There was a lot of pride on the line at this year’s annual Terry Fox run in Westlock, with at least two groups among the 40 participants taking part in challenges related to the event.
Westlock-area firefighters Mike Walmsley and Joanne Plamondon, from the Westlock Rural and Town of Westlock departments respectively, set out with a plan to complete the 10-kilometre route in full bunker gear including air tanks.
“As much of a struggle as this will be for us, it isn’t even near the struggle that people facing cancer have to go through,” Plamondon said. “It’s the least we can do to show them there’s somebody fighting along with them and that they’re not alone.”
Plamondon joined up with Walmsley after he issued a challenge to all local firefighters a few weeks ago — two other area firefighters had planned to join them, but one got called away to work and another to a funeral for a family member who had died of cancer.
“She’s here in spirit,” Plamondon said. “And in the last eight months, I’ve had two losses in my family from cancer; it’s definitely a great motivator to donate to the cause.”
More than a dozen participants were sporting lime-green shirts that identified them as part of the Westlock Veterinary Clinic’s team, which came out to show their support in a second friendly competition with Westlock Motors.
“There’s got to be 15 or 20 of us,” Dr. Colin Lawrence said. “This is the first year doing this as a team.”
He explained the two businesses competed in a Movember challenge last year, and decided to keep the competition alive in a slightly different form this time around.
“This year we decided to pick a different charity, so we’re doing the Terry Fox Run,” he said. “Neither wives nor guys wanted any more facial hair. It’s a good thing to do as a group and it’s for a great cause.”
Travis Darling, the town’s Community Services Program Supervisor, said he was pleasantly surprised with the turnout for the event — especially with the special groups who came out for the day.
“I think it’s one of those things that makes it such a special event,” he said. “It makes it about building more community — we have people stepping up to do something unique, fun and out of the ordinary.”
Having more than 40 people attending is a real bonus, he added, since he hadn’t fielded any phone calls or e-mails from people looking for more information.
“This caps of a good week of events, with the Community Showcase and now the impressive turnout for this, it makes me feel — especially as someone who’s coming brand-new to the community and doing community events — that I’m hitting the right notes,” he said.
For Walmsley, he said he was a bit disappointed that there weren’t more firefighters who took him up on his challenge, but said with some more lead-up time next year he expects to see a bigger turnout — especially now that people know he’s serious.
“When I first started doing the fundraising, the biggest feedback I got was ‘You’re crazy,’” he said. “Then when people realized I was serious it really started to build some momentum. If we’d started a month earlier I don’t know what we could have accomplished.”
Having a little more lead-up to get physically prepared for the event could be a big benefit, as well, as he now realizes just how hard it is to do so much in full gear.
“I’m not in bad shape, but I could definitely be better,” Walmsley said.
All proceeds from the run go to the Terry Fox Foundation, which spends the bulk of the money received on cancer research.
For more information visit www.terryfox.org.
