Ed Rice Tells a short history of Terry Fox Run, was to be a onetime event.
Ed Rice
David Colby Young: The runs were first held in 1982, in Bangor, Portland, Augusta and Caribou. Augusta was a one-time only event, which was fitting….because I only expected ALL of them to be one time. The beneficiary was the American Cancer Society…and the rep for the Bangor area found us a wonderful, new and continuing sponsor, Village Subaru (with the late Jack Quirk Sr) which began a 10-year association. There was a one-year break and then Danny Lafayette and the Best Western chain stepped in, and the Bangor run went from 1994-2002. Begun by my wonderful friend, the late, MRHoFer Bob Coughlin, Portland, too, continued the run for several more years into the mid-1980s. The Caribou run, thanks to the legendary Musterd/Aroostook County ace Conrad Walton, evolved from a tribute to Terry Fox to a local young man who lost his life to cancer. Lewiston-Auburn had that one-year tribute in 1984 that you found. It’s the Bangor event, which switched from the cancer society to supporting the breast cancer research trial at Bangor’s Eastern Maine Medical Center where you will find annual events, the first weekend in May…switched to mid-September by 1994 to be in line with annual Terry Fox events all through Canada. In the scrapbooks I kept I have every one of the Bangor articles and summaries…so if there is something specific that you haven’t found, I’m happy to assist. Thank you, David, for this work you are doing!
Later in 2026, Ed Rice states on fb
Ed’s Post
Ed Rice
KEEPING A PROMISE: In honor of the announcement that the Bangor-area Terry Fox 5K (1982-2002) will be inducted on November 8, 2026, into the Maine Running Hall of Fame’s historic/legacy best Maine road races of all-time!
When Terry Fox died on June 28, 1981, I learned the news late that Sunday afternoon from an American sportscaster…and ran the largely deserted streets of Bangor, Maine, tearfully and angry with myself that I hadn’t written him, like everyone from world leaders to the Pope to famous sports figures had done.
I felt a little helpless…until something occurred to me: I was doing one-half of his recipe: Run. All that was missing was… raise money for cancer research.
As a journalist in Maine who was fortunate enough to have made running friends all around the state I determined to try for a one-time-only tribute to Terry Fox, with runs put on by the running clubs in southern, central and northern Maine. I became a man on a mission, showing the 28-minute documentary film “Terry Fox: I Had a Dream” and encouraging the clubs to shoot for the first weekend in May, 1982.
And so, it was Bob Coughlin and the Maine Track Club put on a 4-miler in Portland..and a group I wasn’t even familiar with before put one on in Augusta…and Conrad Walton, with the Musterds and the solid support of runners all over Aroostook County held one in Caribou… and, yes, a Bangor-area 5-K was held in Brewer, led by Larry Allen and the Downeast Striders.
In the photo below, I am coming to the finish line of that Bangor-area event, one of 424 participants, gesturing toward the heavens that, yes, Terry Fox, I kept my promise…(1) run, (2) get as many runners, joggers and walkers as possible to join me and (3) raise money for cancer research.
I then immediately drove down to Portland, with my wife and daughter, father and mother, and a couple of college friends up from Boston for the event, and joined Bob Coughlin and his Maine Track Club support members, for their event. The first time I had ever “doubled” in my life, running that course too.
What I never had in mind that day was that that wonderful support for this idea would evolve into a 20-year, Bangor-area Terry Fox 5-K…with a continuing legacy, thanks to Danny & Carla Lafayette, with the Lafayette Family Cancer Institute and the Champion the Cure Challenge, annually held in August (Susan and I were delighted to attend this just last weekend in Brewer!)
Important photo credit: One of my very best friends from college, Richard “Dixie” Tourangeau, drove up from Boston and “caught” me in Full Dramatics for the Finish! Thanks, “Commish!”
Stu Hogan
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I had the fortune of winning the Portland 4 mile Terry Fox race while still a student at St Joes. It was my first race were I ran under 5 minutes per mile. Jim Babb took 2nd.
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Ed Rice
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Stu Hogan Wonderful: I LOVE learning that…and knowing you cared to attend and, obviously, do so well. Funny story: The only other Portland Terry Fox 4-miler I attended was in 1984 when I was touring these tribute runs with Terry’s dear friend and publicist for his Marathon of Hope, the late Bill Vigars. Bill did media interviews and was genuinely touched with the Portland turnout. An actual run highlight for me was slapping hands with an old friend, Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram sports writer and columnist Vern Putney, who was helping as a road guard… and, quite tragically, died of cancer himself after losing his wife to cancer. Anyway, this particular year there were no…hotshots, no guys present planning to run for the win. A few of us who were going to run low 6s were hanging around the front row BUT none of us wanted to be…in the front row. The run starts and there are five or six of us (Wayne Clark was one guy) running together at the front…BUT no one wants the lead…and no one really “knows” how to handle this situation! We’re ALL looking for SOMEONE, ANYONE to take the lead. BUT no one wants it! I wound up with a 5th place trophy…which I still have!
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Adam Goode
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I have great memories at that race and the work you put into it.
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John Clarke Russ
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Terry gave new meaning to endurance and heart. Thanks, Ed, for sharing your story and celebrating his life and cause.