Flying the flag of hope; Saultites take part in Terry Fox Run (11 photos)

Chanel Fall didn’t originally expect to be the organizer of the 38th annual Terry Fox Run in Sault Ste. Marie, held Sunday morning.

However, her parents and official Run organizers, father Rick Fall and mother Colette Michel Fall, had to depart for Europe, her father having been accepted a couple of months ago to take part in the Berlin Marathon.

“My Mom had everything organized for me, my parents both did so much work. She had everything organized right down to the minute. Everything went so smoothly this morning,” Chanel smiled as she spoke to SooToday Sunday.

Participants walked, ran, jogged or bicycled from the Roberta Bondar Pavilion, headed west along the boardwalk to the Sault Ste. Marie Canal National Historic Site and back for Sunday’s event.

Chanel’s own grandmother passed away after a battle with cancer.

“Everyone here, I’m sure, has had a parent, child or friend (struck by the disease).”

800 people registered for last year’s local Terry Fox Run.  

Chanel estimated about 500 people had already registered, with more coming, when speaking to SooToday before this year’s Run began.

Nearly $10,000 had already been raised online for the annual cancer research fundraiser by Saultites as of Saturday evening, with more people, some as individuals, some as teams, donating funds at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion as they arrived for the event Sunday.

Registration was by donation.

$25,600 was raised locally in the Sault for the Terry Fox Run last year.

Funds raised in the Terry Fox Run nationwide goes to The Terry Fox Foundation, which carries out research and pilot projects to find new treatments and, hopefully, a cure for cancer.

“The survival rate is much higher than it was 38 years ago thanks to research through fundraising like this. To see parents here with kids who weren’t yet born and didn’t see Terry Fox 38 years ago (when he ran his Marathon of Hope fundraiser for cancer research, on a prosthetic limb, in 1980 before succumbing to cancer in 1981), that blows me away. Terry Fox resonates with so many people,” Chanel said.