The Terry Fox Run is meant to honour the memory of Terry Fox, a young Canadian who embarked upon a historic, cross-country run after losing his leg to osteogenic sarcoma. His incredible journey totaled 5,373 km over 143 days. To date, more than 850 million has been raised in Terry’s name via the Terry Fox Run that takes place in major cities across Canada every year.
Just last week, we received the terrible news that our friend, colleague and fellow cannabis advocate Elias Theodorou passed away at the age of 34, after a private battle with cancer. When the opportunity to participate in the Terry Fox Run came up just a few days later, we knew it would be the right way for us to honour Elias’ memory. We were happy to take part in this powerful event and dedicate our time and effort on the day of the run.
We set up at the Start/Finish line of the 5k run in Canoe Landing Park, located in CityPlace downtown Toronto. This bustling neighbourhood is home to our 68 Fort York CAFE dispensary location. The park is a great spot for neighbourhood residents to come together, exercise and enjoy nature right in the very heart of the city.
The event began with a warmup/yoga stretch session in the park, led by trainers from Orange Theory Fitness – a community gym within CityPlace. The warmup lasted around 45 minutes, and gave runners a lot of time to get ready for the 5k run. The route would take runners on several laps of the neighbourhood, complete with perfect views of the CN Tower and Toronto’s gorgeous waterfront.
The event drew lots of people from within the neighbourhood, as well as from everywhere else. The runners were in high spirits, and had lots of encouragement from supporters cheering them on. The weather as well as great, which no doubt had the runners feeling good about.
The circuitous route meant that runners would pass the start/finish line a few times. We were stationed right at this spot, in order to ensure the easiest access to our booth by all people. Our CAFE team members were up bright and early, in order to set up our hot coffee stations as well as our nitro cold brewed coffee keg. CAFE was happy to serve others and volunteer at the Terry Fox Run. Our hot and cold brewed coffees were a hit, and free of course to anyone who wanted them.
We are thankful to have had the opportunity to participate in the 2022 Terry Fox Run. In serving our community through this event, we would like to honour the memory of Elias Theodorou and all the incredible things he did within his too short lifetime. We hope that within our lifetimes, a cure for cancer can be found so that people no longer have to succumb to this deadly disease.
