Port Moody’s first in-person Terry Fox Run since before the COVID-19 pandemic has already nearly matched the funds raised by last year’s virtual effort.
With more than two weeks still to go before the Sept. 15 event, the more than two dozen participants registered so far have attained $1,110 of its $1,550 goal.
While the global health pandemic scuttled the in-person run from 2020 to 2022, last year’s event was derailed by ongoing construction along Shoreline Trail. Still, the 2023 virtual run raised more than $1,400.
The Port Moody route that arcs around the eastern end of Burrard Inlet with almost constant views of water, forest and mountains may be one of the country’s most scenic, said Mark Pettie, one of the organizers, along with Paul Slaymaker, Rod Macbeth, Taylor Lapore and Jennifer Hamden.
It’s also the view Terry Fox himself often enjoyed during his many training runs out to Ioco from his home in Port Coquitlam and back, a memory recently shared by a visitor to the run’s Facebook page who recalled lending the young athlete some tools to help repair a problem with his mechanical leg as he sat on her lawn then insisting he continue his run once it was sorted instead of accepting her offer of a drive home.
Playmaker, who operates the Runner Den shop in NewPort Village, said having the run back in the community is “very powerful.”
The Shoreline Trail from Rocky Point Park to Old Orchard Park is paved and mostly flat, making it ideal for participants who want to roll the route on inline skates, skateboards, scooters, bikes or other mobility devices, as well as runners and walkers.
The round trip is 10 km but Pettie said participants can go as long or short as they like with three water stations along the way to keep them hydrated.
Registration can already be done online or beginning at 8:30 at the run’s start at Rocky Point Park, where parking will still be free before pay stations are activated the next day.
Participants set off at 10 a.m.
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