It has become a nation-wide fall tradition. Collingwood residents gathered together to honour a true Canadian hero on Sunday, September 13th, and to help do their part to carry on with the effort that Terry Fox was unable to complete. Fox ran 42 kilometres a day throughout the Atlantic Provinces and Ontario before he was forced to stop because his cancer had returned.

The Collingwood Terry Fox Run gives local residents a chance to join in the world-wide effort to raise money for cancer research. Participants arrived at Harbourview Park for the 1pm start and walked, ran, skated and biked through the course.

The first Terry Fox Run was held in 1981 and attracted approximately 300,000 participants across Canada, raising $3.5 million dollars. The 2009 event marked the 29th annual Terry Fox Run. This year, 29 countries hosted Terry Fox runs, and it expected that more than 2.5 million people will have taken part.

Before Terry Fox died, he knew that an annual event would be held to commemorate his Marathon of Hope. In Canada, the annual Terry Fox Run is held every September, usually on the second Sunday following Labour Day. As Terry said in 1980: "If you 've given a dollar, you are a part of the Marathon of Hope."

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