Keeping Terry's dream alive in Etobicoke.
Alice Foster, centre, has run in the Terry Fox Marathon for 30 years, is being joined this year by daughter Sophie, right, and granddaughter, Jillian on the run Sept. 19 at West Deane Park.
Staff photo/IAN KELSO
Etobicoke's Alice Foster was a runner long before she watched Terry Fox on television dipping his leg into the ocean to start his famous Marathon of Hope in 1980.
Foster recalls jogging each morning when her four children were in school in the early 1970s. But since the Canadian icon's death in 1981 following his cross-country attempt, Foster has been inspired to continue running year after year.
Fox ran an average of 42 kilometres a day on one natural leg, the other claimed by cancer, but his illness forced him to cut his journey short at 5,373 kilometres from St. John's, Newfoundland to Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Foster, a spry 74-year-old, has already participated in 30 Terry Fox runs as the event marks its 30th anniversary this year.
The upcoming fundraiser in Etobicoke will actually be her 31st run, the first being an unofficial run in downtown Toronto, she explained.
She returned from a brisk outing the morning of Aug. 26 to speak with The Guardian about her continued involvement.
"I just admired (Fox) so much and I know when he passed away my daughter and I watched it on the TV and we both just cried and cried," she said. "He's always been my hero ... how he could do that (run) and carry on with his bad health. So I thought he was wonderful."
Foster's long-running support was acknowledged this year in the form of a letter personally signed by Fox's parents Betty and Rolly, and she also receives calls from the Terry Fox Foundation thanking her, she said.
A few years back she even met Fox's brother, Darrell, during a celebration at a Toronto hotel and "my eyes filled with tears. He looked so much like Terry," she noted.
Foster said she doesn't have a personal fundraising goal this year. "Mainly my family and neighbours support me," she said.
However, she does have a goal to complete the 10-kilometre route non-stop, she said. "But I don't go fast, it's not a race," she said, adding her daughter and possibly her granddaughter will be joining her this year.
Meanwhile, organizers of the Terry Fox Run in Etobicoke's West Deane Park are hoping to break the $1 million fundraising mark this year.
The Sunday, Sept. 19 event invites residents to take on the 10-kilometre course, or a portion of it, with an option to walk, ride, bike, run or in-line skate.
The event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. is the 30th in West Deane.
More than $500 million has been raised around the globe for cancer research since that first marathon, with the West Deane run at more than $968,000 so far.
The Sept. 19 event in Etobicoke also features live music, a barbecue, corn roast, bouncing castle, tethered hot air balloon rides, post-run massages, silent auction and face-painting, according to organizers.
Donations to support a team or individual can be made online at www.terryfoxrun.org or during registration on the day of the run. Pledges can also be raised through the website.
To volunteer for the Etobicoke run, call Chrysta at 416-626-5651.