This year’s edition of the Terry Fox Run humanitarian drive will be held on Sunday, September 23, at Jarun Lake in Zagreb, and the proceeds will, as usual, be donated to Zagreb's Rudjer Boskovic Institute (RBI) for its cancer research projects.

Canadian Ambassador Daniel Maksymiuk, head of Croatian Cancer League Damir Eljuga, and Sonja Levant of the RBI, as well as local authorities, outlined the programme for the 19th edition of the humanitarian campaign at a news conference in Zagreb on Tuesday.

This is one of the most successful humanitarian campaigns in the world, and around $650 million was collected so far for cancer research and treatment, said Maksymiuk.

Terry Fox Run, a non-competitive event which takes place every year, is organised in honour of a Canadian Terry Fox, who, after losing his leg to cancer, embarked on a run across Canada in 1980 in an effort to raise money for cancer treatment. He ran for 143 days, covering some 42 kilometres a day. He failed to complete the run, which he dubbed the Marathon of Hope, because the disease returned, claiming his life at 22.

In his memory, the Fox family launched a drive to raise money for the fight against cancer, which is held every year in Canada and over 60 countries across the world, including Croatia.

Last year, nearly 230,000 kuna (€30,666) was collected during the Terry Fox Run and the funds were donated to the RBI for breast cancer and leukaemia research projects.

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