Letter to the Editor
Editor,
Signs about the Terry Fox Run could be seen here and there around town. Not the usual kind but ‘Virtual’ as news tips read, as there was no gathering of folks planned at the Meaford Harbour Pavilion for the usual Terry Fox Run/walk/ride send-off slated for September 20, the year after year annual second Sunday of that month.
We were all invited to recognize this particular day in our own way on the 2020 Virtual Terry Fox Run, the more so because it also being the fortieth year since Terry dipped his foot in the Atlantic to start his Run. Never forgot seeing him limp up on Highway 11 in 1980 at Callander not far from North Bay and pop in at the gas station/garage and annex restaurant there.
The latest Terry Fox shirt was underway according to Martha McClew, Ontario Provincial Director, but did not arrive in time to wear it that day. Instead a lone biker could be seen making his way to the pavilion at the usual start off hour 9 a.m. Not a sign, nor human being was present except a person reading a pamphlet seated in his van.
Normally one could choose between either five or 10 k. With the odometer set a zero, the lone rider disappeared down the street at a good clip, following the various previous year’s turns from memory. Piece of cake! In a matter of minutes, he returned back to the starting point, observed that it was fairly close to the first five kilometres and immediately jumped back in the saddle for his second round. No one there to cheer him on or applaud at his final return, his neighbour made a shot the day after in the new shirt that meanwhile had arrived.
With my final, second decade, Certificate of Appreciation seal in place, my 20-year Terry Fox involvement has come to an absolute end.
Hugh Timmerman, Meaford
