Last year, he was first across the finish line, proudly wearing an anti-Ajax shirt and claiming the title as victor of the 2013 Kamloops Marathon.

This year, knowing the company behind the proposed open-pit copper and gold mine south of Aberdeen is a significant sponsor of the marathon, he has declined to run.

Ryan Day is the fledgling marathon’s defending champion and, as is normally the custom among marathon organizers, Day, as last year’s winner, was invited to run this year sans the entry fee and offered a room the night before the July 27 race.

However, the letter of invitation came with a caveat — that Day not speak critically of sponsor KGHM, which wishes to build the mine that has been the subject of much debate for the past few years.

Such a request would obviously include a request Day not don again the championship shirt of 2013, the one with an “X” slashed through the word “Ajax.”

While it is Day’s right — and some would say responsibility — to take his opposition to Ajax seriously, it is also the right of Kamloops
Marathon organizers to accept sponsorship investment from KGHM Ajax.

And it is not as though Day does not understand that aspect.

He does and made the point in an interview with KTW reporter Cam Fortems that he can understand the request from marathon organizers.

His beef, as he noted on his Facebook page, was his interpretation of the letter from marathon organizers that he could easily be convinced to acquiesce.

“While I can understand the request, I still find it offensive, to say the least, that they think I would sell out for a $75 fee and a room,”
Day wrote, adding the letter had him considering paying the entry fee and pulling out that anti-Ajax shirt once again.

However, as explained by Day — a Secwepemc runner from the Bonaparte Indian Band — he refuses to run races in Sun Peaks based on ongoing opposition to the alpine resort’s development by First Nations groups.

“I refuse to run any races at Sun Peaks for moral reasons. Why is it OK for me to run in a race sponsored by a company that will dig a giant hole in the ground and endanger the Thompson and Fraser rivers from Tk’emlups to the Salish Sea?” Day pondered.

“It’s not. So, I will return to the race when KGHM Ajax is no longer a sponsor.”

Kamloops Marathon spokesman Christopher Seguin told KTW the letter sent to Day by the race director was “ill thought-out and regrettable” — and it was.

It is incumbent upon those behind the Kamloops Marathon to ensure crucial sponsors are treated well, but the race itself received more unwanted attention via one letter sent than it ever would have had Day ran and won again in that T-shirt.

KGHM Ajax, meanwhile, is again pulled into a spotlight it had nothing to do with creating.

The mining company is a big player in community sponsorship in Kamloops, spending $20,000 on the marathon, which is organized by Thompson Rivers University, and spreading $200,000 across myriad city events last year.

Some have decided to not patronize any event sponsored by KGHM Ajax, but taking that stand does nothing to impact the ultimate decision on its approval.

It does, however, damage deserving charities and other groups that do so much good in Kamloops, including the United Way, Western Canada Theatre, Farm Kids Scholarship Program and Interior Community Services.

The KGHM logo is at a lot of places — Interior Savings Centre, McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre, Music in the Park.

There are plenty of causes to boycott, but who is the boycott truly hurting?

A reader commented on our website, saying she does not want to attend events with KGHM sponsorship as it brings the controversial mining project to the “forefront of my mind.”

I would argue remaining “forefront” in the minds of Kamloopsians benefits Ajax opponents as much as it does the project’s parent company.

Christopher Foulds is the editor of Kamloops This Week.