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Terry Fox Run breaks records…again

participants raise for cancer research

Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope has gained new momentum in recent years, with new records for participation and fundraising efforts. This year, the 25 th anniversary of the first Terry Fox Run, was no exception.

The exact tally of funds raised and participants will not be known for several weeks, with more than 10,000 schools and more than a thousand community events still reporting to the Terry Fox Foundation. However, organizers are expecting this year’s numbers to easily exceed last year’s tally of $22 million, and are hoping to reach Terry Fox’s own goal of raising $1 for every Canadian 25 years ago.

In fact, some reports suggest that this year’s tally will double last year’s, thanks to the participation of the schools and record turnouts to events. The 25 th anniversary T-shirts commemorating Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope also quickly became collectors’ items, selling out completely at many races.

In total about six million people in 50 countries were expected to take part this year.

The Whistler event, which as recently as five years ago struggled to reach 100 participants, was the biggest yet with more than 300 runners, walkers and cyclists on the 5 km and 10 km courses.

The exact number of participants could not be confirmed at press time, but it is believed that the Whistler event raised $13,500, or a full $2,500 more than year.

Whistler Four Seasons, which has taken over the sponsorship of the event, ensured that the event was well promoted and once again donated the grand prizes to the raffle, including hotel stays at Four Seasons resorts in Maui and Hong Kong. They also helped to get other local hotels to donate rooms.

While the participants ranged from babies in running strollers to walkers in their 70s, the most hardcore participants were four athletes that raced in the 60 km Samurai of Singletrack the previous day. Gary Baker, Keith Ray, Marla Zucht and Ted Battiston all completed the Samurai, and raced the 10 km route at the Terry Fox Run.

Whistler schools participated in their school runs on Friday, but several of the students also took part on Sunday.