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When The Dalhousie Dangerously Accelerative Ladies' van broke down in a Tim Hortons parking lot in Baddeck, N.S., the relay team thought they were doomed.

The six women had just stopped for a Timmie's run on their way to the Cabot Trail Relay Race about 20 kilometres outside of town when the van gave out. They knew it would be impossible to complete the 270-kilometre, 17-stage, 24-hour race without it.

But then cashier Melanie Landry came to the rescue.

"I was watching them out the drive-thru window for a little bit and finally I just yelled to them and I said, 'Somebody come here!'' Landry told As It Happens host Carol Off.

She got the attention of teammate Lisa Richardson, and said: "If you don't get that van started, you come in and get my keys. I have a mini-van in the parking lot, and I don't need it."

Richardson was floored.

"I'm like, am I hearing correctly?" she told As It Happens. "I stood there for a few seconds and yeah, my jaw dropped and I said, 'Well, what's your name?' 'cause I didn't even know her name! And I'm like, oh my goodness. This wonderful person is offering me a vehicle and they don't even know my name or where I'm from or anything."

But Landry — who had run the relay herself in previous years — didn't think it was such a big deal.

"I live right in town. I'm probably, what, maybe two kilometres from Tim Hortons, my house?" she said.

"And it's a small town; it's Baddeck. If I need a drive, I have 15 people I can call for a drive. You guys didn't. You guys were from out of town."

Teammates Sheila Grover and Morgan Hawes strike a pose in the back of Melanie Landry's van en route to another leg of the Cabot Trail Relay Race. (Sheila Grover)

Ultimately, the women took Landry up on her offer.

"They came in and they said, 'OK, we actually need the keys. Can we have them?' And I said, 'Sure!'" Landry said.

"And I went and got them and then as we were saying goodbye, my sister yells at me — my sister works at the same Tim Hortons — and she said, 'Melanie! At least get somebody's phone number!'"

Landry took one of the women's numbers and the team was off to the races.

"We were driving and we were just all, like, stunned. We were chatting about who was doing what leg and who was transporting who and Sheila, who was driving, she just kept saying, like, 'I can't believe she just lent us her van,'" Richardson said.

"We were telling the story all throughout the race. I'm new to Nova Scotia, I've only been here it'll be three years in October, and people were like, 'Welcome to Cape Breton.'"

From left to right, teammates Kristen Callaghan, Morgan Hawkes, Lisa Richardson, Kali Caulier, Bree Bates and Sheila Grover — all of whom travelled in the van lent to them by a Tim Hortons cashier. (Kristen Callaghan)

The team kept the van for the next day and a half, keeping in touch with Landry via text. In the end, they won first place among women's teams — even beating out Landry's former teammates.

Richardson credits Landry's kindness for giving them the boost they needed to win.

"The whole van situation and this stranger lending us a van made me be like, oh my goodness, anything is possible."

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