It’s a statue of a national hero that you can find in many cities across Canada.
Vancouver, Thunder Bay, Ottawa and St. John’s are just a few Canadian cities that have a Terry Fox statue somewhere within their borders. Thunder Bay is the exception – Terry’s statue can be found just outside of city limits at the Terry Fox Memorial and Lookout, the place where Terry was forced to end his Marathon of Hope in 1980.
All of the statues that can be found across the country all have something in common; they are all of Terry in motion that’ve been frozen in time. They’re all from the Marathon of Hope. Except for one; and that is the statue we’re going to talk about today.
Almost in the centre of BC, you can find a small city by the name of Prince George. It’s home to the University of Northern British Columbia, a lot of mills, two rivers, and a whole lot of wildlife and nature. It is also where Terry Fox ran in the 1979 Prince George to Boston Marathon.
The Prince George to Boston Marathon was a road race where the winner of the 17 mile run would get an entry into the Boston Marathon. Now, the race is known as the Labour Day Classic and the winner of the race does not get an entry into the Boston Marathon. It was started by Tom Masich, a local man who really helped develop youth sports in the city during the 60s to early 2010s.
September 1st, 1979, Tom received a phone call from Doug Alward, informing Masich that he, Terry and Darrell Fox had arrived in Prince George and wanted to stop by to introduce themselves. It was then that Tom had found out that Terry was an amputee and had full intention on participating in the race.
The visit the four men had was great, and Terry even informed the Masich family of his intentions of running across Canada to raise awareness for cancer research. But this race was his testing ground. He wanted to see if he could run over an extended period of time.
The following day, everyone made their way Downtown to the start line. Also competing that year was a man in a wheelchair – Rick Hansen. He had broken the speed limit during the race, going down a city doing 60km/h! Tom had a lot of people question him for allowing an amputee to compete in the race. Was he crazy? He wasn’t sure. But there was nothing he could because the race had just started. All he could do was continue his job as director and make sure that the event was running smoothly.
There were two distances that could be completed that day. The 17 mile or the 8.5 mile. Terry chose the shorter one to start off with, but once he finished that one, he didn’t stop. He was going to be doing the entire 17 miles.
Just over 3 hours since the start of the race, Terry made his way to the finish line. He had quite the crowd cheering him on as he crossed the line with sweat dripping down his face, and all over his race bib with the number 192 on it. Tears, cheers, and applause could be heard. Terry finished last, but he had stolen the show.
In this video, you can get a glimpse of what the day was like. In it you can see Rick Hansen, Doug, and of course, Terry. The music playing in the background is Rod Stewart singing “Never Give up on a Dream;” a song dedicated to Terry and his Marathon of Hope.
At the banquet later that day, Terry shared his plan with everyone and then later that night, he shared his plans with his parents. His mom wasn’t too thrilled that Terry wanted to run across Canada. She questioned why he wanted to run across the country – why couldn’t he do something local?
Terry’s response? People across Canada get cancer.
She ended up hanging up on him, but eventually came around and supported Terry’s dream to run across Canada.
And that was that. Terry ran in Prince George, stole the show, and made his way back to the lower mainland to prepare for his run across Canada. We all know what happens next. He starts his Marathon of Hope in St John’s Newfoundland and makes his way to Thunder Bay before he has to stop because his cancer came back. After another year of fighting the disease. Terry lost his battle. But his legacy still lives on, 40 years later.
But what about that statue?
In the mid 2000s, the city of Prince George got a statue of Terry made to be put downtown beside the Four Seasons Pool.
It’s different from the rest across Canada.
He isn’t in motion, he’s standing up right with his hands on his hips.
His face isn’t focused, he’s not concentrating on running. Instead, he has a big smile.
And finally, he isn’t wearing a Marathon of Hope shirt. He has a bib on with the number 192 across the front and “Prince George to Boston” on the top.
It’s from a time before everyone knew who Terry Fox was. He was just a guy with big plans on the horizon. It’s pretty cool knowing that that statue, with that amount of history stands in the downtown of my hometown.
I’ve been to four Terry Fox statues so far in my life. The one in Ottawa, the memorial in Thunder Bay, the statue in Vancouver, and of course, the one in Prince George. I always make sure to spend some time looking at them before I continue on my day, wherever I am going. It is really cool seeing a national hero being recognized across the country. Even though all of them are powerful and moving to me, my favourite will forever be the one of a smiley faced Terry from before the world knew who Terry Fox was.