There may have been plenty of puddles but the poor weather didn't dampen the spirits of the 2,100 walkers, runners and cyclists in the four 35th annual Terry Fox Runs in the Tri-Cities.
Fox's hometown of Port Coquitlam drew an estimated 1,500 participants and raised at least $40,000 (not including online donations), said run organizer Dave Teixeira.
He was at the start line with Mayor Greg Moore and wife, Erin, keynote speaker and cancer survivor Analyn Purcell and Jim Terrion, the 54-year-old deaf man from Prince George who has collected $645,000 over the past 25 years for the Terry Fox Foundation (his mother, Faye, told The Tri-City News he brought in $30,000 for the 35th anniversary and plans to walk the Malaysian Terry Fox Run on Nov. 29).
In Coquitlam, 325 people laced up their sneakers for the annual event at Blue Mountain Park that saw $17,000 in contributions collected, said co-chair Make Pettie.
Port Moody's Rocky Point Park Terry Fox Run attracted 215 participants and $8,000 while, to the north of the city, Anmore had a banner year, with a record 138 participants and $2,900 in donations (Fox's nurse, Alison Ince, was the keynote speaker there).
Anmore co-organizer Gord Bytelaar said the village start time was an hour later than the other Tri-City runs and "by then, the sky had cleared up and it was a beautiful day."
Donna White, director of the Terry Fox Foundation's BC/Yukon office in PoCo, said preliminary numbers are up. As of Tuesday, it had raised a minimum of $750,000 from the 116 run sites — four more locations than last year.
"It just shows people are continuing to take on Terry's story in their communities," she said.
Meanwhile, the foundation is now gearing up for the national Terry Fox school run Sept. 29, an annual event that brings in 60% of the charity's revenues.
To date, the foundation has received more than $700 million for cancer research. This year's goal was to raise $1 from every Canadian, or $35 million.
Katherine Koyko, spokesperson for the Terry Fox Foundation national office, said in an email to The Tri-City News: "Preliminary numbers for our 2015 community run events are coming in across the country and we are very encouraged by the totals and amazing support of Canadians from coast to coast. Based on what we are seeing, we are projecting to raise upwards of $8 million from our community runs for 2015. With our National School Run Day happening this coming weekend on Sept 30, we are encouraged and hopeful that this upward trend will continue."
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