The sun and the light of a legacy was shining on Prince George as the 32nd annual Terry Fox Run kicked off Sunday morning.
About 400 people participated in the annual five-kilometre run, walk and bike to raise money for cancer research through the Terry Fox Foundation.
Dick Voneugen had scarcely sounded his traditional truck air horn to mark the start of the event just after 10 a.m., but chair Liza Arnold already had a good feeling about the day.
"It's a good start," she said. Those who arrived for the group start were led in a warmup by the men's and women's UNBC Timberwolves basketball teams.
The starting line at Community Foundation Park was kept buzzing until about noon with participants and volunteers, bringing in roughly $11,000 in donations.
Arnold said she was continually amazed that Terry Fox continues to inspire people, 32 years after his death. She also spoke about the connection Prince George has to the Canadian icon, whose Marathon of Hope was cut short after 143 days in June 1981.
Fox completed a trial run in the 1979 Prince George to Boston Marathon (now the Labour Day Classic).
"This is the place he started," Arnold told participants gathered in front of Fox's statue before they hit the course. "And you also get to enjoy the fact that the streets you run down are the very streets Terry Fox ran down."
The organizing committee are looking for three or four new faces to help breathe some new life into the event.
"There are many different things we could do for the event to make it bigger," said Arnold, who has chaired the run for eight years. Anyone interested in volunteering as chair, volunteer or media co-ordinator can contact Arnold at 250-964-7326.
