Terry Fox Run | |
---|---|
Status | Active |
Genre | Cancer fundraiser |
Frequency | Annually, second Sunday after Labour Day |
Years active | 43 years |
Inaugurated | 13 September 1981 |
Founder | Terry Fox |
Next event | 14 September 2025 |
Website | www |
The Terry Fox Run is an annual non-competitive charity event held around the world to raise money for cancer research in commemoration of Canadian cancer activist Terry Fox and his Marathon of Hope.
The event was founded in 1981 by Isadore Sharp, who had contacted Terry in hospital by telegram and expressed his wishes to hold an annual run in Terry's name to raise funds for cancer research. Sharp had lost his son to cancer in 1979. The event is held every year on the second Sunday following Labour Day. Since its inception, it has raised via the 'Terry Fox Foundation' over $750 million (CAD). [1] The run is informal which means that the distance often varies, usually between 5 and 15 kilometres; participation is considered to be more important than completing the set distance. There are also runs set up by schools of every level, often with shorter distances than the "official" ones.
The Terry Fox Run has no corporate sponsorship, in accordance with Terry Fox's original wishes of not seeking fame or fortune from his endeavour. During his cross-Canada run, he rejected every endorsement he was offered (including from multinational corporations such as McDonald's), as he felt that it would detract from his goal of creating public awareness. The Terry Fox Runs have no advertisements on any race related materials (such as T-shirts, banners, etc.).
The Terry Fox Foundation [2] was founded in 1988 after it separated from the Canadian Cancer Society. Since its inception, The Terry Fox Foundation has raised over $800 million for cancer research. Currently, Terry Fox Runs take place every year with many participants from all over the world. The Run is a volunteer led, all-inclusive, non-competitive event with no corporate sponsorship, incentives or fundraising minimums. Fox laid out these wishes before his death in 1981.
In 2007 The Terry Fox Foundation created the Terry Fox Research Institute [3] to conduct transnational research to significantly improve outcomes for cancer patients. In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, The Terry Fox Foundation directed $27.7 million to its cancer research programs. [4]
The Terry Fox Foundation has expanded beyond the traditional Run as well, by holding various other events. These events include National School Run Day, [5] where schools throughout Canada hold a Run to commemorate Fox and raise funds, and The Great Canadian Hair "Do", [6] which is a fundraising event that can take place at any time of the year. Participants are able to make the event as creative as they want— shave their heads, dye their hair a wacky colour, include a manly leg wax, and recruit friends to shave their heads as well.
Terrance Stanley Fox was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, having had one leg amputated due to cancer, he embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research. The annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over C$850 million has been raised in his name as of September 2022.
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Isadore "Issy" Sharp, is a Canadian hotelier and philanthropist. He is founder and chairman of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. He organized the Terry Fox Run.
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Terry is a biopic of Canadian amputee athlete Terry Fox, dramatizing his national Marathon of Hope run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. The film, produced by Shaftesbury Films, aired as a television movie on CTV in 2005. It was written by Dennis Foon and directed by Don McBrearty, and was created in part because the earlier 1983 film The Terry Fox Story had been criticized by Fox's family for inaccurately depicting his personality.
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Terry Fox (1958–1981) was a Canadian whose Marathon of Hope raised funds and awareness for cancer research.
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Hair for Hope is a charity event in which participants have their heads shaven in order to raise funds for the Children's Cancer Foundation whose mission is to "improving the quality of life of children with cancer and their families through enhancing their emotional, social, and medical well-being."
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