The Town of St. Paul held its annual Terry Fox Run on Sept. 14. The weather cooperated for the event, as 32 local runners, walkers and bikers set out under sunny skies at 1 p.m., starting from the St. Paul Rec. Centre.
One runner, Rae Michaud, has been participating in the event for some time now, and still feels that the message is an important one.
“There are just a lot of people I know that have been affected by cancer,” she said. “It’s just been something that means lots to us.”
Randy Brandt, another participant, also sees value in the cause, while at the same time recognizing the health benefits of a good run.
“We’re runners, and there aren’t many running events in St. Paul. We run every chance that we get,” he said. “Of course, we know lots of people who have died from cancer.”
Mayor Glenn Anderson was happy to see the tradition continue on Sept. 14.
“It’s nice that people keep the drive alive, because cancer is something that affects everybody. It definitely affects people in our community,” he said. “There’s always the fear that people forget about it, because there are so many other things going on.”
Anderson also sees the event as a chance to promote good health and take advantage of a sunny mid-September day.
“It gets everybody out of the house. I think if we could do that more often, people would be a lot healthier,” he said. “You couldn’t ask for a better day.”
The spirit of Terry Fox was certainly on many minds on Sunday afternoon. “He made us all more aware that you fight for what you believe in and you move on,” Anderson said. “We could all face adversity and just give up, but I think that’s what he instilled in a lot of people’s minds - that we can fight through this, and we can achieve our goals.”
The run raised $6,790 on Sunday, with proceeds going towards cancer research in order to help find a cure.
