Photos by T. Hynd
Photo of energy team (red and white shirts) by Ernie Baty
A prerace pancake breakfast warmed up Fernie Secondary School (FSS) and Isabella Dicken Elementary students and the community before the school Terry Fox Run this morning. FSS staff prepared, cooked and served enough pancakes to feed hundreds of hungry participants.
Over 500 people participated in the run made up of Fernie Secondary students (315 and staff), Isabella Dicken Elementary students and staff plus parents and community members.
The race started on the school track at 10am. The five-kilometer course consisted of one lap of the track, down the Gymkana Road along the river onto the Maiden Lake route, back to the finish line at the school. The elementary students ran a shorter out and back route along the Gymkana Road with an exciting finishing lap around the high school track.
Each runner was given a raffle ticket at the finish line by grade 11 and 12 students for the opportunity to win prizes that were generously donated by community businesses. Runners gathered at the Traynor hall courtyard afterwards to enjoy the sunshine and DJ Doka’s music beats while awaiting the draw prizes.
Final donations from students and the public at the pancake breakfast was $1700, which beat last year's fundraising efforts by $200.
“For fundraising, students have been donating money into donation boxes since the beginning of school,” said Meghan Coultry FSS P.E. Department.
“Our student council members have been collecting the money and for every $2 dollars donated, students received a raffle ticket to potentially win various prizes donated by our community business sponsors. Our school has a strict "no hat" during school policy but on Thursday Sept 12, we allowed our students to wear their hats for the day when they donated $2 to the Terry Fox Run. Our student council members have been very active in the community, asking various community members to kindly donate…and this has been very successful.”
FSS has been involved since the start of the Terry Fox Run 33 years ago.