(Photo credit: Everything GP Staff/Nathaniel leigh

By Nathaniel Leigh

Community

Grande Prairie teen running across Alberta for mental health awareness

Jun 10, 2025 | 7:06 AM

A Grande Prairie resident begins her run across Alberta for mental health awareness today ( Tuesday, June 10).

Nineteen-year-old Nicole Troyer will be leaving Lloydminster, making her way through Edmonton and Grande Prairie, before ending in Demmitt.

Troyer says she was inspired to raise awareness for mental health after two separate incidents where friends of hers attempted to take their own lives; Troyer finding one of them herself.

“That kind of really made me want to help other people and show people how much everyone else cares in doing such a drastic thing like running across Alberta,” Troyer says. “And, obviously we’ll have other people coming to join the run as well. So, it’ll help make other people see much everyone cares about it.”

She says she plans to run the length of a marathon each day, with the hopes of arriving in Demmitt in roughly three weeks.

“I’ve been training for quite a few months, since like October I’ve had a running plan,” she says. “Now the running plan is getting quite intense as it’s getting closer to the day. I’m feeling good about the run physically, it’s just getting the mental part of it figured out.”

She says the social media account Mental Health Awareness Run and tag Miles for Smiles are being utilized to keep everyone informed about her journey.

“We’ll do an end of the day recap, how far we are, where we are at, how we’re feeling,” she says. “If we’re running through Grande Prairie, we’ll be able to have people stand on the sidelines, or if we’re running through town, they’ll know where to stand if they want to cheer on.”

A fundraiser has been launched to support Troyer’s run, with any remaining funds to be donated to the Solstice Integrated Wellness Center in Clairmont.