Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Participants in Sunday’s Napanee Terry Fox Run embodied this year’s slogan, taking part in the virtual walk in their own way.
A total of $8,500 was raised locally, which will go towards the Terry Fox Foundation to help their goal to fund a cure for cancer.
Because of COVID-19, this year’s event adapted the slogan of One Day, Your Way. That meant no formal gathering in Spring Side Park to kick off the event, instead families and friends were encouraged to embark on their own route around town. Small groups of people walking, running or riding could be spotted throughout Greater Napanee on Sunday as people did their part to keep the spirit of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope alive, now 40 years after his original attempt to run across Canada.
“I think it went really well actually,” said Michelle Way, one of the local organizers. “It was only a few thousand (dollars raised) less than what we would normally raise, which is great. Our goal was $5,000 because we didn’t really know what to expect. We were pretty stoked that before we started the run we had surpassed that.”
Given this was the first year they’ve had to organize a virtual type of event, coupled with so many people hit hard financially due to the pandemic, raising $8,500 within the community is considered a huge success.
Way says about 75 people registered online prior to Sunday’s event, which is about half the numbers they’d see in a typical year. The exact number is hard to track however as this year there was no in-person registration. All of it had to be done online prior to Sunday, whereas every other year they’d have a bevy of people sign up with organizers just before the start of the formal event.
Organizers are hoping for a more ‘normal’ event next year, but whatever the world looks like in 2021, they’ll be prepared.
“If we were to have to go this route again we have a lot of knowledge that we learned this time around,” said Way.
Donations can still be made throughout the month of September to TerryFox.org.