The 43rd annual Terry Fox Run was held on Sept. 17 in Sylvan Lake down at the Rotary Lighthouse Park.
The third Sunday in September is always the Terry Fox Run Sunday, event organizer Scott McDermott said.
“The weather was perfect on Sunday, a little cool in the morning, but nicely sunny and warm during the run.”
The Sylvan Lake Rotary Club and a few other amazing locals formed the volunteer team for the event where participants walked, jogged, cycled, strolled and ran along Lakeshore Drive and up into Jarvis Bay.
Many people opted to complete the full 10-kilometre route, which featured two water stations to assist in the journey, McDermott said.
“This was one of the best years ever for participation and without question, for funds raised. We typically raise three to five thousand dollars, and last year was a banner year at $5,425. This year, however, we blew that away with total donations coming in at $11,566.”
“We had one amazing local family donate $5,000 and that was brilliant, and even more so, is that without that donation, we still broke our Sylvan Lake record, so that was just great on top of great,” he added.
Businesses in the community also supported the event, McDermott said.
“Local Tim Horton’s owners JP and Tanya were wonderful again this year providing coffee, hot chocolate, muffins and timbits for everyone in the event and even some passers-by who promised to run next year.”
On Thursday the week prior to the run, McDermott had organized to do a Podcast Interview with Fred Fox, Terry’s brother that is available to watch on YouTube.
“The interview was amazing. We got to talk about so many things around Terry’s life and the Marathon of Hope that only Terry’s Brother could know,” he said.
“The Terry Fox Foundation is an amazing organization that keeps administration fees very low, which matters a lot to me. Many big organizations have super high administration costs and the money doesn’t go where you think it does. The Terry Fox Foundation is different that way and has really had a powerful impact on Cancer research.”
“I really love the spirit of Terry Fox and that from April 12, to Sept. 1, 1980, he ran a marathon a day on a prosthetic leg that was never designed for running. In fact, at the time, people who lost a leg just didn’t run. It wasn’t a thing people did, until Terry came along. Now amputees have carbon fiber blades and compete in the Olympics, Terry did that. He taught us to never give up, and if we want to change something, it’s up to use to do it,” he added.
The Terry Fox Foundation has raised over $850 million dollars to date, and the community of Sylvan Lake has proudly contributed over $66,000.
Now, the local Sylvan Lake schools are hosting their runs, some this week and some even later including Ecole HJ Cody High School which is set to take place on Oct. 4.