Terry Fox Run in the Senior School

October 7, 2022

Academics

GNS

This year, in conjunction with the run, we had a casual athletic fundraiser day to raise money for cancer research. Most of us have a connection with someone who has had cancer, so the cause has a large effect on our communities. Terry Fox himself died of cancer when he was running across Canada in his mission to raise funds for research. As a community, we want to make sure that we carry on the legacy and support his efforts to raise funds to support the research to find new treatments for cancer.

In previous years, students did the Terry Fox run in their Physical Health Education class. Instead, this year the entire Senior School student body—regardless of whether you were taking PHE or not—met on the turf at noon on September 26. We were directed to start on Richmond Avenue, then turn right down Quamichan Street, then right on Maddison Street, right onto Gonzales Road, and finally back up Richmond Avenue in front of Denford Hall, completing a full lap around the campus. Niko Krusenkopf ’23 was the honourable “rabbit for the run as he does cross country out of school and is the fastest long-distance runner at GNS.

Running is optional for our Terry Fox Run. Many students chose to walk and others ran part way and walked part way. When we met on the turf on Monday, we separated into two groups: one that ran and the other that walked. The running group started and the walking group went afterwards. It was an athletic casual day, with everyone encouraged to wear red to represent the Canadian spirit—similar to how Terry Fox was able to represent our country in his mission. Almost everyone had the right outfit for physical activity, however, some people took advantage of a “casual day” to wear their newest jeans. Thankfully that was a minority!

In most years during PHE class, the goal was to run as many laps around the campus as possible. This year we started with one lap around the campus which came to a total of 1.1 km, and then those who wanted could continue running (or walking).

The Middle School students all took part in the Terry Fox Run in their PHE classes while running the same block as the Senior School. In the Junior School, all the students ran/walked to the Oak Bay Marina on September 29.

In the end, the GNS community in the Junior, Middle and Senior Schools raised $5,196 towards cancer research.

As a busy Grade 11 student pursuing the IB Diploma, I miss having regular PHE and physical activity at school, so I enjoyed the run around Pemberton Woods Campus!