Adam Prudhomme
Editor
Napanee’s Terry Fox Run is back in-person this year, set to take place Sept. 18.
Registration is now open by visiting the https://run.terryfox.ca/3632, or participants can always show up to Conservation Park at 9 a.m. on Sept. 18 to sign up right before the run. opening ceremonies get underway at 9:30 a.m. and will mark the first time in two years the event returns to in-person.
“It will be nice to see faces that we haven’t been able to see in a few years,” said event organizer Michelle Way.
Being in-person has the added benefit of allowing volunteers to assist with registration.
“If anyone has any trouble with that they can always register on the day of (the event),” said Way. “I know some people don’t use technology as well so they can always register on the day. We will be accepting funds and registering people that day. It’ll be pretty awesome to have people back in person so we are able to do those things and it’ll be pretty awesome to have people be able to participate who haven’t been able to participate the last two years just due to the challenges with technology that some people face.”
The timing for the return to in-person couldn’t be any better as this year marks the town’s 40th annual run. From humble beginnings in 1982 to having to stay relevant amid an ever-growing number of charities seeking donations from the community to the challenges of the pandemic, somehow, someway the Napanee Terry Fox Run has found a way to keep going strong.
“We’d like to raise $16,000 for this year. Over the last 40 years we have raised just over $600,000 in total for our community,” said Way. “It definitely says something about our community and about how special Terry Fox is and what Terry Fox’s legacy means to our community.”
Though happy to be back as a group, the option still remains for those who’d like to do their own run within their own circle of family and friends.
“People have different comfort levels so we just invite you to participate whatever your comfort level is and if that means that you’re still going to do it virtually, then we’re there with you in spirit,” said Way.
One benefit of not holding the run the last two years is it means they no longer have to contend with the Dundas Street construction that caused them to have to re-route their run in 2019. Now obstacle free, they can follow the familiar path from Conservation Park, through town with a five km and 10 km route available. As always participants can run, walk, jog, ride or rollerblade.
Money raised from Terry Fox runs across Canada will go towards the Terry Fox Foundation, which funds cancer research. The run is held in honour of Fox’s original Marathon of Hope, which he began in 1980 with the goal of running across Canada-doing so on a prosthetic leg after losing his right leg to cancer. Unfortunately a recurrence of cancer caused him to cut his run short, but his legacy lives on through the annual run held in communities across the world.