Time to run for Terry

Photo: Darren Handschuh - File photo

It has become as much a Canadian tradition as maple syrup and hockey and once again people will be running, walking and cycling for a Canadian icon.

The annual Terry Fox Run takes place at Marshall Fields Sunday in Vernon.

Registration is at 8:45 a.m., with the run, walk, ride starting at 9:45 a.m.

The Terry Fox Run is a non-competitive event where people get together as individuals, families and groups to raise money for cancer research in Terry's name.

Runs take place in more than 9,000 communities across Canada every year and are accessible to anyone with no entry fee and no minimum pledge.

Fox started the Marathon of Hope on April 12, 1980, in St. John’s, Nfld., with the goal of running from Coast to Coast.

However, on Sept. 1, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres, Fox was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ont., because cancer had appeared in his lungs.

The entire nation mourned when its most beloved son passed away from cancer on June 28, 1981.

Fox was 22 years old.

To date, the run has raised more than $650 million from events in Canada and around the world.