store in Toronto after about 3000 clicks. It was about then that I decided to kick the fundraising into overdrive, and get some attention and really make some good out of what I was doing.”

Running the width of Canada was no easy feat, and Nabbs said he may have given himself a false impression of the challenge ahead after the “blissful” experience of the Te Araroa Trail.

“I wasn’t prepared for the constant noise from the traffic - all of these massive trucks on the roads, 24-seven. It’s just constant. The main roads are close to the main railway line, and you get the noise from the trains going by too.

“It made it really hard to get a full night’s sleep … most of the run was along the side of the road, facing into the oncoming traffic.”

He had attempted to time his trek to avoid the worst of the Canadian winter. He almost succeeded.

“It was my goal to get through the prairies and into the [Rocky] mountains before winter set in. It sounds counter-intuitive, but they stop the worst of the Arctic winds from hitting you.

“I didn’t quite make it, and I had to put up with some pretty cold weather.” How cold? “It got down to -53C on the coldest day.”

Most of the towns on the route he took “were just little settlements about the size of Ōhaupō or smaller, every 50 kilometres or so. If I was lucky there would be a garage or a sign I could pitch my tent behind.”

Then there was the fauna.

“I had a couple of bear encounters. A couple of moose encounters. There were a lot of coyote.”

One of the most alarming incidents was on the shores of Lake Superior in October 2023 - “when I thought the bears would be hibernating … I didn’t get it quite right.”

On that occasion the baby buggy Shania had attracted some ursine attention while Nabbs was sleeping.

“I had left my stuff in Shania and got up to find all my shit had been ripped through and eaten. I was lucky that I had people hosting me in their home that night, or I might have been in trouble.”

The bear had even attempted to chow on a can of insect repellent “which probably didn’t taste too good.”

“By and large my body held up pretty good. I did suffer from a bit of tendonitis, an overuse injury, in about eight or nine of my tendons. It was something that stayed that way for about two or three weeks before going away.”

Nabbs has stuck around in Canada, and has found employment with a gold mining firm in Ottawa.

“I’m in a period of consolidation, you might say. I’ll be staying in Canada for at least the next year, until I get permanent residence.”

He won’t be staying stationary forever, however. Another trek is planned but, because it could involve the documentary crew that made Race Be Run, it has to be kept under wraps for now.

“All I can say is that it will be a record attempt, it will be in North America, and it will be about three years away.”

* Race Be Run can be seen as part of the online Doc Edge Festival, which includes 49 feature films, 26 short films, and 12 immersive projects. Following screenings in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, it will be made available online from July 27 to August 10, via docedge.nz.