BU to host Terry Fox Run

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This article was published 08/05/2023 (1037 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This year’s Terry Fox Run will take place in and around Brandon University, with organizers hoping to capitalize on the momentum of the school’s fall homecoming activities and attract a big crowd for Sept. 17.

“We have two solid weeks where we do events and lots of engagement with students and the community,” BU advancement officer Nick Brown said. “And then we’ll end it by bringing a lot of folks together for the Sunday.”

Brown made the announcement at the school’s Healthy Living Centre on Saturday afternoon, with Fred Fox, Terry’s brother, dropping by to spread the word and hammer home the critical nature of the national fundraiser.

“It’s always important to raise money for cancer research,” Fox said after completing laps around the centre’s elevated jogging track. “The survival rates are so much better now because of this research, because of what Terry started.”

Since Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope in 1980, in which he ran 5,373 kilometres in 143 days with his artificial leg, Canadians have followed in the activist’s footsteps, long after his death, by organizing annual community runs that have raised more than $850 million over the past 43 years.

Brandon is no exception to the countrywide movement, with local organizers hosting the Terry Fox Run at Assiniboine Community College right before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After moving online throughout 2020-21, Brandon’s Terry Fox Run returned to its full, in-person format at the Riverbank Discovery Centre grounds last fall, with participants managing to raise around $15,000 for cancer research.

One of the top fundraisers from last year’s run was Grade 6 student Max Wronowski, who contributed $1,000.

During Saturday’s announcement, Wronowski told the Sun he decided to take part in his first Terry Fox Run last year due to the personal toll cancer has had on his own family, with his father and grandmother both being touched by the disease.

Heading into this year’s run at BU, Wronowski said he’s excited to participate in the fundraising campaign once again and encourages other children his age to follow suit.

“I want cancer to be done, because cancer has cost way too many lives and caused too much pain,” he said.

Around 85,100 Canadians died from the disease last year, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.

As another one of last year’s top fundraisers, BU science student Rylee Zalischuk is similarly enthusiastic about this new venue for the Terry Fox Run and hopes the more centralized location attracts a larger crop of first-time participants.

“My motto is ‘any amount is appreciated and makes a difference,’” Zalischuk said in a news release from BU. “Whether that is $1 or $100, we are one step closer.”

While the routes for this year’s Terry Fox Run in Brandon haven’t been finalized yet, co-ordinator Heather Stewart said her team is considering tentative one-, two-, five- and 10-kilometre options that will take participants to local landmarks such as Coronation Park and Wheat City Golf Course.

Even though the particulars haven’t been set in stone yet, Stewart, who’s been organizing this event for the past eight years, is confident the BU campus will serve as a strong foundation for the local Terry Fox Run moving forward.

“Because we think it’ll be a really nice fit for community involvement and we’re just looking forward to keeping it in motion and attracting young people,” she said.

Anyone looking to register for Brandon’s upcoming Terry Fox Run can do so by visiting run.terryfox.ca/29158.

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