Organizers of the Fort Frances Terry Fox Run are calling on the community to help boost participation in this year’s charity run and walk after a disappointingly small turnout last year.
The annual fundraiser for the 45th annual Terry Fox Foundation in support of cancer research was kicked off Sept. 8 with a flag-raising at town hall.
Laureen Luchka, who is local co-chairperson with Laura Bryuere, said last year only about eight people laced up for the charitable endeavour. This year, they hope to turn a corner on that low turnout.
“This is such an amazing event that has been part of my childhood in this community for so long,” Luchka said. “Cancer touches everyone, and everyone has a story.”
The event will take place Sept. 14 at the Sorting Gap Marina. Registration is at noon, with the walk or run to begin at 1 p.m. A barbecue will follow. The campaign had already raised more than $1,500 by the time of publication, and local donations were being accepted at run.terryfox.ca/55657.
Luchka said she was inspired to bring renewed vigour to the run after learning more about Fox, a Canadian athlete who, after losing a leg to cancer, set out in 1980 to run across the country to raise money for cancer research.
Though his journey ended after only 143 days due to the return of his illness, his legacy lives on through the annual charity run, which has raised hundreds of millions for research worldwide.
As this year marks 45 years for the run, Luchka said she became more determined to mark the milestone by getting more people out to support a worthy cause in the name of a Canadian hero.
“I want children in our community to grow up with the great Terry Fox memories that I have,” she said. “There was always a ton of people, whether you were riding bikes, whether you were walking, running.”
“There was always a great turnout,” Luchka said. “It was always something you looked forward to every fall.”
Luchka and Bryuere attributed the poor turnout for the 2024 run to a lack of volunteers to get the word out about the event, so they decided to step up and “make this run this year something kind of great since it’s the 45th.”
“Growing up in Fort Frances, you kind of think about the things in your life and every September it was Terry Fox, whether you participated at school or whether you participated in town,” Luchka said. “I still remember being young and remembering when he was at the museum.”
She hopes renewing interest in the run now will help it continue to build in years to come, and that the young today will volunteer and participate in future.
“Everybody complains, saying, ‘What’s there to do?’” Luchka said. “Well, this is something that’s here for us to do. We really want to make sure people are out and about and they know about it. Get it back to being a really great community activity.”
