Participants will be running – as well as walking, rolling and strolling – to honour a true Canadian hero when the annual Terry Fox Run returns to Okotoks on Sunday, Sept. 15.
This year’s run will have a new location but the goal of raising money to fund life-saving cancer research remains the focus.
New organizer Steve Preece said the run has been moved to Sheep River Park where participants can choose from three routes – 1.5, 3 and 5 kilometres – that all start and finish at the picnic shelter adjacent to the playground.
"It’s called the Terry Fox Run, as opposed to the Terry Fox Race, because it's not competitive,” said Preece. “It's a participative event where you can run, walk, stroll, bike, whatever you want.”
Registration begins at 9 a.m. and the run gets underway at 10 a.m.
At the conclusion of the run, Fountain Tire is sponsoring a hot dog barbecue for the participants.
Preece said there’s a limited amount of parking at the picnic shelter area so runners might have to park in the surrounding area.
Participants, who can register online at terryfox.org or on the morning of the run, are encouraged to raise funds through sponsors.
“Terry really wanted to find a cure for cancer, so participation is great, and we love that, but I don't want to lose sight of the fundraising component,” said Preece.
He said when Fox lost his leg to cancer as a teenager, the soon-to-be Canadian icon saw kids as young as eight or nine who didn’t make it out of hospital.
“When he got better, he said, ‘Holy crap, we need to fix this, we can't have people going through that.’ And the only way to really fix that is if we cure it and that's only possible through research,” Preece said.
Fox’s Marathon of Hope in 1980 captivated the country as he ran a marathon a day for almost five months, but his fundraising odyssey was halted after 5,400 kilometres when his cancer returned.
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.
For more on the Terry Fox Run, visit terryfox.org. To volunteer for the local run, email Preece at [email protected].
