Cancer research will again get a financial boost as the annual Terry Fox Run fundraiser is set to take place Sunday (Sept. 17).
According to Kathleen Van Doorn, Nanaimo run organizer, this year’s event goes at Bowen Park. The goal is to best last year’s goals for participants and money raised and 88 cents of every dollar goes to cancer research with the Terry Fox Foundation, she said.
“We had 360-something last year,” said Van Doorn. “We’re always hoping for more, so maybe 400 people, and we raised $25,000 last year and it would be great to always raise more.”
There will be two routes: one stretching five kilometres and a shorter 2km route as well, with dogs allowed on the shorter walk, but not the 5km.
“We have a lovely 2K that goes through the park and it’s great for buggies and little bikes and everything like that and it circles around the soccer, baseball fields at the end there,” said Van Doorn. “They both start very near the outdoor pool and the 5K, which goes right down through to the soccer fields … crosses Bowen Road and skirts both sides of Buttertubs Marsh, it’s quite lovely too.”
Registration for Nanaimo’s Terry Fox Run begins at 9 a.m. Sunday, with the event going between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
“Even if it rains, please come,” Van Doorn said.
The first Terry Fox Run in Nanaimo took place in 1989 and since then, over $322,000 has been raised.
Students in Nanaimo district schools will be holding Terry Fox Runs of their own in the coming weeks.
To find out more about the Nanaimo run, go to www.terryfox.org/run.