Appearing to have fallen short of last year’s total of $11,000, more than 80 participants still managed to show they support the fight against cancer, bringing in a preliminary sum of $7,500 for this year’s Terry Fox “Marathon of Hope” here.
“We have a rough idea of how much we raised, but that doesn’t include how much Ed and Arnie have raised, and some of the merchandise we sold,” Vanessa Hebert, executive director of the Fort Frances Volunteer Bureau, said this morning.
She was referring to the duo of Ed Katona and Arnie Johnsrud, who currently are biking to Minneapolis to raise money for the Terry Fox Foundation.
“I was a little disappointed about the total. But on the bright side, when I called in the amount to the Terry Fox Foundation, they told me that, apparently, four communities elsewhere in the country stopped doing it this year.
“At least we’re keeping it going,” she reasoned.
And those who did participate showed they whole-heartedly supported the cause. The top pledgegetter once again was Marj Hull- Katerick, who achieved her goal of $2,003 this year and topped her personal goal of raising more than $10,000 for Terry Fox in her lifetime.
Local resident Joyce Gosselin again collected the second-greatest amount of pledges for the local Terry Fox Run ($1,288). It was an all-time high for her (she had raised $1,075 last year).
A total of 83 people, including 10 or so from Pharmasave, came out to walk, run, bike, skateboard, or in-line skate yesterday afternoon along the 10-km route, which began outside the Fort Frances Museum at 2 p.m.
As usual, the route went down Portage Avenue to Front Street, then continued along the riverfront to Pither’s Point, where participants turned around and returned to the museum.
But before they stepped (or wheeled) over that starting line, participants warmed up with a brief workout led by Doris Barton and Kerri Tolen.
This year’s Terry Fox Run was dedicated to Rhonda Spuzak, an Alberton resident who had thyroid cancer seven years ago. Several members of her family also have battled various forms of the disease.
Last year’s run, which was dedicated to the memory of Celeste Beck and raised about $11,000 altogether, saw 93 participants of all ages cover the 10-km route.
A family barbecue at the Fort Frances Volunteer Bureau—free to the participants and volunteers involved in the run—followed the local “Marathon of Hope.”^A total of 25 volunteers participated, doing everything from registrations, giving people temporary Terry Fox tattoos, driving the pace car, and handing out water to those travelling along the route.
As mentioned above, Katona left yesterday on his week-long bike ride from here to Minneapolis and back.
His wife, Marg, said this morning he had departed at 6 a.m. and stopped for the day around 4 p.m.
at Deer River.
“It was a perfect day for cycling, he said,” she noted.
Katona started the ride with Johnsrud, a former Stratton resident now living in Winnipeg.
They’re expected to return here Saturday.
Katona raised about $1,400 for the Terry Fox Run last year on a bike trip from here to Kenora and Dryden and back.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
