5th edition of Tough Mountie Challenge to support youth mental health research

Sophie Demers

The fifth edition of the Tough Mountie Challenge will be held simultaneously in Sherbrooke, Montréal, Québec City and Gatineau on October 1. The race will raise money for the Foundation of Stars, an organization with the mission to fund pediatric research to protect, promote and improve the health and well-being of children and adolescents. This year's goal is to raise $230,000. As of September 19, $113,000 has been raised.

Participants in the four cities start the event at 8:30 am. Researchers, police officers, students studying to be police, and obstacle course enthusiasts will compete for the cause. The obstacle course race is inspired by police training.

Individuals are invited to participate in teams of five with a minimum donation of $1,000 per team, or individually with a minimum donation of $200. There are two difficulty levels, the competitive and recreational. Level “S.W.A.T” is the competitive level, and the recreational level is called “Patrol”. There are 25 obstacles in the challenge, including carrying a dummy, carrying a fire hose, safely aiming, and shooting targets with airsoft guns.

The funds raised will be given to four health-related research projects. The first is assessing cannabis use among adolescents in Canada, led by Dr. Romina Mizrahi. The second research project focuses on online social media platform to support youth accessing ambulatory services. The social media platform project is led by Prof. Shalini Lal of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute in Montreal.

The third project is about adapting the protocol for evaluating and accompanying young people at risk of suicide who are seen in Quebec pediatric emergencies. This project is led by Dr. Jessica Rassy at the University of Sherbrooke. The final project receiving funding focuses on mental health of fathers and children, led by Prof. Célia Matte-Gagné at Laval University.

The Foundation of Stars, the RCMP, Police Services of the cities of Sherbrooke, Montréal,

Québec City, Gatineau, and Public Safety of the MRC-des-Collines de l'Outaouais have come together to organize the challenge. The Tough Mountie challenge is presented by the Caisse Desjardins des policiers et policières.

Since the challenge started, participants have raised $450,000 for pediatric research.

For more information or to sign up for the challenge, individuals can visit the Tough Mountie Challenge website https://gendarmedefer.com/.

Photo credit: Courtesy of the Tough Mountie challenge.

Photo caption: Tough Mountie Challenge 2019.