A warm September Sunday and a worthy cause was enough draw even more participants than last year for the Terry Fox Run at Gyro park and also lead to a substantial jump in the amount of money raised for the annual cancer research fundraiser.
There were 375 people registered for the Sunday morning event and while the number was only 50 more than last year the total amount raised this year was $12,000, an increase of more than $2,000.
Local hockey squads were well represented at this year’s run as the Trail junior and pee wee Smoke Eaters were out for the event and the Beaver Valley Nitehawks put in a good showing as well.
The Kootenay Boundary Regional Fire services team faced off against Teck’s emergency services for a pre-run tug of war, which saw an evenly matched contest eventually go to the Teck team.
The Kiwanis club was on hand providing a pancake and sausage breakfast for anyone needing to fuel up before the run and the McDonalds McCafe public event trailer was handing out free coffee and specialty drinks that went well with the free donuts and snacks provided by Trail Safeway.
Local Terry Fox run co-coordinator Gord Mattson said the enthusiastic turnout was a sign of the hope that Fox had inspired in Canadians when he began his cross-country run 33 years ago.
“This is about keeping his dream alive,” said Mattson. “The Terry Fox foundation has raised over 600 million dollars over the last 33 years, its Canadians supporting cancer research in Canada.”
Mattson explained that before the creation of the Terry Fox Foundation the majority of cancer treatments in B.C. were based on research done in other parts of the world but that now the B.C. based foundation was leading many other parts of the world in developing cutting edge cancer treatment.
“Unlike many other research centres the Fox Foundation has no corporate support,” said Mattson. “But because it is an all-volunteer organization that means that 90 cents of every dollar goes to research.”