Terry Fox logged thousands of kilometres along Port Moody roads and trails to prepare for his historic marathon runs across Canada to raise money for cancer research.
But since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual run that endures as a legacy of his quest that was cut short by the return of his own cancer just past the halfway mark hasn’t actually existed in the city.
A group of community volunteers is changing that.
On Sept. 15, Port Moody residents will once again be able to lace up their sneakers or inline skates, dust off their bikes, scooters or skateboards and participate en masse in a return of the annual Terry Fox Run.
The five-kilometre course will run along the newly-paved Shoreline trail from Rocky Point Park to the foot of April Road.
A round trip will equate a 10 km effort, but organizer Mark Pettie said participants can run, walk or roll as long or short as they like. There will be three water stations along the way to accommodate all distances.
Pettie said the route, that curves around the eastern end of Burrard Inlet and hugs Port Moody’s north and south shores, could be one of the most scenic in Canada. It’s also some of the very trail Fox used to get ready for his run.
“There’s a history of Terry here,” Pettie said.
Fellow organizer Paul Slaymaker said the retreat of Port Moody’s Terry Fox Run to the virtual realm since the pandemic has been a loss that’s impacted participating.
“We seem to have lost some steam,” he said, adding kids still learn about Fox and enthusiastically embrace runs at their own schools, but interest and awareness seems to drop off as they get older.
Rod Macbeth, another organizer along with Taylor Lapore and Jennifer Hamden, said reinvigorating the annual run is a good way to bring families together and build community.
“It’s very powerful to have it back in the community,” added Slaymaker, who operates the Runner’s Den shop in NewPort Village. “This will bring in a whole new generation and new residents to the city.”
Pettie said it’s important Fox’s courage and dedication to his cause never be forgotten, as so many people are touched by cancer and many of them have been able to conquer it because of research that’s been funded by the worldwide runs. He himself beat a diagnosis of spindle cell sarcoma, a cancer in the connective tissue of his arm.
“I’m not unique, it’s everywhere,” Pettie said. “You never know when it will happen.”
Participants can already sign up online and registration will also be available at the run beginning at 8:30 a.m., with the actual run scheduled to start at 10 a.m.
Slaymaker said he’s hoping residents will get behind it will full force, even form teams to boost their effort.
“This is a festival to bring the community together,” he said.
