Penticton turned out in a big, big way for the 2022 Terry Fox Run Sunday morning.
One hundred and fifty entrants, the sensational Steve King at the microphone, and Doug Alward, Terry's closest confidant and the guy who drove the van 42 years ago during the astonishing 1980 Marathon of Hope, offering a pre-event rah-rah session and walking the route too.
It just couldn’t get much better.
King called it the biggest turnout he's seen, as did a happy Penticton Run organizer Kevin Harvey.
More importantly, the event raised a truly grand total of $9,000 to fight cancer.
As for Alward, who knew Fox from the age of 11, it wasn't his first visit to the Penticton event. Indeed, he popped by in 2019 too, chatting with Harvey and folks finishing their runs and walks. But this time around, he was a key part of the day throughout and an obvious inspiration.
"When people saw it (Marathon of Hope coverage in 1980) on TV," he told PentictonNow later, "when he was going down that highway, it was almost like a desperation. It was like he was willing to die for it. And he was.
"And people saw that. Wayne Gretzky, Darryl Sittler, even Steve Nash, as a six-year-old, was watching it on the news. Being inspired. This guy was doing something unbelievable.
"And now people see it on film and they say they have to start one of these runs in their own community. It's amazing."
According to Alward, that desperation, that insatiable drive, was part of the Terry Fox equation from a young age.
"I grew up with Terry," he said. "I saw it every day. The most amazing thing I ever thought he did was going from the worst basketball player in grade 8 to making the Simon Fraser University mens' team, then becoming one of the top wheelchair basketball players in the school."
"So yeah, I saw that desperation before he did the cross-Canada run."
Alward referenced Fox's artificial leg, saying it was "almost impossible" to run as an amputee in 1980.
"His leg would get all chewed up," he said. "There'd be blood every night and people would panic. But that was normal for him. As time passes, I realize more and more how incredible it was."
We asked if the day of the annual run ever made him sad.
"No, I'm happy," he replied. "This makes me feel like Terry's alive.
"A lot of people have been touched by cancer here. They're all running for someone who's had cancer or they've had cancer. It's inspiring."
