HALIFAX — The annual Terry Fox Run for cancer research will mark its 45th anniversary this year by returning to the Confederation Bridge after a decade-long hiatus.
The Terry Fox Foundation announced Monday that on Sept. 21, the 13-kilometre bridge between New Brunswick and P.E.I. will be closed to vehicle traffic between 6 a.m. and 1 p.m. to make way for runners and walkers.
The annual fundraising run across the bridge was first held in 2005, the 25th anniversary of Fox's Marathon of Hope. It was held there again in 2010 and 2015, but the event was cancelled in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"As the starting point of his Marathon of Hope 45 years ago, Atlantic Canada was an incredibly special part of Terry’s journey," Fox's older brother Fred said in a statement released Monday.
"The return of the Terry Fox Run on Confederation Bridge in 2025 is ... a heartfelt reminder of the unity and support that these communities offered him and an opportunity for Canadians to once again come together and help to finish what he started.”
Having lost his right leg to cancer when he was 18, Terry Fox decided to run across Canada to raise awareness and money for cancer research. He began his historic marathon on April 12, 1980, when he dipped his artificial leg into the harbour at St. John's, N.L.
A little over a month later, Fox arrived in P.E.I. via a ferry ride, as the bridge had yet to be built, and he spent the next three days running across the Island. His fundraising efforts there surpassed $100,000.
In his personal journal, Fox recalled meeting P.E.I. students and officials, adding: “Boy, were they ever a happy group.”
Fox ran 5,373 kilometres in 143 days, — an average of 42 km per day — but he was forced to stop outside Thunder Bay, Ont., on Sept. 1, 1980, when doctors confirmed cancer had spread to his lungs.
He died less than a year later, one month before his 23rd birthday.
"His determination, courage, and message of hope moved millions and laid the foundation for what has become one of the largest fundraising movements in Canadian history," the foundation's statement says.
Every year, participants and volunteers in about 600 communities across Canada take part in the run.
To date, the foundation has raised more than $950 million and paid for more than 1,300 cancer research projects.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 26, 2025.
Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press
