Terry Fox Run returns for another lap around Taber

Posted on September 11, 2025 by Taber Times

By Cal Braid
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

On Saturday Sept. 13, Taber’s annual Terry Fox Run returns for a 36th year in support of Canadian cancer research. Runners will meet at the community centre auditorium for registration at 8 a.m. before the run starts at 9 a.m. Families, teams, and individuals can register for free with their name and then walk, run, or bike the five kilometre loop.

 In 2024, thirty-six Taber-area participants raised $10,562, and since its inception local runners have raised just under $326,000 for the Terry Fox Foundation and Research Institute (TFF and TFRI).

 Canadian hero Terry Fox made a long-lasting impact on the nation during his life. He lost a leg to osteogenic sarcoma at the age of 18 and then underwent 16 months of treatment. He witnessed the suffering in cancer wards, and responded by setting out on a Marathon of Hope to raise money for cancer research that could ultimately lead to a cure for all cancers.

 On April 12, 1980, Fox dipped his artificial leg into the Atlantic Ocean off of Newfoundland and then began running southwest, driven to complete a cross-country run that would culminate with a splash in the Pacific. His will to run coast to coast across Canada’s vast geography was a remarkable display of determination.

 Fox ran close to 42 kilometres a day down through Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario. He ran through snow, rain, wind, heat, humidity. He stopped in more than 400 towns, schools, and cities to talk about why he was running.

 “Today we got up at 4:00 am. As usual, it was tough. If I died, I would die happy because I was doing what I wanted to do. How many people could say that? I went out and did fifteen push-ups on the road and took off. I want to set an example that will never be forgotten,” Fox said partway through his run.

 During that period of time, he also said, “I’ve said to people before that I’m going to do my very best to make it. I’m not going to give up, but I might not make it. If I don’t, the Marathon of Hope better continue.”

 Only one thing could have stopped Fox from reaching the Pacific Ocean, and it did in early-September of that year. “I’ve got cancer in my lungs,” he reported. “We have to go home and do some more treatments. All I can say is if there’s any way I can get out there and finish, I will.”

 After 143 days and 5,373 kilometres, he was forced to stop short just outside of Thunder Bay, Ont. Fox died on June 28, 1981 at the age of 22, but his legacy lives on.

 To date, over $850 million has been raised for cancer research in his name through the annual Terry Fox Run, held across Canada and around the world.

 Taber’s Colleen Pack is the spokesperson for the run, and said that though her family has been impacted by cancer, she believes in the work that the foundation and the institute are doing. “Most of the money goes back to cancer research, there’s not a lot of wasted money. It’s about keeping Terry’s dream alive,” she said before last year’s event.

 This year, she is again encouraging residents to join in. “It’s a family affair,” she said. “We know that the schools do their runs, which is awesome, but we also like to encourage families to come out and do it with us as well.”

 The run is a longstanding annual event in Taber, but had humble beginnings. In its first year, 1989, it pulled in a grand total of $3. That’s right, three dollars. After that donations were often in the thousands until 2007; it peaked at over $7,200 in 2001 and 2002. Then in 2008, the numbers exploded. In that year and the following one, the run netted roughly $36,000 each year and held on between $16,000 and $20,000 until 2014.

 The numbers dropped to just under $6,500 during two years of virtual COVID runs, but have bounced back nicely since then. Between 2014 and now, somewhere between 50 and 100 runners participated most years.

 Of course, the cancer stats are still scary: nearly two in five people in Canada will develop cancer during their lifetime and about one in four Canadians are expected to die from cancer. However, current data predicts the five-year net survival rate for all cancers to be 64 per cent. In the 1940s, the survival rate was only about 25 per cent.

 Across the nation, 650 communities still honour Fox by hosting the run each year. The TFRI invests its donations “in the very best researchers across Canada through its highly-competitive, independently adjudicated grants and awards programs.” It also receives funding from the Government of Canada and other partners.

  Pledge sheets are available on site or on the terryfox.org website, where one-time or monthly donations are accepted. Runners can collect donations in advance or simply show up with their own donation in hand.

 Local sponsors are pitching in, too: Avail is donating water bottles, IGA is supplying apples, Co-op is donating bananas, and Tim Hortons is sending over muffins for the runners. A kid’s table will be set up with draws for toy prizes.

 Whether you walk, run, or roll, the event is one the best ways Canadians can contribute to the ongoing fight to beat cancer.