Terry Fox Run tradition continues in Tillsonburg
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Shelley Imbeault, with family and friends, wore her Terry Fox Run T-shirt downtown Sunday walking in the 2021 virtual Tillsonburg Terry Fox run.
“We walked from our house around downtown, then we drove to the Trans Canada Trail trailhead (north Broadway) and walked to Quarter Town Line, then looped back to the trailhead,” said Imbeault, the local Terry Fox co-ordinator, who raised $2,200 this year.
At last check, just under $4,000 had been pledged to the Tillsonburg Terry Fox Run.
“That does not include off-line donations, and just myself, I had $1,400 not from online pledges,” Imbeault noted.
More donations will be coming in – last year’s estimate of $6,000 on the day of the event turned out to be $10,000 when everything was tallied, including school Terry Fox Runs.
Imbeault’s group met Joe Kramer, brother of Jim Kramer (1971-2021), who was cycling Sunday for the Terry Fox Run.
“We had ordered a (Terry Fox) shirt for Jim – I have every year,” said Imbeault. “So we gave it to his brother.”
A Terry Fox Run has been held in Tillsonburg every year since 1989, and in its first 31 years it had raised more than $300,000 for the Terry Fox Foundation.
“I was really happy to see that number,” said Imbeault, who announced it Sunday during Tillsonburg’s virtual (pre-recorded) opening ceremonies.
The ceremony included O Canada by Tillsonburg’s Mackenzie Anderson, music by Delhi’s Daniel Jones and photos from the last nine years.
“It was fun to do that,” said Imbeault. “It was a good time.”
It is unknown whether next year’s Terry Fox Run will be an in-person event again or virtual.
“The Terry Fox Foundation would never risk anyone’s health, so if it is like it is now then we will have another virtual event next year. If things get better, then – fingers crossed – we’ll get back together. And when we do, it’s going to be huge. We have so many ideas from the past two years that we could not do, so I really hope that we get an opportunity next year to come together.”
When the 2022 planning sessions begin in February and March, Imbeault said they will be planning for ‘in-person’ event.
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