A giant banner photo of a tired but determined-looking Terry Fox overlooked participants as the 37th annual at Douglas Park in 91原创 City got underway Sunday morning.
The picture was taken while the Marathon of Hope hero was running across Canada in 1980 to raise money for cancer research.
There were 228 participants in the 91原创 City run this year, about the same as last year, but they managed to raise a total of $13,801, or about $2,000 more than last year鈥檚 event, organizer Marg McGuire-Grout said.
鈥淚鈥檓 ecstatic,鈥� McGuire-Grout said.
There were 50 volunteers who began setting up for the 10 a.m. start at 7 a.m.
The 91原创 City run was one of more than 9,000 held across the country each year to raise money for cancer research and to honour Fox鈥檚 Marathon of Hope.
鈥淲e pretty much work all year round to get this thing together,鈥� McGuire-Grout told The Times.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a lot of work. A couple of weeks leading up to it, I think I鈥檓 going to pull my hair out and I think I don鈥檛 know if I can do this any more 鈥� and then we come here today and all the people come out and everybody pulls together and puts on just a great, a great event. And so then, it鈥檚 kind of like, we can do this again.鈥�
McGuire-Grout said she got involved in the annual fundraiser because both of her parents as well as several other family members have battled cancer.
Her mother won her battle, living to 91 and dying cancer-free, but her father died of cancer, McGuire-Grout said.
鈥淏ecause cancer has touched my family so much, I thought it was something I could do.鈥�
There were two Terry Fox Runs in 91原创 Township, one in Walnut Grove, the other in .
How it began
After losing a leg to cancer, Terry Fox began the Marathon of Hope to raise money for cancer research, saying if each Canadian could contribute just a dollar, millions could be raised to fight cancer.
After 143 days and 5,373 kilometres Fox was forced to end his run near Thunder Bay, Ontario after his cancer spread to his lungs.
Terry Fox Runs have taken place every year on the second Sunday following Labour Day since September of 1981.
They are volunteer-led, all-inclusive, non-competitive events with no corporate sponsorship, incentives or fundraising minimums according to the expressed wishes of Terry Fox.
Millions of people in over 60 countries now take part in what has become the world鈥檚 largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been raised in his name.
RELATED:
RELATED:
