By William Crooks
Local Journalism Initiative
The Lennoxville Terry Fox run will be held this weekend at Bishop’s College School (BCS). In an interview, The Record’s questions jogged BCS athletic director Jeff Bray’s memory as he ran through the details to keep everyone up to speed.
“Lennoxville has the claim to fame of doing a [Terry Fox] run before Terry Fox passed away,” Bray began. The event was previously run out of Bishop’s University (BU) for quite a few years, he added. BCS, which was already participating every year, took over around 30 years ago.
The event usually attracts 425-450 people, Bray continued. The weather and advertising can cause those numbers to fluctuate, but there is a core local group that returns every time. Squads of students from Champlain College, BU and Alexander Galt often join in. The run is compulsory for BCS students, he said, who make up around 300 of the total attendees along with many BCS staff.
Last year they raised over $5,000. They used to raise a lot more, Bray admitted, back when Velmore Smith, who has since moved out west, would stand outside Provigo and collect $6,000 to $8,000 in donations all by himself. “You didn’t even have to advertise [for the run back then], because he was out there pounding the pavement.” There are numerous ways to donate now, he noted, including online.
Registration for the event will begin at 9:15 a.m. this Sunday (Sept. 17). It runs until 9:45ish, Bray explained, because they want to kick things off right at 10 a.m. They will provide a shorter route (1.5km) for families with small children. The regular run can be either 4k or 8k if one wishes to run the route twice. The course leaves BCS, follows the bike trail along the river to Atto-Beaver Park, and then doubles back the same way.
