'nother vote for Terry Fox.
Don't click on that YouTube link unless you want to get all weepy.
'nother vote for Terry Fox.
Don't click on that YouTube link unless you want to get all weepy.
Meb...
i think josh cox. he found god on a 50 mile run? who would have thought?
He averaged 23 miles a day on one leg for 6 months straight. I'm on vacation this afternoon to do the Terry Fox run today with my kids. I think most schools in Canada do the run today. I asked my kids if they tell you about Terry Fox in school and they talk about what he did, and watch a video. Amazing the impact he had and still does this many years later. I think that what made this a truly him immortal is that he died a martyr for this cause.
From
About Terry Fox
Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and raised in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a community near Vancouver on Canada's west coast. An active teenager involved in many sports, Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15 centimetres (six inches) above the knee in 1977.
While in hospital, Terry was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients, many of them young children, that he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.
He would call his journey the Marathon of Hope.
After 18 months and running over 5,000 kilometres (3,107 miles) to prepare, Terry started his run in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980 with little fanfare. Although it was difficult to garner attention in the beginning, enthusiasm soon grew, and the money collected along his route began to mount. He ran 42 kilometres (26 miles) a day through Canada's Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario.
It was a journey that Canadians never forgot.
However, on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles), Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario because cancer had appeared in his lungs. An entire nation was stunned and saddened. Terry passed away on June 28, 1981 at age 22.
The heroic Canadian was gone, but his legacy was just beginning.
To date, more than $400 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry's name through the annual Terry Fox Run, held across Canada and around the world.
Terry Fox hands down. Hardcore. All guts.
Terry Fox. No question. He had fire no one can match. All the "inspirational" runners of today doing X# of marathons in X days owe their idea to Terry and should be kissing his but.
Not only that, but Terry was not about his own publicity - he was about proving he could do something (that kid a FIRE in his belly) and raising money for Cancer research.
Everyone after Terry is just copying the original.
I like the Hoyts and Terry Fox.
Two other Candidates:
1) Stylianos Kyriakides
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stylianos_Kyriakides
2) Ben Comen
http://www.dhscrosscountry.com/worththewaitbysportsillustratedsrickreilly/
Jason Rexing.
Lance Armstrong
Bill Rodgers
Frank Shorter
Josia Thugwane was the first black South African to win Olympic Gold in the Atlanta games marathon. He was a coal miner. Shortly before the Olympics, he was the victim of an attempted car-jacking. He was shot in the head and jumped from his moving car to survive the attack, injuring his back.
He overcame, poverty, discrimination and serious injury to win Olympic gold.