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The early morning drizzle and December-like darkness certainly tempered the crowd numbers a wee bit, but yesterday's Penticton Terry Fox Run would ultimately unfold under generally dry skies and in the end raised almost $7,000 for cancer research.
It was a drop of just a couple hundred dollars from 2018 - an event that benefitted from much warmer temperatures and summery blue skies. Given the year to year environmental misfortunes, run organizer Kevin Harvey was pleased as punch with the results.
"It was a slow start with the rain," he said yesterday as the runners and walkers made their way around the slightly re-jigged course, "but registration picked up by the end. We have over 200 people out here today, and for a day that started like it did, that's really good."
Harvey's an upbeat guy who took over the Terry Fox reins in 2017 when it looked like the event was on shaky ground. And yesterday at the finish line, he was all about hope.
"People ask why I do this, and I think well, why not. Terry Fox is a Canadian hero, so why wouldn't you want to be involved in something like that?"
"They called it the Marathon of Hope, and that's all I think people want these days is a little bit of hope. Especially when you know someone who's been diagnosed with cancer or you've been diagnosed yourself. It's a scary time. You just need a little bit of hope."
Harvey also revealed that this year's event was the beneficiary of a $1,000 donation. "It was incredibly generous," he said. "We have donations today all the way from 25 cents to a thousand dollars and they're all important."
South Okanagan--West Kootenay MP Richard Cannings trekked the distance yesterday, as did former Penticton mayor Andrew Jackubeit. And a guy by the name of Al Haycroft stood on the west side of Penticton dam, directing Cannings and Jackubeit and 200 others and making sure everything ran smoothly on the revamped layout.
"I work with Kevin (Harvey), and we always like to help each other out," he explained. "He started doing this three years ago and I joined up right away."
"It's excellent today. My mother is a cancer survivor, so it makes me feel good to be here."
Troy Pinsonneault of Kaleden had a couple of reasons for participating.
"Terry was a contemporary of mine," he said while walking the final stretch. "He was a little before my time, but I was of an age to remember him and the Marathon of Hope. I remember the whole story. It was inspiring."
"And my father in law passed away from cancer earlier this year. That's probably the biggest reason I'm here. It's been great to see people today I hadn't seen in awhile, and it was good to support my mother-in-law."
Later, as the music played at the finish line and noted local race announcer Dave Bullock called the names of each participant as they passed by and everyone refueled with Starbucks coffee and goodies from Real Canadian Superstore, the dark dawn seemed very far away indeed.