Ontario father completes 8,000-kilometre cross-Canada run raising mental health awareness

Myles Dininio, a 40-year-old father of two from Zephyr, Ontario, completed an extraordinary 8,000-kilometre run across Canada from April 1 to August 22, 2026, running from Newfoundland to Vancouver. Over 148 days, Dininio raised more than $50,000 for Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

Dininio's stated goal was to raise awareness about mental health, but the journey became something deeper. "It never felt like a sense of accomplishment or a great achievement. I've been trying to process the end of it all, and understand what it is I am feeling," he said.

The run was driven by personal experience. "Mental health has affected me my whole life. From a very being, I had little issues that I didn't realize were known as mental health issues," Dininio explained. During the run, strangers joined him for stretches and shared their own mental health struggles. "I quit this run probably 50 times in my head, on the side of the road, but never actually followed it through," he said.

As Dininio covered ground, the fundraising mission evolved. "I lost interest in the actual fundraising part, not lost interest, but the fundraising didn't matter once I realized how many people I was actually reaching. And that was worth more than any dollar amount."

Dininio's core message resonated throughout: "One of the primary things when we deal with mental health issues is that we feel so alone. And I think we all need to know we are not alone. There is always someone willing to listen."