On Sunday, Terry Fox Run organizers in Victoria raised $9,400.
Greater Victoria has a population of 330,000 people.
In Whitehorse, organizers raised $5,600.
Whitehorse’s population is about 23,000 — when it’s sunny.
That’s a hell of an accomplishment.
It’s for that reason that George Maratos and his team of volunteers should get, at the very least, a slap on the back.
Maratos pulled on his formidible community connections and recast the annual run, turning it into an old fashioned community get together.
Live music, grub, tents and a decent route along the river helped pull participation in the fundraiser up to 192 from 72 last year.
It took some imagination and, despite Maratos assertions to the contrary, a lot of hard work to bring it off.
As a result, Yukon raised proportionally a lot more money for cancer research than much larger cities.
Since 1980, the Terry Fox Foundation has raised more than $400 million for cancer research.
As a society, our understanding about cancer has come a long way. But there is much work to be done.
John Ostashek, Bea Firth, Norma Kobayashi, Aylie Sparks, Robbie Benoit … the list of Yukoners who have succumbed to the disease could fill pages.
Public funding for research keeps the focus on the disease, forcing governments to step up.
Terry Fox runs are an international phenomena. But, as time passes, the man and his inspiring one-legged run across the country will inevitably begin to fade from public consciousness and it will take more than announcing the run to keep people lacing up their runners.
This year, Maratos and a team of volunteers staged a wildly successful event for an important cause.
For that, the community should be grateful.