Maple Ridge will be having an in-person Terry Fox Run this year.
Matthew Shellborn and Deanna Dyer are the new organizers of the run
Dyer has had her own battle with breast cancer, she was diagnosed around two years ago and is now cancer free. Not only that, four of her five family members have also battled the disease.
"It's something very near and dear to my heart," explained the teacher at Alouette Elementary, who has always participated in the school run, but never made it out to the community run, when it was taking place before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, being Dyer's first year post-treatment, she approached her daughter about doing the Terry Fox Run at a community event and they went to the hometown run in Port Coquitlam, and had a great time.
Shortly after Dyer read in The News, how the run in this community was virtual again because of a lack or organizers and she was inspired to reach out to Kirsten Fox at the Terry Fox Foundation.
Kirsten is Shellborn's sister-in-law and he had already been involved with the run through his work, helping to organize a team for his company Canada-wide.
But he was still trying to think of ways to give back more to his community. Then he asked, why do we not have a run here in Maple Ridge?
He told his sister-in-law if there was somebody who was interested in organizing it, he would be there to help and they can do it together.
Now, the pair has big plans for the run on Sunday, Sept. 15.
Registration is set to open at 9 a.m. and the event will beginning at 10 a.m. with the run starting at around 10:30 a.m.
"We really do want to turn this into an event," said Shellborn.
"And get a lot of people out and make it a fun family community (event)," added Dyer.
They already have local businesses involved including Meridian Meats who will be grilling hot dogs by donation. There will be a cotton candy machine from Dyer's school PAC. City of Maple Ridge Mayor Dan Ruimy has agreed to sit at a dunk tank for donation. There will be bouncy castles. And T-shirts will be for sale on-site including this years new shirt designed, again, by Ryan Reynolds.
There will be live entertainment by Your Undercover Band. A teacher from Maple Ridge Secondary will be helping out with the warm-up along with leadership students from the school. Dyer will have her school's Grades 3 to 7 choir on hand for the singing of the national anthem. The mayor will be making a brief speech, in addition to a member of the Fox family who will also be addressing the participants.
This year marks the 44th anniversary of the run and in honour of that anniversary, anyone who donates $44 will be entered into a draw for a special Terry Fox prize basket.
The run or walk this year will be a 2.5 kilometre route circling the Albion Fairgrounds and sports fields. Which can be doubled for those who want to do five kilometres and quadrupled for those who want to do 10 kilometres.
However, Shellborn and Dyer are promising a more challenging route going forward.
The duo want to keep the focus on raising money for the fight against cancer.
"Terry did a lot of things during his marathon to not make it about himself, not make it about other stories or other people," explained Shellborn, noting he used to cut the tags off of his clothing to not show brand names he was wearing – aside from his shoes.
"This event is about trying to raise as much money as we can for a great cause," he said.
Shellborn and Dyer are still looking for more local businesses who would like to contribute to the costs of the event or to sponsor activities. Anyone wishing to do so can email: terryfoxmapleridge@gmail.com.
