Five local spinal cord injury organizations gathered at G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre on Monday to celebrate the homecoming of the Rick Hansen 25th Anniversary Relay to B.C.

The relay, being held 25 years later, to the day, of Hansen's Man in Motion world tour, retraces the Canadian segment of the original tour.

This time, however, about 7,000 Canadians are participating in the relay, passing along a Rick Hansen medal produced by the Royal Canadian Mint.

The relay began Aug. 24, 2011 in Cape Spear, NL and crossed into B.C. from Alberta on Monday, arriving in Prince George.

Art Reitmayer, CEO of the Rick Hansen Foundation, said there is much to be celebrated in advances to spinal cord injury research during the last quarter century.

"You're starting to see now situations where individuals, had they been injured 25 years ago, they wouldn't have walked away," said Reitmayer, who spoke at the event in Vancouver.

Increased awareness has also led to greatly improved accessibility for people with spinal cord injuries, he said.

"The discussion back then didn't even happen around awareness - curb cuts, lowered counters, accessible washrooms. That's the difference that 25 years of working on this makes."

About 70 staff members and clients from the B.C. Paraplegic Association, the B.C. Wheelchair Basketball Society, the B.C. Wheelchair Sports Association, the Neil Squire Society and the Sam Sullivan Disability Foundation - collectively known as the B.C. Spinal Cord Injury Community Services Network - as well as patients from G.F. Strong attended the event.

The relay ends May 22 in Vancouver with a celebration at the Pacific Coliseum.

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Anniversary rally retraces route 25 years later

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