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Longtime Terry Fox Run organizer in Central Saanich stepping back

Marilyn Hodgson involved locally since 2015, has supported national fundraiser for decades
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Marilyn Hodgson, who has organized the Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research in Central Saanich since 2015, is looking for her own replacement. (Black Press Media File)

The longtime organizer of the Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research in Central Saanich is stepping down.

Marilyn Hodgson, who has been coordinating the local edition of the run since 2015 with what appears to be a limitless amount of enthusiasm and optimism, hopes to find an enthusiastic volunteer who can step into her runners.

“I have been a part of Terry Fox for 41 years, so my entire teaching career book-ended with Terry Fox,” said Hodgson, who lost her mother and two sisters to cancer. “But this year, I just turned 65 and I need to pass the torch to somebody else. I will always be part of any Terry Fox function. But I just don’t want the responsibility anymore of everything having to come to me.”

RELATED: Central Saanich Terry Fox Run feeds off enthusiasm of race organizer

After all those years, Hodgson said, she is ready to let somebody else take the reins, while offering her help along the way. Anyone interested in organizing the run can contact her at davemarilyn@shaw.ca.

Like last year, the 2021 edition of the Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research scheduled for Sept. 19 will be a virtual one.

“The whole theme is ‘One Day Your Way’ and ‘Try like Terry,’” Hodgson said.

“So devote your period of time on Sept. 19 to something that would honour and recognize Terry Fox’s efforts and encourage people, who would normally sponsor or make a contribution to terrryfox.org to do the same thing and just keep those donations coming.”

Fox, who had previously lost his leg due to cancer, died in 1981 at age 22. In 1980 he embarked on a cross-CanadaMarathon of Hope fundraiser in St. John’s, NL, running what amounted to a daily marathon on a prosthetic leg. He made it past Thunder Bay before being forced by ill health to stop.

Since his death, millions of Canadians have paid symbolic tribute to his efforts through an annual fundraising run held on the second Sunday after Labour Day.


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wolfgang.depner@peninsulanewsreview.com



Wolf Depner

About the Author: Wolf Depner

I joined the national team with Black Press Media in 2023 from the Peninsula News Review, where I had reported on Vancouver Island's Saanich Peninsula since 2019.
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