Thirty-four years after Terry Fox was forced to end his Marathon of Hope, people across the country continue to run in his name every September.
Inspired by Fox’s determination and dedication to finding a cure for cancer, communities gather to celebrate his legacy and support cancer research. Ladysmith’s Terry Fox Run will be held Sunday, Sept. 14 at the Frank Jameson Community Centre (FJCC) at 810 Sixth Ave., starting with registration at 10 a.m. The run starts at 11 a.m. and features a 2.5-kilometre route, a five-kilometre route, a 7.5-kilometre route and a 10-kilometre route.
There is no entry fee and no minimum pledge, and the Terry Fox Run is suitable for walking, running, wheeling and riding.
The Terry Fox Run is non-competitive and is a community participation event rather than a race.
“It’s for everybody; you don’t have to be an athlete,” said Anita McLeod, the Ladysmith Parks, Recreation and Culture community services co-ordinator. “It’s an event as much as a run. It’s called a run because Terry ran, but it’s for anyone. It’s more about our community coming together.”
The route does not go up and down the hills of Ladysmith. McLeod says there’s a bit of a hill on Brown Drive, but that’s it.
“It’s a very, very accessible event,” she said.
Terry Fox was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) in his right leg in 1977 and had his leg amputated above the knee. While in hospital, he was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients that he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. Fox called his journey the Marathon of Hope.
In 1980, Fox ran an average of 42 kilometres (26 miles) every day for 143 days. He was forced to end his run Sept. 1, 1980, when the cancer spread to his lungs.
By Feb. 1, 1981, Fox’s dream of raising $1 for every Canadian was realized — the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope fund totaled $24.17 million. Fox died in June 1981 at the age of 22.
Carrying on Fox’s dream, the Terry Fox Run raises money for the Terry Fox Foundation, an independent foundation with a single mission to support innovative cancer research. The foundation supports close to $20 million in discovery-based research each year in Canada.
Eighty-four cents of every dollar raised by the foundation goes to cancer research.
“The Terry Fox Foundation is a very worthy place for [the money] to go because their administration fees are the lowest of almost any charity in Canada, and their funds go to research for all kinds of cancer,” said McLeod. “It’s innovative, cutting-edge research into cancer, and much of it is in the Lower Mainland.”
Posters and pledge sheets are going out into the community, and pledge sheets will be available at the Vancouver Island Regional Library, City Hall, the FJCC, 49th Parallel Grocery and Coronation Mall. Participants can also register online at www.terryfox.org and create fundraising pages.
A limited number of the 2014 Terry Fox Run T-shirts are now available at the FJCC.
McLeod says they are still looking for volunteers for the day of the event, and they would really appreciate course marshals at high-visibility intersections to let drivers know there is an event going on.
For more information or to volunteer, contact Anita McLeod at 250-245-6427 or amcleod@ladysmith.ca.
