The Toronto Argonauts goal on Labour Day is to walk into Hamilton and leave with two points.
The goal for a pair of Argo fans is to walk into Hamilton.
Connor Sauve and Dallas Bergen are your typical Argo fans. They’re passionate about the Double Blue, though Bergen also has a strong allegiance to the team from Regina that sparked his CFL flame as a youngster. The duo is active on social media and has become part of the CFL family that’s become as equally adept at raising money for cancer care and research as it is at tailgating.
On Friday the dedicated duo will leave BMO Field with a destination of Tim Horton’s Field, arriving in time to partake in some pre-game festivities before Monday’s Labour Day Classic.
The idea for the journey came during the off-season.
“It was really random,” Sauve told Argonauts.ca. “I thought it would be a good initiative to draw attention to Canadian Football Fans Fight Cancer. I ran the idea through a couple of buddies and it just went from there.”
Walking from Vancouver to Montreal may not be doable but making the 65 km trek along Lakeshore Boulevard is, or so they hope.
“At the time I came up with the idea I was walking 10 kilometres every day for general health and mental health,” Sauve explained. “I originally wanted to do it in one shot, but I have an ankle injury and I’ve been advised to not push it too hard.”
#CflFamily I’m here at the ticats tailgate to announce my plan to walk from BMO to Tim Horton Field (65km) on the Saturday of Labourday Weekend in support of #CFLFFC!
To support please donate to the CFL Fans Fight Cancer fundraiser!https://t.co/Q1wYasVmt1 pic.twitter.com/U6ffouf0df
— Connor Sauve (@SauveConnor) June 16, 2024
Because of Sauve’s wonky wheel they’re breaking the walk into chunks; BMO Field to Mississauga on Friday, then to Oakville or maybe Burlington on Saturday, with the final leg scheduled for Sunday, where Sauve can crash at a buddy’s house in The Hammer and rest up for Monday’s tailgate.
They’ll go home and sleep in their own beds on Friday and Saturday nights, then resume the walk from where they left off the day before.
Needless to say, they’ll enjoy this week’s pre-game party a little more than usual.
Bergen will walk alongside Sauve for the duration, which is no surprise. The pair met through Argo games and have become fast friends, even stopping to fish in Lake Ontario before a recent tailgate at BMO Field.
Nobody should be shocked that he’s joining his pal for the adventure.
“Connor is such a great-hearted guy,” Bergen told Argonauts.ca. “It was at the tailgate in Hamilton earlier this season that he put a video up saying he intended to walk, but he had brought it up in the months previous that he was thinking about it. I just told him I’d love to support him and join in. I really admired his desire to contribute to this amazing cause.”
The group CFL Fans Fight Cancer has been doing just that for a couple of decades, initially forming in 2005 after Hall of Famer Ron Lancaster was diagnosed with the disease. The beneficiary each year is a cancer facility in the Grey Cup host city. Fans from across the CFL landscape gather for a fundraising event the day before the game, highlighted by a live auction.
Last year the fans raised over $40,000 for Hamilton’s Wellwood Resource Centre, while this year the funds will be donated to the Michael Cuccione Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research in Vancouver. The goal is $40,000 with $31,311 of that already raised as of Wednesday morning.
Sauve and Bergen’s effort is notable, but it’s far from being a unique occurrence.
There was a get together for Argo and Ticat fans in the off-season to raise money, while Chris Tymofichuk recently raised funds and awareness by setting a record for the fastest time seeing a game in each CFL venue, which he wrapped up at BMO Field.
He raised over $7,000 in his 15-day journey.
“It’s such a beautiful thing to experience,” Bergen said of the evolution of not only the group, but the tight-knit nature of the CFL family. “There’s no competition between host cities from one year to the next, we recognize that we’re all the same. The people that really love and care about this league want to connect with people that feel the same way.”
Sauve is hoping that sense of community extends to the walk itself.
“There’s other CFL fans that have told me they want to walk a certain stretch, or they want to meet up with us. It’s great, I love it. The more the merrier.”
If you’re looking to join it, he’ll be posting updates on their position via his X (formerly Twitter) account @SauveConnor (Bergen can be found @CFLFansToronto). Sauve has a pinned video message that includes a link for people to donate.
“I’m going to do a thread and I’ll have pictures of different places, the first one for sure will be the Argonaut Rowing Club.”
It’s appropriate that the pair will honour the Argos birthplace, while Sauve also wanted to recognize a member of the Argos family, their in-game host and content contributor.
“Sean Bowen had childhood leukemia. That inspires me that much more because Sean is a prime example of what can happen with the right care. He fought it, his family fought it, and now he’s thriving.”
Donations can be made at www.childhoodcancerresearch.org/fundraising/cfl-ffc