ABU DHABI // The annual Terry Fox run returns to Abu Dhabi this weekend with a simultaneous run planned in Ras Al Khaimah.
Last year more than 20,000 walkers and runners took part in the 8.5-kilometre run, which raised Dh800,000 for cancer research.
The run is organised in honour of the Canadian amputee Terry Fox who, at 21, died while attempting an 8,000km trek across his homeland with a prosthetic right leg. The leg was amputated when he was 18, in 1977, because of osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer.
“It’s not a competition, it’s a way to show support,” said Arif Lalani, Canada’s ambassador to the UAE. “We try to bring out more people to run as a way to celebrate our national identity.”
This year, about 10 embassies will form their own teams to participate in the event.
“We started last year this idea that we’d celebrate Canada’s flag day by celebrating a great Canadian – Terry Fox,” Mr Lalani said. “We’re hoping to have more people this year and we’re really asking the embassies to come out with their teams. So far, we’ve got the British, Turks, Americans and others and I am challenging all the other embassies to come out and support.”
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the run.
“So it’s a very special anniversary and I’m sure we’re going to do better than last year,” Mr Lalani said. “One of the reasons we like to participate is because we want to show that Canadians want to contribute here to the UAE society. All of the money raised here stays here.”
The funds will be directed at helping cancer research, prevention and treatment in the UAE. “We’ve raised Dh15 million as a result of the races,” he said. “We fund projects in the UAE on chemotherapy, advances in chemotherapy treatment at UAE University, we support research projects for treatment at Sheikh Khalifa Medical Centre and research through the whole university network in Al Ain. It’s just trying to fight cancer which affects everybody around the world, including here, unfortunately, in the UAE.”
The Terry Fox run in Ras Al Khaimah on Friday is its sixth.
“It’s really a national effort to celebrate national day,” Mr Lalani said. “It’s also supported by the Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, who comes every year to the opening and we hope to raise more than a Dh1m between both races.”
Rina Gauer, lead organiser of the RAK run, said she expected 3,500 people to attend, a thousand more than last year.
“The Ruler starts the run and we’re fortunate enough to have the support of the Canadian embassy,” she said. “The newly appointed consul general will take part in the run with his family, too.”
Last year’s run raised Dh160,000. “For a small emirate like Ras Al Khaimah, it’s a really big amount,” she said. “As long as people come and participate, we are just happy. The money isn’t important – although cancer is – but the awareness is what we want people to know. The Terry Fox run in RAK is the most-awaited community event and no matter what the standard of people is, on this particular day we are just one.”
cmalek@thenational.ae
