Running down Terry Fox’s dream Posted: 7:19 PM CDT Friday, Sep. 12, 2025

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This article was published 12/09/2025 (360 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In an era when today’s endurance feats seemingly defy human limits, his accomplishments still marvel.

In 1980, a curly-haired young man dipped a prosthetic right leg in the Atlantic Ocean in St. John’s, Nlfd., before embarking on a cross-country journey to raise money and awareness for cancer research.

With his signature hop-step running gait, Terry Fox, often only wearing grey shorts, a white cotton T-shirt with the words Marathon of Hope stencilled on the front, and blue adidas shoes, ran an average of 42 kilometres, or the equivalent of a full marathon, for 143 days. In total, he tallied 5,373 kilometres spanning six provinces.

His physical journey ended Sept. 1 of that year just shy of Thunder Bay when the cancer that had claimed his leg at age 18 had returned in his lungs. He died 10 months later, shortly before his 23rd birthday. However, his dream of raising millions of dollars for cancer research never faded.

Forty-five years after Fox captured a nation’s heart with his courage and tenacity, his legacy continues to burn brightly. Terry Fox Runs have become a September fundraising fixture across the country and around the world for the Terry Fox Foundation, with the organization raising more than $900 million to date.

Manitoba has long proudly claimed Fox as one of its own. He was born in Winnipeg and attended Wayoata Elementary School in Transcona before his family moved to B.C.

Winnipeg is holding its Terry Fox Run on Sunday in Assiniboine Park. Registration begins at 9 a.m., followed by a start time of 10 a.m. People can walk, run or ride at their own pace.