Through the year, there are a number of marathons across Chennai, but the annual Terry Fox Run lets participants decide whether to skate, cycle, run or walk.
On Sunday, over 10,000 participants arrived at Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) to sign up for the event and raise money for cancer research.
The Terry Fox Run Chennai, organised by the Rotary Club of Madras East, began in Chennai in 2009, and was conceived by Akash Dube, who passed away last year, after a long battle with cancer.
Through the run, the Rotary Club is raising funds for Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, and Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, to fund cancer research, a press release said.
The run is dedicated to Terry Fox, a Canadian man who was diagnosed with bone cancer in 1971. When he was in hospital, he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. He died in 1981.
Since then, as a tribute to him, the Terry Fox Run takes place in 28 countries across the world.
While many of the participants signed up because it was for a good cause, several others said, for them, finishing a run was the most satisfying thing.
“This is the first time I have signed up for any kind of run, and the fact that I was able to finish it was exhilarating. I have now decided to participate in more runs,” said Pramod, one of the participants.
The event is supported by Rotaract Club of RI District 3230. The event was flagged off by Lieutenant-General Jagbir Singh, Bhaskar Ramamurthi, director of IIT-M, and S.S. Badrinath, chairman emeritus of Sankara Nethralaya.
