Due to COVID-19, last year’s event was held virtually. Runners submitted weekly totals, which were then tallied at the end of the week and plotted on a virtual map tracking Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope and published in The Equity. This year, with COVID restrictions easing, the long-time organizers and former PHS teachers Rick Valin and John Petty decided on a hybrid version. They kept the virtual map but also held a 10 km race on Sunday.

In non-COVID years, the usual crowd of more than a hundred racers huddled together and started down the road as a group. But, again, due to COVID, this year featured staggered starts where runners hit the pavement any time between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

It was a big community event this year with donations from Joanne’s Valumart and Giant Tiger; and with help from the Lion’s Club who ran the barbecue with all proceeds going to the Terry Fox Foundation. In previous years, water was provided to runners in paper cups. This year water bottles were donated so runners and volunteers could be COVID safe.

The school run ended with a barbecue raising $1200, which will be added to the combined total.

Today is about “honouring Terry Fox as a symbol,” Valin said, “but more importantly, it’s about the research. [I’ve] had three close neighbours pass away in the last five months. All from cancer. A former student is in palliative care right now; he’s not going to make the month out.”

The research needs funding, which is what the Terry Fox Run is all about. In past years, the run raised approximately $5000. Valin expects it will be more this year because it will include the high school’s donations, Valin said.

Petty doesn’t close donations until the end of the month because people donate long after the race is over, even if they haven’t participated in the run.

After more than 40 years, some runners are generational. Kayla Savard has run the Pontiac Terry Fox run since she was a kid, and her two sons, Cayden Proulx, 6, and Téo Proulx, 5, have been participating since they were in strollers. An avid runner, Savard ran the course while her two sons biked.

During the day, she had the kids remember a word to keep their spirits up. “What was that word today, Téo,” she asked her son. “We were almost at the last gate and Téo looked at me and said, ‘what was that word, mom?’ And I said, ‘determination.’”

Just like Terry.

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