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More than $4,000 raised during snowy Terry Fox Run

The Sylvan Lake Terry Fox Run was held on Sept. 16 in Centennial Park.

The Sylvan Lake Terry Fox Run managed to raise more than $4,000 for cancer research on Sunday, despite the snow and cold.

Twenty-eight runners came out the morning of Sept. 16, to support cancer research in the name of Canadian hero, Terry Fox. Having 28 participants was a bit of a surprise, as snow covered the ground and continued to fall throughout the morning, a first for the Sylvan Lake Run.

Organizer Scott McDermott said there was a point during set up he though it would just be the volunteers who showed up for the run.

“Runners are hardy people, we’ve been known to run in -40C,” McDermott said. “Our volunteers are also extremely awesome and wonderful.”

The turnout for this year’s run was a little low, but that is due in large part to the unusual weather. Normally the event sees a larger number of participants including families and parents with strollers.

The Terry Fox Run has become a staple in Canada for cancer research, and has helped to further cancer research further every year.

McDermott says the yearly run and fundraiser is so important because so many people today are touched by cancer in their lives.

“I remember back in the 80’s when I was in junior high and high school, cancer was a big scary thing that was affecting someone somewhere,” he said. “Now one in two people are diagnosed with cancer.”

Something has changed, McDermott says.

This year’s event raised $4,242 which will be donated to the Terry Fox Foundation to further cancer research.

“It is a fact, that if Terry had been diagnosed with the same cancer today, he would have been cured and survived. We are moving in the right direction.”

The Terry Fox Run is held every year in September in around 9,000 communities across Canada, in the hopes of achieving Terry’s dream of a cancer-free world.

Terry’s Marathon of Hope ended after 143 and 5,373 kilometres on Sept. 1, 1980.

He later passed away at the age of 22 on June 28, 1981.

“I remember watching him run, and he had to go through things much worse than a little snow,” McDermott said.

More than $750 million has been raised in Terry’s name for cancer research through the annual Terry Fox Run.

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Scott McDermott, the run’s organizer, took the lead on this year’s Terry Fox Run.
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During registration for the Sylvan Lake Terry Fox Run, participants and volunteers gathered under the relative safety of the structure at Centennial Park to stay warm and dry with coffee and hot chocolate.