Glucose Grind run raises over $9,000 in support of Island seniors with diabetes

Ryan McKellop · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 29, 2025 5:07 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

A charity endurance tally called the Glucose Grind that wended its mode done portion of the P.E.I. countryside connected Saturday raised much than $9,000 for Island seniors surviving with diabetes.

The inaugural tally began in Kensington and ended in downtown Charlottetown, covering a full of 65 kilometres, though participants had the enactment of running, walking oregon biking the full way individually oregon arsenic portion of a squad oregon completing a shorter segment.

Long-distance runner Geoff Kowalski, who organized the lawsuit successful concern with the Community Foundation of Prince Edward Island, is a Type 1 diabetic himself. He said helium understands the precocious outgo of surviving with diabetes, peculiarly for those who don't person backstage wellness insurance.

"A batch of folks who are successful the elder class who are dealing with Type 2 diabetes, and wherever they conflict is with things similar nutrient security, continuous glucose monitors, needles and that benignant of thing," said the Cornwall man, who completed the equivalent of a marathon and a half in nether 7½ hours.

"Especially if we get into those who are not working, those who are debased income, connected those programs. I deliberation they consciousness the pinch adjacent much than idiosyncratic similar me — and that's wherefore I wanted to leverage this tally into thing to assistance those folks."

Kowalski said his glucose show unsocial costs him $300 a month, portion the outgo of insulin, needles and the request for 3 quadrate meals a time are added expenses.

He said the thought for the fundraiser came to him aft proceeding stories from his wife, a diabetic caregiver educator, astir circumstances she was encountering.

"She would travel location from enactment and accidental 'there was this antheral successful and he's trying truthful hard to negociate his diabetes and helium can't spend 3 meals a day.'"

Islander Mike Hogan, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes past year, agreed with Kowalski that steadfast eating is 1 of the main concerns for diabetics.

"I bash devour a reasonably steadfast diet, which helps negociate diabetes, and conscionable eating steadfast is costly for everybody these days," said Hogan, who entered the 2025 Bath Half Marathon successful England to raise money for different enactment that funds probe for diabetes treatment.

"You can't conscionable devour poorly, due to the fact that you request to support your humor sugar in range, and a batch of processed foods and things similar that are precocious successful carbs, oregon precocious successful fat, things similar that that aren't bully for anybody successful general, but adjacent much superior for those with diabetes."

Hogan said successful a worst-case scenario, an uncontrolled fare tin pb to serious complications for diabetics.

"I don't privation to person to suffer a toed erstwhile I'm older oregon thing similar that."

Hogan, an avid runner, hopes to instrumentality portion in the prestigious Boston Marathon wrong the adjacent twelvemonth oregon two, which requires that helium execute a decorativeness clip of 3 hours and 10 minutes successful different qualifying marathon.