Wednesday, September 27, 2023 Vol. 46, No. 39
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Fall Section Inside!
Keeping Terry’s legacy alive with annual inspirational run
A young girl at the Viking School’s Terry Fox Run last Friday is wearing her own personal #Dear Terry message, which is this year’s theme for the Marathon of Hope Campaign. More photos on Page 9.
Patricia Harcourt Editor
The Viking School held an inspirational run for the Terry Fox campaign on Friday, Sept. 22. To date, the school has raised $1,590 for the foundation. It was a fittingly beautiful fall day for the run with Grades 1-9 participating along with some community members. Kindergartners made their run the previous day. And it is all in the cause of raising money to fight cancer as well as help with supports and resources for those with the illness and their families.
This year’s theme is #Dear Terry, and these local runners and walkers were invited to hold their personal message close to their hearts as they made their way around the playground. The Terry Fox Foundation explained it best: “On April 12, 1980, Terry started his Marathon of Hope. When he stopped running, you started writing…We continue the annual Terry Fox Run surrounded by messages of love, hope, and inspiration from Canadians everywhere.” The notes written are personal ones proudly displayed on the #Dear Terry
messages to him and carried by the students participating in Viking that day. The messages are meant to say why they were running and who they were running for - some ran for Terry himself or perhaps a loved one with the disease. For example: “Dear Terry, you are our hero, you may not know but you are Canada’s hero,” and another: “Because of you we have hope.” Every message is personal and poignant and were posted on the Terry Fox Foundation website across the nation. Terry Fox’s original Marathon of
Hope started in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980, and covered 5,373 km in 143 days. He stopped his run outside Thunder Bay, Ontario, on Sept. 1, 1980 after cancer had invaded his lungs. His final words before his death on June 28, 1981, were: “If I don’t make it, the Marathon of Hope must continue.” Every year schools like Viking’s continue this young man’s dream of running to wipe out cancer, as many communities in Canada and around the world will continue to do in his honour.