Led by Councillor Sue McKortoff, walkers set off on last year’s Terry Fox Run. It’s held again on Sunday. (Keith Lacey file photo)
The Town of Osoyoos is holding its annual Terry Fox Run for cancer research on Sunday, Sept. 14.
The format for the run is the same as in previous years, said Sarah Dynneson, program supervisor with Town of Osoyoos Community Services.
Registration will be held in the parking lot behind the Sonora Community Centre at 8:30 a.m., she said, and the run begins at 9 a.m.
Participants may walk, run, ride bikes or wheel a stroller and there is a choice of 1 km, 2 km, 5 km and 10 km routes.
Registration is a simple process, Dynneson said.
The event is a fundraiser for the Terry Fox Foundation, which funds cancer research, and participants can donate in any of several ways.
Some, she said, will simply make a donation in order to participate. Others will solicit donations from people to sponsor them, for example to run 10 km. There is no minimum pledge.
Those planning to solicit sponsorships can pick up pledge forms in advance at the Sonora Community Centre, Dynneson said.
Sunday’s event coincides with other Terry Fox Runs across Canada and the date is set by the Terry Fox Foundation to be the second Sunday following Labour Day. Schools may choose to hold their runs at different times.
Dynneson said the Town of Osoyoos took back organizing the run in 2012, which previously was organized by a community member.
Participation was low in 2012 at roughly 20 people, but it more than doubled at 45 participants in 2013.
The run is an annual tradition commemorating Fox, who attempted to run across Canada in 1980 with a prosthetic leg, replacing a leg that was amputated due to bone cancer.
Fox began running at St. John’s, Nfld. and ran the equivalent of a marathon each day. His run was cut short near Thunder Bay, Ont. when the cancer returned and spread to his lungs.
He died the following year on June 28, 1981.
The annual run began in 1981 and has been held in more than 60 countries raising more than $650 million in Fox’s name.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
