IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: A version of article was originally published by ThoroldToday on August 23.
It’s that time of year again! Thorold resident Cindy Dickson is hard at work organizing another edition of the Thorold Terry Fox Run on Sept. 15.
“This year is a special year for our team, which is Team Candace,” Dickson tells ThoroldToday. “She is celebrating ten years cancer free so it’s a big celebration.”
Dickson has been involved in the Thorold Terry Fox run for over two decades.
“We've always been doing Terry Fox run as a family for at least 20 years and then after [Candace] got ill then we created a team in her name,” she says. “So that is a special celebration this year. We think that’s a great milestone. So I’m excited about that.”
A few years ago, Dickson took over organizational duties from former Thorold Terry Fox Run organizer Mike Charron.
“Mike Charron approached me because he was ready to retire,” Dickson says. “This is the sixth one I'm running. The motivation is just the miracle that I see every day in my daughter and some of the people that we have lost as well. I'm sure everybody out there has.”
Dickson says that Terry Fox’s story remains inspiring to this day.
“He just captivated the world,” she says. “I think it's just the whole story about how he was so ill and in so much pain and he didn’t want anybody else have to go through this again. To persevere through everything, through the pain, through the sickness, through the weather — I mean it’s just an incredible story.”
While it was difficult and near impossible to organize the annual run during the pandemic, the local chapter of the event has been slowly rebuilding its presence in the community.
“Last year was pretty successful actually,” Dickson says. “We had a fairly good turnout. We lost a major part of it when we lost the McCleary's Spirit [team]. We really, really miss them because I feel since they had to give it up for health reasons, those people didn’t come back. We miss that big part of it because that was kind of half of the volume of the run.”
Dickson says it can be challenging organizing the yearly run.
“We have no budget whatsoever,” she says. “We just do this on our own. The Terry Fox Foundation provides all the materials and all the things that we need but other than that we have no funds for promotion or anything like that.”
Still, it’s important to celebrate the Canada-wide event in Thorold.
“It's one hour on a Sunday morning, and it's such a great event,” Dickson says. “We have everybody gathered together for one reason, one cause. Everybody’s been affected by cancer so just to come on out and enjoy the walk. I’m hoping that anybody that knows Candace will come out this year because it’s a special year.”
The Thorold Terry Fox Run is taking place on Sunday, September 15. The event is starting from the Thorold Community Credit Union on Front Street.
Registration opens at 9 a.m. and the run promptly begins at 10 a.m. There will be hot dogs and refreshments afterwards.
