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Nearly 10,000 people -- toddlers, oldsters, students and expatriates -- made their way to, through and around Pudong's Century Park Sunday to fight cancer.
As participants in Shanghai's fifth annual Terry Fox Run, they donated a record 427,000 yuan (US$51,500), according to the organizers.
Of that, 189,000 yuan (US$22,729) will be given to Ruijin Hospital's cancer-research program. The rest will cover what were described as unexpectedly high operating expenses.
More than twice as many people as last year completed a 3.8-kilometer walk inside Century Park or took an 8.8-kilometer jog around it, beginning at 9:30 a.m.
More than 500 members of the city's Old Folks' Long-Distance Running Team showed their stuff, including 84-year-old Liu Shichang, the day's oldest participant.
"Though we're retired, we wanted to do what we can to help people suffering from cancer," team member Xu Zengrong said.
Isadore Sharp, chief executive of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, flew in from company headquarters in Toronto, Canada, to run.
"I promised Terry Fox that I would continue his dream, and I am glad to see locals' enthusiastic support," he said. Fox ran across Canada on an artificial leg in 1980 before dying of bone cancer the next year.
Four Seasons and other companies helped the non-governmental Shanghai Charity Foundation organize the local Terry Fox Run.
(eastday.com October 14, 2002)
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