(The Terry Fox Foundation)

By Jordan Davidson (Twitter: @JordanDHeyNow)

Virtual event again this year

41st annual Terry Fox Run once again goes virtual this weekend

Sep 17, 2021 | 4:27 PM

The 41^st annual Terry Fox Run is this Sunday, Sept. 19, and once again it will be held virtually due to the pandemic.

The run is held annually in support of cancer research and pays tribute to Canadian icon Terry Fox and his Marathon of Hope.

Loretta Winia is with the Red Deer organizing committee, and says they had already planned for this to be a virtual event before the latest round of public health restrictions were put into place.

“When we started planning for this year the (Terry Fox) Foundation really encouraged the virtual run again because they weren’t sure how it was going to play out. We’re probably fortunate that we made that choice because I think we would have had to cancel it if we didn’t.”

Participants can collect their pledges online, or the old fashion way by getting people to sign their pledge sheets and donate cash or cheques.

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Winia says they will still be out at their usual spot at the south Canadian Tire location on Sunday from 11:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., selling t-shirts and collecting donations and pledge sheets.

Last year they managed to raise around $15,000 during their first virtual event, and they are hoping for similar results again this year.

This years’ slogan is, “One Day, Your Way”, is the same as last year as participant are encouraged to get out and walk, run, or bike anywhere they’d like. They are not required to do 10kms which is how they’ve done the walk in years past when it was allowed in-person.

“You can run around the neighborhood, you can go on the Red Deer trails, you can bike the trails, wherever. You’re doing it in honour of the cause. We’re just hoping people get out there and do it in the spirit of Terry Fox.”

Winia also spoke to rdnewsNOW last year about this event, where she talked about why this cause is so near and dear to her heart.

“My nephew succumbed to the same kind of cancer that Terry Fox had, and I’ve been involved ever since,” shared Winia in 2020. “I think that all the people that get involved in the Terry Fox Run have experienced cancer with a family member or a friend. I mean, you can’t see or talk to anyone these days that hasn’t been touched in some way by cancer.”

You can click here to register for the virtual Red Deer Terry Fox Run.

A Terry Fox app allows participants to link up with each other, track steps and position participants on a virtual map that mimics their own journey across Canada.

Terry Fox began his Marathon of Hope on Apr. 12, 1980 when he dipped his artificial leg into the Atlantic Ocean in St. John’s Newfoundland. He was forced to stop his Marathon of Hope, however, near Thunder Bay, Ontario on Sept. 1 after running through six provinces.

Fox passed away in New Westminster, B.C. on June 28, 1981 at the age of 22.

To date, over $850 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry’s name through the annual Terry Fox Run, held across Canada and around the world.