Ikigai meets Invictus at the Gran Fondo Whistler

Lev Romanyshyn for NP-UN, Vancouver.

On September 6, 2024, in the pre-dawn darkness, four Ukrainian war and Invictus Games veterans joined thousands of other cyclists to ride the Gran Fondo Whistler. Those unfamiliar with cycling may well ask, “What’s a Gran Fondo?”. With Italy being the epicentre of road biking, it’s not surprising that the Gran Fondo ride originated there, with the first such race held in July 1970. It loosely translates as “Big Ride” and is a minimum of 120 km in length. You may also ask what is Invictus and Ikigai. Invictus is Latin for “unconquered” and Ikigai is a Japanese philosophy, or mantra: a reason to live, i.e., finding a purpose to one’s life. All of this will be discussed in the paragraphs below.

Gran Fondo Whistler, being 122 km long, certainly meets the Gran Fondo requirement: the route originates in Stanley Park in downtown Vancouver, crosses the Lions Gate Bridge, then follows the (undulating!) Sea to Sky Highway, ending in Whistler Village. Recently, the organizers added a Forte category, 152 km in length, which this year included an 876 metre (in your correspondent’s opinion, monster) climb up to the Cypress ski hill, then back down to join the Gran Fondo route – the climb up Cypress is rated as Category 1, being the toughest of the categorized climbs, so those 446 riders who signed up for, and completed, that Forte route deserve a huge tip of the cycling helmet.

But that is not to diminish the accomplishments of the Gran Fondo riders. At one time, not too long ago, your correspondent rode just the “easy” section of the (undulating!) Sea to Sky Highway and it nearly “done him in”. The hikers and cyclists in the crowd will especially understand the route’s difficulty in that the elevation gain from start to finish of the Gran Fondo Whistler is a heart-popping 1900 metres, embedded in an energy-sapping, body-numbing 122 km ride!

The Ukrainian veterans were: Yuriy Zekuna, Oleksandr Prokopenko, Pavlo Solokha and Yaroslav Behas. Yuriy and Oleksandr rode the Forte while Pavlo and Yaroslav rode the Gran Fondo. All four finished their respective entire rides, which is almost beyond comprehension, given the remarkable circumstances surrounding their feat: 1) they all faced physical and psychological traumas, having been injured in the war with russia: bullet and shrapnel wounds, multiple surgeries and one has a prosthetic leg; 2) they had no time to acclimatise themselves to the 10 hour time difference between Ukraine and Vancouver, nor had they an opportunity to scope out the route – they arrived Thursday and started their rides fewer than two full days later; 3) the journey itself took a tiring 2 days: the first leg was driving to Warsaw, followed by a flight to Paris, then they changed planes for the flight to Vancouver. Their ride times were very impressive: Yuriy finished the Forte in less than 6 1/2 hours, Oleksandr in just under 8 hours and Pavlo and Yaroslav finished the Gran Fondo in the 6 1/2 hour range.

When hearing about them coming here, the obvious question was, “Why come to the Whistler Gran Fondo? There are many Gran Fondo rides in Europe, all much closer to Ukraine than Vancouver and Whistler.” It turns out that they were sponsored by the Invictus Games organization, which also sponsored about one half dozen other riders, all from North America. And it is a tie-in, a precursor if you will, to the Invictus Games being held in Vancouver and Whistler this coming February 2025.

The Invictus organization only paid for the flights from Warsaw, but a number of local companies and people provided the necessary logistics to support the four Ukrainian vets while in BC. Full Basket Butchers of New Westminster and Kozak Ukrainian Foods (in New Westminster and Vancouver) provided food; Very Rev. Mychaylo Ozorovych of the Holy Eucharist Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in New Westminster arranged for the vets to stay in apartments at the Bishop’s residence and a dozen individuals, as needed, provided transportation, camaraderie, gifts and outings. The spirit of volunteerism came through time and time again during their short stay in British Columbia.

To express some of the emotions regarding this amazing accomplishment by our four war veterans, here is a posting on the Ukrainians in Vancouver Facebook page (translated from Ukrainian) by the UCC Vancouver President, Elvira Mruchkovska,

“When 122 and 152 km on the Gran Fondo Vancouver bicycle have already been overcome, the whole body aches, but the heart rejoices, then the smile on the lips of the veterans gives me life and faith in people. I read a lot of posts about how to treat our veterans who returned home crippled and life-challenged for the second time: first to stay alive, and then to survive among people. For these four veterans, sports became what the Japanese call Ikigai – the meaning of life and moving forward. To train when it hurts, to compete, even if you have never seen the route, to smile with pain in your soul for your brothers who have become heavenly angels. Yuriy Zekun, Oleksandr Prokopenko, Pavlo Solokha, Yaroslav Behas – you did it! Without adapting to local time after a two-day flight and without trial training on the mountainous terrain of the Vancouver-Whistler roads and highways.”

Compared to the traumas that these four individuals have faced, many of our own troubles seem so trivial and we can, and should, learn from these cyclist war vets! And, come February 2025 at the Invictus Games in Vancouver, we will see many more examples of soldiers, sailors and airmen and women, from dozens of countries, including Ukraine, who were dealt life-changing adversities and fought their way through them (“Invictus”) to find their purpose in life (“Ikigai”).

In conclusion, Yuriy, Oleksandr, Pavlo and Yaroslav, you found your Purpose and are indeed Hепереможeні / Unconquered and you truly embody the “Invictus slogan”, “I AM” (I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” (from the poem Invictus by William Ernest Henley (1849–1903)).

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