Acton Terry Fox Marathon of Hope Raises Over…
While some people let tragic events and/or health problems dictate their future for the negative, others transmute that energy into passion, perseverance, and most importantly, hope.
Last Sunday September 15th the 39th Annual Acton Terry Fox Run Marathon of Hope met at Acton District High School to run, bike, walk, scooter and to raise money for cancer research.
The event, Chaired by Acton Ward 1 Councillor Jon Hurst for its entirety of 39 years, saw 160 participants brace the rainy weather to complete their pledge to donors.
This year’s event raised a whopping total of over, drum roll… $17,500.
“Acton often punches above its weight when it comes to fundraising” said Mayor Bonnette who also attended the event. “I’ve never missed one” said Rick, who was happy about the Georgetown event changing its time so he could attend both Halton Hills events this year.
“We expect the number will rise because of people who did not attend due to weather” said Councillor Hurst who lost his late wife Maxine to cancer years after beginning to Chair the event.
Jon Hurst, along with 22 volunteers helped set UP for the event, sell t-shirts, take donations, and bbq food provided by Macmillan's and Giant Tiger and with all funds being donated to the run.
“I think it was the inspiration of Terry that peaked my interest. I did see him in person just north and south of Barrie while we were at our cottage on holidays” said Hurst. “ It’s something you wouldn’t believe could happen if it hadn’t.”
Also among this year’s participants were Citizen of The Year, Ray Vander Kooij who cut the ribbon to begin the run, along with Councillors Albano, Somerville, Acton’s First Lady, Josey Bonnette, and MPP and Speaker of The House, Ted Arnott.
“I go where I am invited” said Arnott, “I really enjoy coming to the Acton Terry Fox Run, first thing in the morning on a Sunday and Jon Hurst and his team do a superb job of organizing it and have done for years.”
“It’s just an incredible event.” said Councillor Somerville who still remembers watching when Terry Fox ran through Acton in person with his brother Dave, “My hair was a little longer then, and I was wearing a jean jacket”. “When he stopped his run it was big big news. I remember Q107 running a marathon raising money. Everyone started pitching in. Whenever I travel I tell people of the Terry Fox story, how he ran a marathon everyday on 1 leg. He is and will always be a hero to me.”
The event was named after Terry Fox who was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1958 and later discovered he had a malignant tumour in his right leg which caused it to be amputated. Terry was inspired to run after hearing of another leg amputee’s “dream of running” and later started the Marathon of Hope, a run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.
5373 kilometres and 143 days later Terry stopped his run in Thunder Bay (which began in Newfoundland) after the Cancer had spread to his lungs. Terry Fox died on June 28th 1981, but his memory and hope for a cure are still running strong through Canada today.
The event has raised over $715 million dollars as of 2016, with just over $860,300 coming from Acton as of present.
"Our committee would like to sincerely thank all of the participants that showed up in wet weather and thank particularly their sponsors. Obviously with the amount of money there were a lot of people, a lot of individuals sponsoring. I also wanted to thank the volunteers throughout the day who helped keep things going throughout the day. I was particularly impressed when I saw a lot of people out on the track when the heavy rain started just kept on going. That was heart warming because it reminded me that that is exactly what Terry did. When the weather got bad he just put his head down and kept going." Said Hurst.
The 40th anniversary of the Terry Fox Run will take place on September 20, 2020, how fitting that 20+20=40.
For anyone looking to donate to the Marathon of hope can visit https://secure.terryfox.ca/registrant/DonationPage.aspx?eventid=203789&langpref=en-CA&Referrer=direct%2fnone .
You can also check out more photos below and stay tuned to our facebook page for an UPcoming video of the event.
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