It's been tough recently for local events, what with wildfires and rockslides impacting just about everything.
But Sunday morning's Terry Fox Run was anything but anemic.
A big, charged-up crowd of 160-plus gathered early Sunday just outside the SS Sicamous for the start of the Penticton edition of the venerable fundraiser prompted by the superhuman exploits of Terry Fox more than 40 years ago.
A few moments after 10 am, they'd embark on a course that would see them run/walk/ride south alongside the scenic Penticton River channel to their halfway point, turn around and come back again. Some would do the full five-kilometer route, others the two- and one-kilometer variants.
And in the end, in excess of $10,000 was raised for cancer research.
Both the number of participants and the money total made local Run organizer Kevin Harvey, who assumed the role six years ago, a very happy wan.
"It was a great atmosphere today," he said afterward. "You could tell everybody was feeling good.
"The number of participants was certainly the most we've had out there since I've been doing it. The dollars were the most we've had since I've been doing it.
"But it's the people who come out to support Terry that really gets me going. We had ten people today who wanted to volunteer for next year. That's just great."
As a bonus, the Penticton iteration of the Run is quickly becoming a place to see and be seen. Amongst the crowd Sunday were people like Mayor Julius Bloomfield, Councilor Campbell Watt, celebrated endurance athlete Dave Matheson and wife Tina Matheson, and all-world race announcer Steve King.
And above all else there was Doug Alward, Terry Fox's closest confidant and driver during Fox's astonishing 1980 Marathon of Hope.
How lucky are we to have Alward here in Penticton year after year at his good buddy's namesake run?
Answer: Very.
As it turns out though, Fox wasn't the only person in Alward's life taken by cancer. Just in the past year and a half, both of his brothers, one aged 65 and the other 74, succumbed to the disease.
"You don’t think it can happen to somebody you know," Alward told PentictonNow just prior to Sunday's start. "Then it happens to your best friend, when he's young. Then you have two brothers who lived quite healthy for most of their lives pass on from cancer.
"Life is fragile."
But Sunday, nothing could keep Alward down. He was a beacon throughout the event, chatting with those who wanted to, commiserating with others, and posing for pics with anyone who had a camera.
"Things have changed over the years," he said in reference to the latest strides in cancer research.
"I saw on the news last night a story about a young woman who had the same cancer as Terry. I don't know if they cut part of her knee out, but she's fine. All these advancements that are coming from research, from better prevention, from better treatments."
Preach, Doug.
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For more info on the Penticton Terry Fox Run, go here.
