Winnipeg woman living with brain cancer wins Amazing Race Canada

A pair of best friends, one of whom was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, has won The Amazing Race Canada. As Mark Neufeld reports, the duo plan on creating a new scholarship fund for young dancers.

By Mark Neufeld

When Winnipeg’s Catherine Wreford-Ledlow was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour in 2013, doctors gave her anywhere between two and six years to live.

So when, nearly a decade later, Wreford-Ledlow and her best friend Craig Ramsay finished first in the Amazing Race Canada – a feat of strength and endurance spread across several weeks – it was nothing short of inspiring.

The duo was selected for the race in 2020, but it was postponed two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There was a time when the 42-year-old Wreford-Ledlow thought she might not live long enough to compete.

“Well, we were worried that I wouldn’t be here when it came around to being race time, but I am, and we did it, we actually did it,” she said.

“We ended up winning!” Ramsay chimed in.

Wreford-Ledlow met Ramsay when she was 12 years old while dancing at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and the pair remained friends ever since.

In 2013, when Wreford-Ledlow told Ramsay she was dizzy and was getting severe headaches, he told her to go to the hospital right away. She did, and was soon diagnosed with anaplastic astrocytoma.

Years later, when the chance to compete in a race across the country came up, it was an opportunity the best friends could not pass up.

They began in Mont-Tremblant, Que., and headed to 24 cities with over 20,000 kilometres in travel from coast to coast. The duo beat out nine other teams in the process.

Their first-place prize includes a trip around the world and $250,000 in cash.

Wreford-Ledlow and Ramsay plan on travelling more around Canada. They also want to use a portion of the prize money to set up a scholarship fund with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.

“The Royal Winnipeg invested so much in us from day one, in the school, and then ultimately back as guest artists, that it’s time to invest in the future dancers of Royal Winnipeg Ballet with a scholarship fund,” said Ramsay.

They also plan on starting a motivational speaking tour. Wreford-Ledlow wants to use her voice, now amplified by this win, to raise money for brain cancer research, and help support others living with a terminal diagnosis.

“Just because I’ve been given a terminal illness does not mean that it’s going to define my life,” she said. “And the way to get out of that is to ask for help, ask people to help you, ask your friends, your family, and it is OK to accept that help.”

Wreford-Ledlow and Ramsay say doing the race together has strengthened their friendship and now consider each other family, and they couldn’t imagine having done the race with anyone else.

—With files from The Canadian Press.

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