The rain held off yesterday — just long enough — for the 3,000-plus runners, walkers and cyclists in the four Tri-City Terry Fox runs.
And the mild weather drew even higher numbers than last year at events in Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, Port Moody and Anmore.
The hometown run in PoCo saw about 1,000 more participants than in 2016, with 2,500 registrants raising at least $50,000 for the Terry Fox Foundation, a family-run charity based at SFU that aims to fund cancer research.
Organized by Dave Teixeira, the PoCo run heard from Mayor Greg Moore, his father Bruce Moore — a cancer survivor and Fox's soccer coach at PoCo secondary — and cancer survivor Erin Danielle, who was keynote speaker.
In Coquitlam, where the venue moved from Blue Mountain Park to Mundy Park, about 300 participants looped the forest after hearing from Britt Andersen — the foundation's executive director — and from Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA Selina Robinson, who wore a red Terry's Team T-shirt and told her story about fighting the disease.
The Coquitlam run, led by Grace Choi, Erin Davidson and Terry's Team member Brenda Martel, brought in at least $7,500 for the cause.
Meanwhile, at Port Moody's Rocky Point Park, its participation was on par with last year; however, registrants doubled the pot with at least $10,000.
That run, organized by Mayor Mike Clay, included a speech from Doug Alward, Fox's best friend and his van driver on the Marathon of Hope in 1980.
And in Anmore, participation was also up for the run led by David McCloskey. There, Kirsten Fox — Fox's niece and school co-ordinator for the foundation's BC/Yukon branch — inspired the crowd by talking about her uncle's legacy.
"We are up everywhere, which is fantastic," said provincial director Donna White today (Monday), noting three of the 117 community runs were cancelled due to the wildfires: Williams Lake, Alexis Creek and Fernie.
Still, in 100 Mile House — one of the municipalities hardest hit — pulled in 80 people for its Terry Fox Run and collected $6,000. Many of them had just been allowed to return home the night before, after being evacuated at the end of July. "It was so important to them to have this," White said.
• If you didn't attend Sunday's Terry Fox Run and want to donate, visit terryfox.org.
jcleugh@tricitynews.com
