Terry Fox’s spirit continues to live on in Canada and the Bulkley Valley as organizers zip up their running shoes for the 31st annual Marathon of Hope.
The always popular event in the Bulkley Valley will happen in two locations, Smithers and Quick.
Smithers and area marathoners can stop by the Central Park Building at 12:15 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 18, to register for the event which starts at 1 p.m.
In Quick the event starts from the St. John’s Anglican Church at 1:30 p.m. the same day, with registration at 1 o’clock.
In Quick there is the single 10 km route while in Smithers people have a choice from one to 10 km.
Smithers’ run is being guided under the new leadership of Beckey Lake, who is taking the reigns from long-time organizer Anita Marshall.
Marshall has been running the show for the better part of a decade and always managed to round up the support of her friends, which included her neighbour Lake.
While Lake was out of town for last year’s event, she recalls hearing that about 200 people came out for the event.
This year Lake is learning the ropes thanks to Marshall’s extensive notes from organizing the local community event.
“She’s done a great job in keeping her notes and contacts,” said Lake. “It was kind of just go through what she’s done.”
While it was Marshall’s notes that are helping her organize things, there are lots of volunteers who help make the whole event happen.
“There’s probably 15 or 20 volunteers that help out on the actual day with set up to take down and registration and money counting and there’s marshals out on the court to direct people the right way,” she said.
In Smithers, runners (or walkers, or bikers, or anything else) take off from the Central Park Building towards Tim Hortons, taking the lane through the back. At Bulkley Drive they take a right and then turn right again at 8th Avenue. From there they head past the front of the hospital towards the Hilltop, turn right at 16th Avenue. Eventually they’ll have made a full circuit back to the Central Park building where there will be refreshments.
The route will be marked.
In Quick, people will move themselves from the Anglican Church on Quick West Road to the Quick School.
Nationally, the Terry Fox Run has had a notable year as Terry’s mother, Betty, passed away in June.
Her trademark phrase, “Set your goals high and never, ever give up on your dreams,” is one everyone should remember as they set out on Sunday to raise money for cancer research.