Participants set out from the Sonora Community Centre on a previous year’s Terry Fox Run. This year’s event is Sunday. (Richard McGuire file photo)
Osoyoos will be one of more than 9,000 communities across Canada holding a Terry Fox Run this Sunday to raise money for cancer research.
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the death of Terry Fox, who set out running a marathon a day, attempting to cross Canada in 1980, after losing a leg to bone cancer.
The run is an annual tradition that began in 1981 and has been held in more than 60 countries.
The local event, organized by the Town of Osoyoos, leaves from the parking lot behind the Sonora Community Centre at 9 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 18. Registration is at 8:30 a.m.
Sarah Dynneson, program supervisor with the town, says there is no cost to register and there are options to run 2 km, 5 km or 10 km. All ages are welcome.
“When the Terry Fox Foundation put the run together, they didn’t want a registration fee,” she said. “They wanted all monies to go straight to the Terry Fox Foundation for cancer research.”
Participants may donate whatever they like.
In some communities, runners arrange for people to sponsor them, but Dynneson said it’s more common in Osoyoos for people to provide their own donation.
Typically, about 50 people participate, she said.
The route of the run is along Pioneer Walkway and then down Cottonwood Drive and finally back to the Sonora Centre.
The Terry Fox Foundation describes the run as having a non-competitive atmosphere.
“Participants can run, walk, blade or bike and most of all have fun while raising funds for cancer research,” the foundation says.
The date of the run is set by the Terry Fox Foundation as the second Sunday following Labour Day. Schools may choose to hold their runs at different times.
The Town of Osoyoos took back organizing the run in 2012 after it was organized by a community member.
Fox began his Marathon of Hope at St. John’s, Nfld. and he made it almost to Thunder Bay, Ont., when it was cut short after the cancer returned and spread to his lungs.
He died the following year on June 28, 1981.
To date, The Terry Fox Foundation has raised over $700 million for cancer research.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
