Jamie Amos of Port Alberni spends the hockey season as the assistant equipment manager with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs’ major junior hockey team. In the summer, though, he can often be found walking around the track at Bob Dailey Stadium—training for the annual September Terry Fox Run.
The Port Alberni run takes place this Sunday, Sept. 14 at Kitsuksis Dike. A breakfast provided by the Kiwanis club kicks off festivities from 8:30–10:30 a.m. Free registration starts at 9 a.m. and the walk at 10 a.m.
Participants may walk, jog, run, rollerblade , push a stroller, etc. on two- or five-kilometre routes around the dike or a 10-km road course.
The Alberni Valley Lions Club is hosting the event this year and welcomes volunteers.
Amos has been raising money for the Terry Fox Run in Port Alberni since 2006, and surpassed the cumulative $10,000 mark on Fall Fair weekend. His motivation is the man himself, the late Terry Fox.
“I met Terry Fox on Aug. 18, 1980 in Wawa, Ont.,” Amos said. “We were coming back from New Brunswick, me and my Mom and Dad. I was only 12 at the time.”
Less than 500 kilometres later, in Thunder Bay, Ont., Fox’s Marathon of Hope ended when doctors told him his bone cancer had returned. Fox died on June 28, 1981.
Meeting Fox made a lasting impression on Amos, who on Sunday will run/walk the two-kilometre course that starts at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 293 building on Kitsuksis Dike.
In the past, Bulldogs’ players have joined him on the route; they also support him through donations.
Each year, Amos sets a goal of $1,000 to raise for the Terry Fox Run. This year he had well surpassed that total a week before the event. In 2013 he raised a personal record, $3,692.
Anyone wishing to make a donation to Amos can find him at the Alberni Valley Multiplex or at the beginning of the walk.
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