23 May 2025
Meet Lydia Fookes. Lydia is a Kiwi on a mission to raise $2500 for Harbour Hospice by running an ultra marathon in Canada, the Squamish50 on 17 August. The 50km trail run is renowned for being tough, but worth the slog for the incredible views.
Lydia lives and works in Canada but spent her teenage years on the North Shore where she attended Rangitoto College. She is taking on this enormous challenge because in 2014 her dad, Stephen Fookes, died from cancer after a five-year battle, and she’d like to “give back to the people and groups that helped me through the grief and weight of Dad's passing”.
“About a week before Dad’s death, he was admitted to Harbour Hospice North Shore for palliative care,” Lydia explains. “What I first thought would be a daunting and depressing place was so far from it. The Harbour Hospice team was empathetic, kind and humorous, and helped make those days final days easier for Dad and so much more bearable for my family.
“They never skipped a beat to make up a bed for family, shift Dad into a room with a view of the lake or fetch him a sweet treat. After his death, I was offered counselling support that was instrumental in helping me process the grief.”
Lydia is also raising $2500 for the Missing Wingman Trust, a charity that was founded by the Royal New Zealand Air Force to support Air Force families when someone is killed, wounded, or becomes ill. The charity provided financial support for Lydia and her brother’s educations. “I was in Year 12 when my Dad passed and Rangitoto College really took care of me,” Lydia says. After Year 13, Lydia went on to study commerce and marketing at the University of Otago.
Lydia began running after her father died to cope with her grief, saying “the mental clarity I found pounding the pavement helped me come to terms with the grief.
“This hobby somehow wildly escalated to me signing up to the Squamish50. The race has 2500m of elevation gain over 50km and I thought that height was a nice fundraising target to set myself for my chosen charities.”
To donate, as well as track Lydia’s training progress, check out her Givealittle page.
It’s Harbour Hospice Awareness Month (1-31 May). During the month of May any online donation you make will be MATCHED by our Principal Partners, Mason Containers LTD., Move By Design, Diamond Fusion Glass Protection Northern NZ & Northland Waste Warkworth. To donate & see your donation double – you can make twice the difference - click here.
