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The race is on to make the Dubai Terry Fox Run the largest in the world.
In 2007, the Dubai leg of the charity event pulled the second largest number of participants in the world and was the third biggest in terms of revenue, according to the International Organising Committee for the Terry Fox Foundation.
Breeda McClew, international director for the Terry Fox Foundation, said it drew an estimated 10,500 participants, just a few hundred short of Bogota, Colombia, which was the single biggest run site with 10,848 participants.
The Dubai run raised more than $158,000 (Dh580,000) for cancer research, just behind Kuwait and Beijing, which was the biggest revenue generator at just over $245,000 (Dh899,000).
High hopes
But this year, local organisers hope to smash these records, making the event the largest in the world and raising the most cash.
The run, which is also a signature event of the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), takes place on Friday, February 15, from 9.30am and registration opens from 8am on the same day.
The Terry Fox Run has been held in Dubai for 14 years and has raised more than Dh6 million.
Terrance Stanley Fox, who the race is named after, was a Canadian humanitarian, athlete, and cancer treatment activist who became famous for the Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canadian run to raise money for cancer research.
Fox ran with a prosthetic leg after he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of cancer which starts in the knee, working its way up into the muscles and tendons. Fox had his leg amputated when he was 18.
More info
For more information visit www.dubaiterryfoxrun.com or www.terryfoxrun.org
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