The annual Terry Fox Run will return to Okotoks in September, but participants will be covering new terrain this year.
New run organizer Steve Preece said the iconic cancer research fundraiser will be moved to Sheep River Park when it’s held on Sunday, Sept. 15.
All other components of the non-competitive run, which welcomes, runners, walkers, rollers, strollers and others to the Town’s pathway system, will remain the same.
Preece said there will be a variety of routes that will start and finish at the picnic area adjacent to the playground.
Preece said he was spurred to take on the organizer’s role by his respect and admiration for Fox, whose Marathon of Hope in 1980 captivated the country. Fox’s cross-Canada run was halted after 5,400 kilometres when his cancer returned, but the legacy he created has endured.
Now in its 44th year, the Terry Fox Run has raised over $850 million for cancer research and will be held in more than 600 communities across Canada this year.
Calling Fox his hero, Preece said he met family members while working for the Terry Fox Foundation about 15 years ago.
“When I worked there for the year, my admiration for him only got deeper,” he said. “His selflessness and how he was so genuine, it was remarkable.
“Various family members have taken their turn at the at the helm (of the foundation), but one thing that's always been consistent is they've always stayed true to Terry’s beliefs and core values around the run.”
Preece, who lost his mother and best friend to cancer, said he was touched by Fox’s determination to do something to put an end to the suffering caused by cancer, particularly to the children with whom he shared a hospital ward after being diagnosed when he was 18.
“When he got better, he said I’ve got do something, we can't see kids dying like this,” Preece said of the motivation for Fox’s Marathon of Hope. “It was so altruistic. It was just remarkable and it's never stopped being remarkable.”
For more on the Terry Fox Run, visit terryfox.org. To volunteer for the local run, email Preece at [email protected].
