Lebanese honor Terry Fox spirit with 7-kilometer run
Lebanon, Culture, 10/21/1997

About 4,000 Lebanese and foreigners turned up Sunday for the race through Beirut to honor Canadian Terry Fox whose 5,373-kilometer marathon in 1980-81 on one leg raised awareness of cancer worldwide.

People from all walks of life began to gather at 7:00 a.m. Joggers, rollerbladers, cyclists, pram-pushing parents, the disabled in wheelchairs or on crutches, and even leisurely strolling Sunday picknickers took part.  

Organizers estimated the turnout at around 4,000 and said the race raised $20,000 in donations. The money will go to local cancer-treatment efforts.

Many participants in the race, including several Lebanese-Canadians, brought their children for the 7-kilometer Terry Fox run through the war-devastated Beirut downtown. The first such Terry Fox run in Lebanon was held in October 1995. It collected $12,571 from more than 1,000 participants, including three ministers, none of whom was present this year.

The race this year was organized by the Canadian Alumni Association, a group representing Canadian university graduates. Companies, schools, social and athletic clubs participated in great numbers but the most fascinating phenomenon was the obvious enthusiasm of young people.

A group of 47 boys and girls in school uniform left home - the orphanage of the southern village of Tibnin - before dawn in order to get to Beirut on time.

United Nations coordinator for Lebanon Ross Mountain was short of breath at the last half kilometer of the longest route, the 10 km round trip from Martyrs Square to the Bain Militaire.

The Terry Fox run is staged every year in more than 40 countries to remember Fox, who lost his right leg to bone cancer at age 19.  He raised awareness of the disease by attempting to run a 9,720-kilometer Marathon of Hope across Canada on the one good leg he had not lost to cancer.

Using a prosthesis, Fox started in St. John's, Newfoundland, in April 1980 and collected $ 1.7 million before cancer spread to his lungs.  He died in June 1981 after reaching Thunder Bay, 4,347 kilometers (2,684 miles) short of his destination, but his spirit and determination captured the hearts of tens of millions of people worldwide.

Previous Stories:
  National museum to open on November 25   (10/20/1997)
  Fundraising race for cancer research   (10/20/1997)
  Film festival opens in Beirut   (10/20/1997)

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