On the morning of Sunday, September 21, thousands of walkers and runners will take to the Confederation Bridge to participate in the 45th annual Terry Fox Run. The event will take a significant volunteer effort, and Strait Shores resident Sharon Allen is hoping to recruit about 90 people to help the event go smoothly on the New Brunswick side of the bridge.
“It’s a very unique opportunity,” says Allen from her home in Little Shemogue. “It’s not often the Confederation bridge gets closed down for events.”
The Terry Fox Foundation first closed the bridge for the 25th anniversary of the Terry Fox run in 2005, with more than 14,000 people taking the opportunity to roam free along Canada’s longest bridge. This year will be the fourth time for the event, which was planned but cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic.
“It’s volunteers that help make these events so successful,” says Allen, and avid volunteer herself, currently devoting her time to the GROW Strait Shores economic development committee. Allen says she expects the bridge run will help shine a spotlight on the region and give a boost to the local economy. “We’re expecting thousands of people to be taking part this year,” says Allen. ”It’s going to be fun, as well as some hard work.”
Volunteers roles will vary, says Allen, including helping participants find shuttle buses, handing out water, selling Terry Fox Run merchandise and working in the information booth. A small number of people have already put their names forward to volunteer, and Allen is encouraging others to register online or contact her at tfrstraitshores@gmail.com. Allen says she’s confident she will find at least 90 volunteers for the event. “I know people, once they’re asked, especially in this area, always step forward.”
In addition to the dozens of volunteers that will help run the event, there will be thousands of runners and walkers who take part. Tantramar mayor Andrew Black might just be among them. Black has run the bridge twice now, and says he is considering the possibility of doing it again.
“It’s an incredible experience,” says Black, to be outside of a vehicle and get a chance to take in the view and the expanse of the bridge. “It’s such an impressive structure.”
It’s also “deceiving” says Black. “There’s a sizeable hump in the middle of it… When you’re running it, it’s actually really hard… But then when you come down the other side, it’s pretty much smooth sailing until the finish line.”
Back in 2015, on the third ever Terry Fox Bridge Run, Sackville resident and Tantramar’s manager of tourism and business development Ron Kelly Spurles joined the fray to celebrate his fiftieth birthday. This year, Kelly Spurles shared some advice for those considering the 13 kilometre trek.
“I would just say, give it a try. Because there’s no judgment,” says Kelly-Spurles, who says he managed to run the bridge in 2015 “very slowly” with some runners lapping him on their way back. “Just go and challenge yourself, and if you feel like you aren’t able to do the whole thing, then you know, that’s okay.”
Shuttles will be available to bring participants back and forth across the bridge. Participants pay no entry fee for the event, but it is a fundraiser, with bridge runs in 2010 and 2015 raising about $1 million dollars towards cancer research.
Sharon Allen says the volunteer group coordinating the New Brunswick event will also be taking donations to help support the event.
The event is non-competitive, and anyone “walking, running or using wheelchairs or strollers” are welcome to join, but participants must register in advance, by September 18.
More information is available at terryfox.org/confederationbridge/
